Abstract
Previous studies offer evidence that human capital obtained through education is a crucial explanation for cross-national differences in entrepreneurial activity. Recently, scholar attention has focused on the importance of education in subjects such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) for the promotion of entrepreneurial activity. To our knowledge, empirical evidence for this link is scarce, despite the emphasis made in the literature and by policy makers on the choice of study at the tertiary level. Given that differences in STEM education are particularly large between men and women, we utilize data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for 19 European countries and the USA. We study the role of these differences in STEM education at the national level for three stages of the entrepreneurial process: entrepreneurial awareness, the choice of sector for entrepreneurial activity, and entrepreneurial growth aspirations. We also test whether the effects of gender differences in education is moderated by the nature of the institutional environment in which entrepreneurs operate. Our findings show that individual-level explanations including education account for the gender differences during all three stages of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Moreover, countries with greater gender equality in science education are characterized by higher entrepreneurial activity in knowledge-intensive sectors and high-growth aspirations. Thus, next to individual-level education, closing the gender gap in science at the national level can benefit a country as a whole by stimulating innovative entrepreneurial activity.
Highlights
Women constitute 52% of the total European population but only one third of self-employed workers and business starters in the EU (Eurostat 2007; OECD 2016a, b)
In contexts where attitudes toward gender roles are more traditional and STEM fields are dominated by men, women might be discouraged to make a career choice in STEM. With these issues in mind, this paper aims to answer two main research questions: (1) to what extent do the gender differences in STEM education at the tertiary level play a role in explaining the crossnational differences in entrepreneurial activity? and (2) to what extent do institutions influence the relationship between human capital and the gender gap in entrepreneurial activity? To address these questions, we use the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database in combination with macro-level data from various online data sources
Women are underrepresented compared to men on average during all three stages of entrepreneurial activity, but the size of the gender gap grows in the later stages in many countries
Summary
Women constitute 52% of the total European population but only one third of self-employed workers and business starters in the EU (Eurostat 2007; OECD 2016a, b). Scholars have focused on structural factors, such as the size of the agricultural and service sectors (Reynolds et al 2005; Terjesen), unemployment, national wealth, economic growth, and economic freedom (Verheul et al 2006; Minniti and Nardone 2007); formal institutional factors, such as a large state sector (Estrin and Mickiewicz 2011) and public childcare (Elam and Terjesen 2010); and informal considerations, such as views on gender roles (Marques 2017) Among these factors, human capital obtained through education (i.e., average years of education and tertiary education) plays a crucial role in explaining the gender differences in entrepreneurial activity (e.g., Bates 1995; Delmar and Davidsson 2000; Brush and Brush 2006)
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