The Contingent Effect of Gender on Entrepreneurs’ Relationships Within an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which gender roles influence the types of relationships entrepreneurs enter with other actors in an ecosystem. We draw on role-congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002) to suggest that because of the perceived incongruity between female gender roles and entrepreneurship as a profession, stakeholders are less likely to engage with female entrepreneurs in a collaborative capacity than male entrepreneurs. We studied this by collecting survey and interview data. The survey and interviews posed questions pertaining to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, as well individual’s personal relationships with other in the local startup community. The nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem we studied was in a rural mid-sized city in the Midwest US. From this data we were able to determine the overall network structure and collaborations and friendships networks within the ecosystem. Findings suggest that entrepreneurs are less likely to collaborate overall than non-entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs are less likely to collaborate than male entrepreneurs and male and female non-entrepreneurs.