How cultural tightness interacts with gender in founding teams: Insights from the commercialization of social ventures

Abstract

Though discussion of culture is central in the literature on gender in entrepreneurial settings, prior studies have paid scant attention to the specific impact of cultural norms. We propose that the impact of gender composition in new venture teams (NVTs) on commercialization of social ventures is contingent on the strength of cultural norms of a nation. Our view of gender as a culture-contingent resource reveals ordering mechanisms that distinguish gender effects in culturally tight versus culturally loose societies with respect to commercialization intent and legal form. The empirical analysis of an international sample of 6657 social ventures from 30 countries supports the study hypotheses. The findings show that gender differences in new ventures are more significant in tight societies compared to loose societies.