Don’t Pitch Like a Girl!: How Gender Stereotypes Influence Investor Decisions
Lakshmi Balachandra, Tony Briggs, Kim Eddleston, Candida Brush
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice · 2019 · Volume 43 · Issue 1
Abstract
We consider the role that gender-stereotyped behaviors play in investors’ evaluations of men- and women-owned ventures. Contrary to research suggesting that investors exhibit bias against women, we find that being a woman entrepreneur does not diminish interest by investors. Rather, our findings reveal that investors are biased against the display of feminine-stereotyped behaviors by entrepreneurs, men and women alike. Our study finds that investor decisions are driven in part by observations of gender-stereotyped behaviors and the implicit associations with the entrepreneur’s business competency, rather than the entrepreneur’s sex.
Keywords
women/minority issues, start-up, new ventures, entrepreneurship
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