Abstract
<p>Business incubators are organizations that promote and support entrepreneurial activity through services such as entrepreneurial coaching. However, how coaching impacts entrepreneurs is not well understood, particularly from a gendered perspective. It is essential to understand this gap because women are underrepresented in the field of entrepreneurship. Gender stereotypes create barriers that portray females as being less capable entrepreneurs. Therefore, women must overcome challenges that their male counterparts do not. The emergent model from this qualitative study of six female entrepreneurs, five male entrepreneurs and four coaches suggests three dimensions of coaching (venture support, emotional support, gender sensitivity) that benefit entrepreneurs. Insights into the differences between the coaching needs of men and women entrepreneurs were obtained by drawing on entrepreneurial self-efficacy to explain the relationship between the dimensions of coaching and entrepreneurial outcomes. The findings suggest implications for future research, incubation management, and public policy.</p><div><br></div><div><br></div>
Highlights
The majority of literature up until this time period took a gender as a variable (GAV) approach, which highlights the presence of women entrepreneurs, but lacks a comprehensive understanding of the effects that male-dominated occupational and social structures have on women (Foss et al, 2018)
The findings suggest that entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) acts as a mediator between the coaching dimensions and entrepreneurial outcomes and helps to explain why the coaching dimensions are essential
The conceptual model emerging from this study suggests that gender acts as an antecedent to the entrepreneurial coaching dimensions because female and male entrepreneurs have different coaching needs
Summary
Between the 1980s and 1990s, research primarily used quantitative comparative studies, including questionnaires and established statistical tests, to explore the differences and similarities between men and women entrepreneurs (Henry et al, 2016; Stevenson, 1990). It was found that overall, women are less likely to be self-employed (Hughes, 1999; Robinson & Sexton, 1994) and less likely to be business owners or managers (Brush, 1998; Holmquist, 1997). This phenomenon was found to be partially attributed to the portrayal of entrepreneurs within popular media and prior academic literature at the time. Both knowledge hubs promoted men as being more suitable entrepreneurs and did not include women entrepreneurs as their own distinct group (Baker, Aldrish, & Liou, 1997)
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