Women entrepreneurs 'more active in social start-ups than men'

Washington, Apr 5 (ANI): When it comes to starting a business, women are more likely than men to consider individual responsibility and use business as a vehicle for social and environmental change, a new study has revealed.

Diana Hechevarria, along with co-authors Amy Ingram, Rachida Justo and Siri Terjesen, examined data on different start-up types (economic, social and environmental) on more than 10,000 individuals from 52 counties.

"We found that women are 1.17 times more likely than men to create social ventures than economic ventures, and women are 1.23 times more likely to pursue environmental ventures than economic focused ventures," said Hechevarria, a doctoral candidate in management and entrepreneurship in the University of Cincinnati's Carl H. Lindner College of Business.

Their study used 2009 data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, an annual assessment of the entrepreneurial activity across many countries.

The research is a first to provide evidence that women entrepreneurs are more active in social and environmental start-ups than men.

"Traditionally, men have always been more active in start-ups, but that's because we typically have studied economic, social and environmental start-ups all together," Hechevarria said.

From a policy standpoint, government initiatives are aimed at minimizing the entrepreneurial gender gap to increase equity and economic growth, Hechevarria said.

"There's a global trend towards narrowing the gender gap in entrepreneurship to create a favorable environment for social entrepreneurship and socially responsible venturing versus traditional conceptualizations of entrepreneurship being solely for a profit venture."

"Thus, I think we will likely see more policy to encourage women to continue to pursue these types of start ups," Hechevarria added.

Their research has been published as a chapter in the book "Global Women's Entrepreneurship Research: Diverse Settings, Questions and Approaches" recently released by Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. (ANI)