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The gender gap in PhD entrepreneurship: Why balancing employment in academia really matters

Author

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  • Muscio, Alessandro
  • Vallanti, Giovanna

Abstract

We use original data from a questionnaire survey of 9062 individuals enrolled in PhD programmes in Italy between 2008 and 2014 to conduct an empirical investigation of gender issues in PhD entrepreneurship. The analysis focuses on the influence of the gender balance among academics at the parent university, to measure the opportunities available to female students to engage with same-sex role models and the effect of such engagement on female students' attitudes to applied research and entrepreneurship. Our evidence shows that there is a gender gap in PhD student entrepreneurship and suggests that the gender composition of the academic faculty has a significant impact on female students' attitudes to business-oriented research and its commercialisation, which, in turn, affects their entrepreneurial intention and probability of starting a business. Our results indicate that female students' entrepreneurship would benefit from the opportunities offered by a more gender-balanced work environment and reinforces arguments calling for equality in the academic workplace.

Suggested Citation

  • Muscio, Alessandro & Vallanti, Giovanna, 2024. "The gender gap in PhD entrepreneurship: Why balancing employment in academia really matters," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:53:y:2024:i:1:s0048733323001919
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104907
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Student entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial university; Start-up; PhD; Gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • L31 - Industrial Organization - - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise - - - Nonprofit Institutions; NGOs; Social Entrepreneurship
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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