On February 19th and 20th, the IÉSEG School of Management will host on its Paris campus (Paris-La Défense) a Paper accelerator workshop on Gender and Entrepreneurship. Key note speakers are Dr. Sarah Thebaud and Dr. Sally Jones.
Individuals evoke cultural biases when they interpret and judge phenomena against standards and norms – or stereotypes – inherent to their own culture. Accumulating evidence suggests that cultural biases have a broad impact on gender disparities in entrepreneurial interest, activity and success. Stereotypes about women’s and men’s differing abilities can prompt women to evaluate business opportunities less favorably, lower their entrepreneurial intentions and self-efficacy, and disadvantage them in their quest for financial and social support from others (Bigelow et al. 2014; Gupta et al, 2008; 2009; Gupta and Turban, 2012; Thébaud 2010; 2015). Cultural beliefs regarding men’s and women’s roles in the family—beliefs which are variably shaped by the normative and cultural context (Chell and Baines, 1998; Nelson and Constantinidis, 2016)— can further facilitate or hinder entrepreneurial behavior (Welter et al, 2006; Cliff, 1998; Thébaud, 2015).
However, contemporary entrepreneurship research is often de-contextualized, with a relative lack of attention to the structural and cultural features that impact gender inequalities in entrepreneurial resources, strategies, and outcomes (Hughes et al, 2012; Lewis, 2014; Jennings and Brush, 2013, Ahl, 2006; Welter et al, 2016). Future research would benefit from more collaborative work across national borders which investigates how cultural biases pattern entrepreneurship differently in different contexts.
The full breadth and scope of what constitutes gender and entrepreneurship research also requires extension. For example, studies investigating the impact of gender stereotypes on men entrepreneurs (Jennings and Brush, 2013) or the constraints of dominant models of masculinity for men in family business (Nelson and Constantinidis, 2016) would prove fruitful. At the same time, whiteness and masculinity continue to provide intangible resources to entrepreneurial legitimacy (Martinez Dy, et al., 2016) and there is a need for more research which addresses how intersecting identities (gender and race, social class, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability) form and shape the entrepreneurial experience.
Call for papers
In this workshop, we are especially interested in papers that theorize and/or empirically evaluate the ways that gender stereotypes and implicit cultural beliefs affect entrepreneurial outcomes—such as entrepreneurial interests, processes, resources, or activities. We especially welcome scholarly work that identifies how the (negative) effects of cultural biases may be mitigated in certain social contexts. These contexts may be conceptualized at a macro-level of analysis (such as at the national or regional level), or at a meso or micro level of analysis (such as at the level of a family or network structure).
This is a paper development workshop. We seek to assemble a group of mid-career researchers, with an established knowledge and experience in gender and entrepreneurship research, who are looking to accelerate existing manuscripts. Through expert reviews, discussion and feedback – from both peers and two key note speakers (Dr. Sarah Thébaud and Dr. Sally Jones) – we aim to help participants significantly improve and advance their papers. In doing so, we hope to create, nurture and foster research collaboration between gender and entrepreneurship academics from different national contexts.
To guarantee a high quality of feedback, participation in this workshop is limited to 15 papers. We will prioritize complete papers that have been previously presented at conferences or in preparation for journal submission. Workshop participants will be expected to read, reflect and discuss on other’s submissions.
Timeline and procedure:
Further queries on this event may be directed to Janice Byrne.
This event is also being supported by the Gender and Enterprise Network (GEN) – a Special Interest Group of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship – Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), UK and Audencia Business School, France.