engleski

Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

Women entrepreneurship is defined as business activity which takes place in the company that is at least 51% owned by a woman, who also controls and leads the company. Despite of numerous studies and researches proving that there are some similarities between men’s and women’s entrepreneurship, some ongoing discussions are still taking place in the practitioners’ and scientists’ agendas. By adding a new perspective to these discussions, the purpose of this study was to test gender differences in entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The research is based on the use of two different instruments. One is a 22 items scale (Chen, Greene and Crick, 1998) that measures self-efficacy in marketing, innovation, management, risk and finances domain. The other is a 6 items scale (Linan and Chen, 2006) that measures general entrepreneurial self-efficacy. The sample of 107 male and 92 female students from the University of Applied Sciences VERN' (Zagreb, Croatia) was tested at the ending of their undergraduate studies (Entrepreneurial Economics). In addition, data on their grades were collected, and they were asked whether they had entrepreneurial role model in a family or close surrounding and whether they had entrepreneurial intentions (Linan and Chen, 7 items scale, 2006). The results showed that although male and female students all went through the same entrepreneurial education, and had similar family backgrounds regarding entrepreneurship ; women have less entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the general measure. No significant differences were found on the other, more specific measures. Also, although female had better average grades on Business Module subjects (as well as on the other modules), men planned entrepreneurial career for themselves significantly more often than women. Practical implications from these findings are being discussed. The sample of 199 students was relatively small, taken at the institution where the entrepreneurship is a major topic. In order to expand research significance, future research should include repeated test/research of similar sample, and comparison with the results of similar tests given to the sample of students of non-entrepreneurship university programs. The main value of this study is in its uniqueness in Croatia, and even wider, considering the fact that two different measures of entrepreneurial self-efficacy were used. The fact that our male and female participants come from similar entrepreneurial backgrounds, makes them very comparable, and these findings even stronger. This study can serve as a basis for further, in-depth research which will help in gaining deeper understanding about gender dimension in entrepreneurship. Consequently, the findings will ultimately serve as basis for re-thinking support programs aimed to strengthen women entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurial intentions; Gender dimension; Self-efficacy; Women entrepreneurship

The publication in one of the journals (Inderscience Publishers) is pending