Gender Difference in Entrepreneurial Intentions: A New Perspective from College Students to Facilitate Teacher Leadership in Entrepreneurial Education

Abstract

To better specify the methods of teacher leaders in entrepreneurial education in Chinese higher education institutions, gender differences in entrepreneurial intentions were investigated to determine how these differences affect the allocation of limited resources and how these differences affect the institutions’ meeting of students’ needs. Based on the classic Theory of Personal Behavior, this work analyzed the extent and determinants of gender differentials in the entrepreneurial intentions of Chinese college students with Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method. The data came from a field survey of 620 Chinese college students. The result suggested that, instead of discrimination and stereotypes, the gender difference in entrepreneurial intentions was primarily due to different “endowment effects” (gender differences in the observed variables with respect to entrepreneurial attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control). Hence, as leaders who take a more hierarchical position of facilitator, decision-maker, or mediator in entrepreneurial education, teachers should tailor their educational approaches in accordance with the different aptitudes between female and male students. Different curricula that target those gender qualifications would be required to balance the gender difference in entrepreneurial intentions of college students.