Credentials or Chemistry? Entrepreneur Gender and Cofounder Selection

Abstract

Research on entrepreneurial networking suggests that women may be more likely than men to select cofounders based on their resources (e.g., knowledge, skills, and experience), as a means to counteract investor bias. In contrast, research on gender in networking suggests that women may be more likely than men to select cofounders based on interpersonal attraction (e.g., liking, trustworthiness, and familiarity), because it aligns with their preference for stable and harmonious relationships. In this paper, we reconcile this tension and ask: “How, when, and why do women differ from men in how they choose cofounders?” We propose that women entrepreneurs generally prioritize interpersonal attraction and de-prioritize resources because doing so aligns with their interdependent self-construal, but these relationships are mitigated when legitimacy is low, such that women entrepreneurs decrease their use of interpersonal attraction and increase their focus on resources as a means to bolster legitimacy. We find support for our framework across three studies. Our findings reconcile a key tension in the literature and highlight how interdependent self-construals enable women entrepreneurs to flexibly adjust their networking approach to cofounder selection by prioritizing interpersonal attraction when legitimacy is high and by increasing their use of resource seeking when legitimacy is low.