Gender Gaps in Perceived Start-up Ease: Implications of Sex-based Labor Market Segregation for Entrepreneurship across 22 European Countries

Abstract

Although scholars have long recognized the consequences of sex-based labor market segregation for gendered outcomes in conventional wage-and-salary employment, comparatively little is known about the implications for entrepreneurship. We call attention to implications stemming from manifestations at distinct levels of analysis, specifically to the differential structural positions that men and women are likely to occupy as employees and to the degree of sex-based labor market segregation in a country overall. We hypothesize that the gendering of labor market positions will have the first-order effect of reducing women’s likelihood of acquiring entrepreneurship-relevant resources, experiencing entrepreneurial career previews, and being exposed to industry opportunity spaces for launching new firms, which will have the second-order effect of lowering their start-up ease perceptions relative to men’s. We further suggest that this gender gap will widen in societies with more highly sex-segregated labor markets. Data from 15,742 employees in 22 European countries provide strong support for these claims. By demonstrating how pre-entry assessments of entrepreneurship are influenced by gendered employment experiences at the individual level and gendered labor market regimes at the country level, this study lays a foundation for further multilevel research on the relationship between institutionalized labor market practices and entrepreneurial activity.

Male and female entrepreneurs’ employment growth ambitions: the contingent role of regulatory efficiency

“…Foss et al (2019, p. 409) report that, despite an increase in the number of articles offering policy implications for female entrepreneurship, such policy implications are "mostly vague, conservative, and center on identifying skills gaps in women entrepreneurs that need to be fixed." Our study shows, potentially due to institutionalized gender gap (Tonoyan et al 2020), even with higher levels of regulatory efficiency in a country, the gender gap in entrepreneurs' employment growth ambitions persists. Interestingly, with higher levels of regulatory efficiency, the gap is pronounced, showing that male entrepreneurs are more likely to benefit from efficient government regulations compared to female entrepreneurs.…”

“…Prior studies do not typically consider regulations as sources of costs that may influence women entrepreneurs differently from men entrepreneurs given their differences in the society. Prior studies investigated the sources of women and men entrepreneurs' differences from the perspective of informal institutions such as dissimilar access to social capital, access to capital and social norms, and expectations (Powell and Ansic 1997;Kanze et al 2018;Tonoyan et al 2020). Yet, it has been unclear how the interplay of such differences arising from informal institutions and regulatory costs originating from formal institutions shape women entrepreneurs' growth ambitions.…”

“…Additionally, female entrepreneurs face greater hurdles in attracting resources needed for growth mainly due to widely held perceptions about women, and their capabilities and ventures (Brush et al 2006;Ahl and Nelson 2015). Women are more likely to be structurally located in non-managerial and femaledominated positions, particularly in gender-segregated environments (Brush et al 2019;Tonoyan et al 2020). Such positions provide opportunities to accumulate entrepreneurship-specific resources as well as exposure to entrepreneurial opportunities.…”

“…The decreasing aspect of male entrepreneurs' employment growth ambitions is interesting to observe since, with high levels of business freedom, there is little to no significant gender gap in entrepreneurs' employment growth ambitions. Recent studies suggest that start-up ease perceptions can influence the gender gap in entrepreneurial entry (Tonoyan et al 2020). High levels of business freedom can influence the perception of straightforward start-up procedures and low barriers for entry.…”

Mind the gap: The role of gender in entrepreneurial career choice and social influence by founders

“…Despite the scholarly and policy interest in the topic, which has increased the understanding and promotion of entrepreneurial career choices, women remain a minority in new venture creation, even in countries where gender equality is relatively high (Tonoyan, Strohmeyer, & Jennings, 2019). Scholars in various fields have studied this persistent female underrepresentation in entrepreneurship (e.g., Markussen & Røed, 2017;Shahriar, 2018;Thébaud, 2010), and multiple (not mutually exclusive) explanations have been proposed.…”