IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v42y2018i5p797-817.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

More than Words: Do Gendered Linguistic Structures Widen the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurial Activity?

Author

Listed:
  • Diana M. Hechavarría
  • Siri A. Terjesen
  • Pekka Stenholm
  • Malin Brännback
  • Stefan LÃ¥ng

Abstract

Leveraging linguistic relativity theory which suggests that language systems structure thought and action, we investigate the relationship between gendered linguistic structures and the persistent gender gap in early–stage entrepreneurial activity. We use country–level data from 105 countries in 2001–2015 with 55 different languages, and incorporate 32 controls covering a broad range of factors previously associated with entrepreneurial activity. We find that in countries where the dominant language's structure incorporates sex–based systems and gender–differentiated pronouns, there is a greater gender gap in entrepreneurial activity. Our results suggest that gendered linguistic structures reinforce gender stereotypes and discourage women's entry into entrepreneurship.

Suggested Citation

  • Diana M. Hechavarría & Siri A. Terjesen & Pekka Stenholm & Malin Brännback & Stefan LÃ¥ng, 2018. "More than Words: Do Gendered Linguistic Structures Widen the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurial Activity?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(5), pages 797-817, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:42:y:2018:i:5:p:797-817
    DOI: 10.1177/1042258718795350
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1042258718795350
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1042258718795350?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Israel Drori & Benson Honig & Mike Wright, 2009. "Transnational Entrepreneurship: An Emergent Field of Study," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(5), pages 1001-1022, September.
    2. Paul Reynolds & Niels Bosma & Erkko Autio & Steve Hunt & Natalie De Bono & Isabel Servais & Paloma Lopez-Garcia & Nancy Chin, 2005. "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Data Collection Design and Implementation 1998–2003," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 205-231, February.
    3. Liang, H. & Marquis, C. & Renneboog, L.D.R. & Li Sun, Sunny, 2014. "Speaking of Corporate Social Responsibility," Discussion Paper 2014-018, Tilburg University, Tilburg Law and Economic Center.
    4. Yehonatan Givati & Ugo Troiano, 2012. "Law, Economics, and Culture: Theory of Mandated Benefits and Evidence from Maternity Leave Policies," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(2), pages 339-364.
    5. Helene Ahl, 2006. "Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 595-621, September.
    6. Ingrid Verheul & André Van Stel & Roy Thurik, 2006. "Explaining female and male entrepreneurship at the country level," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 151-183, March.
    7. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2003. "Cluster-Sample Methods in Applied Econometrics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 133-138, May.
    8. Estefania Santacreu-Vasut & Oded Shenkar & Amir Shoham, 2014. "Linguistic gender marking and its international business ramifications," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 45(9), pages 1170-1178, December.
    9. van der Velde, Lucas & Tyrowicz, Joanna & Siwinska, Joanna, 2015. "Language and (the estimates of) the gender wage gap," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 165-170.
    10. Hicks, Daniel L. & Santacreu-Vasut, Estefania & Shoham, Amir, 2015. "Does mother tongue make for women's work? Linguistics, household labor, and gender identity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 19-44.
    11. Estefania Santacreu-Vasut & Amir Shoham & Victor Gay, 2013. "Do female/male distinctions in language matter? Evidence from gender political quotas," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 495-498, March.
    12. Ted Baker & Eric Gedajlovic & Michael Lubatkin, 2005. "A Framework for Comparing Entrepreneurship Processes across Nations," Post-Print hal-02311659, HAL.
    13. M. Keith Chen, 2013. "The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior: Evidence from Savings Rates, Health Behaviors, and Retirement Assets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 690-731, April.
    14. Jonathan Levie & Erkko Autio, 2008. "A theoretical grounding and test of the GEM model," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 235-263, October.
    15. Ahl, Helene & Nelson, Teresa, 2015. "How policy positions women entrepreneurs: A comparative analysis of state discourse in Sweden and the United States," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 273-291.
    16. Astghik Mavisakalyan, 2011. "Immigration, Public Education Spending, and Private Schooling," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 78(2), pages 397-423, October.
    17. Ted Baker & Eric Gedajlovic & Michael Lubatkin, 2005. "A framework for comparing entrepreneurship processes across nations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(5), pages 492-504, September.
    18. James C. Hayton & Gerard George & Shaker A. Zahra, 2002. "National Culture and Entrepreneurship : A Review of Behavioral Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(4), pages 33-52, July.
    19. Garry D. Bruton & David Ahlstrom & Han–Lin Li, 2010. "Institutional Theory and Entrepreneurship: Where Are We Now and Where Do We Need to Move in the Future?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(3), pages 421-440, May.
    20. Vishal K. Gupta & Daniel B. Turban & S. Arzu Wasti & Arijit Sikdar, 2009. "The Role of Gender Stereotypes in Perceptions of Entrepreneurs and Intentions to Become an Entrepreneur," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(2), pages 397-417, March.
    21. Shipp, Abbie J. & Edwards, Jeffrey R. & Lambert, Lisa Schurer, 2009. "Conceptualization and measurement of temporal focus: The subjective experience of the past, present, and future," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 1-22, September.
    22. Karen D. Hughes & Jennifer E. Jennings & Candida Brush & Sara Carter & Friederike Welter, 2012. "Extending Women's Entrepreneurship Research in New Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 429-442, May.
    23. Donald D. Bergh, 1995. "Size and relatedness of units sold: An agency theory and resource‐based perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 221-239.
    24. C. Christopher Baughn & Bee–Leng Chua & Kent E. Neupert, 2006. "The Normative Context for Women's Participation in Entrepreneruship: A Multicountry Study," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 687-708, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aparicio, Sebastian & Audretsch, David & Noguera, Maria & Urbano, David, 2022. "Can female entrepreneurs boost social mobility in developing countries? An institutional analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Ronald S. Burt, 2019. "Network Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs: Density, Hierarchy, and Success in China and the West," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 19-50, January.
    3. Natalia Vershinina & Gideon Markman & Liang Han & Peter Rodgers & John Kitching & Nigar Hashimzade & Rowena Barrett, 2022. "Gendered regulations and SME performance in transition economies," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1113-1130, February.
    4. Mingzhi Hu & Zhongfeng Su & Wenping Ye, 2023. "The future-time reference of home-country language and immigrant self-employment: an imprinting perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 521-535, February.
    5. Chiara Cannavale & Giorgia Rivieccio & Lorenza Claudio & Iman Zohoorian Nadali, 2023. "The impact of gender egalitarianism on entrepreneurial cognition: a multilevel analysis," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 4803-4826, October.
    6. Tang, Jintong & Yang, Jun & Ye, Wenping & Khan, Shaji A., 2021. "Now is the time: The effects of linguistic time reference and national time orientation on innovative new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(5).
    7. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 2023. "A Critical Assessment of the National Expert Survey Data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2494-2507, November.
    8. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Pankaj C. Patel, 2022. "A critical assessment of the National Entrepreneurship Context Index of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor," Papers 2204.05749, arXiv.org.
    9. Friederike Welter & Ted Baker & Katharine Wirsching, 2019. "Three waves and counting: the rising tide of contextualization in entrepreneurship research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 319-330, February.
    10. Welter, Friederike, 2020. "Contexts and gender: Looking back and thinking forward," Working Papers 01/20, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dheer, Ratan J.S. & Li, Mingxiang & Treviño, Len J., 2019. "An integrative approach to the gender gap in entrepreneurship across nations," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1-1.
    2. Drori, Israel & Manos, Ronny & Santacreu-Vasut, Estefania & Shenkar, Oded & Shoham, Amir, 2018. "Language and market inclusivity for women entrepreneurship: the case of microfinance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 395-415.
    3. David Urbano & Sebastian Aparicio & Victor Querol, 2016. "Social progress orientation and innovative entrepreneurship: an international analysis," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 1033-1066, December.
    4. John B. Cullen & Jean L. Johnson & K. Praveen Parboteeah, 2014. "National Rates of Opportunity Entrepreneurship Activity: Insights from Institutional Anomie Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(4), pages 775-806, July.
    5. Victor Gay & Daniel L. Hicks & Estefania Santacreu-Vasut & Amir Shoham, 2018. "Decomposing culture: an analysis of gender, language, and labor supply in the household," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 879-909, December.
    6. Beblo, Miriam & Görges, Luise & Markowsky, Eva, 2020. "Gender Matters in Language and Economic Behaviour: Can we Measure a Causal Cognition Effect of Speaking?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    7. Dirk De Clercq & Dominic S.K. Lim & Chang Hoon Oh, 2013. "Individual–Level Resources and New Business Activity: The Contingent Role of Institutional Context," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(2), pages 303-330, March.
    8. Chiara Cannavale & Giorgia Rivieccio & Lorenza Claudio & Iman Zohoorian Nadali, 2023. "The impact of gender egalitarianism on entrepreneurial cognition: a multilevel analysis," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(5), pages 4803-4826, October.
    9. Sahasranamam, Sreevas & Nandakumar, M.K., 2020. "Individual capital and social entrepreneurship: Role of formal institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 104-117.
    10. Bazel-Shoham, Ofra & Lee, Sang Mook & Rivera, Michael J. & Shoham, Amir, 2020. "Impact of the female board members and gaps in linguistic gender marking on cross-border M&A," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    11. Jones, Marian V. & Coviello, Nicole & Tang, Yee Kwan, 2011. "International Entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 632-659.
    12. Astghik Mavisakalyan & Clas Weber, 2018. "Linguistic Structures And Economic Outcomes," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 916-939, July.
    13. David Urbano & Sebastian Aparicio & David Audretsch, 2019. "Twenty-five years of research on institutions, entrepreneurship, and economic growth: what has been learned?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 21-49, June.
    14. Wu Juan & Li Yaokuang, 2020. "An Exploratory Cross-Country Analysis of Female Entrepreneurial Activity: The Roles of Gendered Institutions," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, July.
    15. R. Sandra Schillo & Ajax Persaud & Meng Jin, 2016. "Entrepreneurial readiness in the context of national systems of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 619-637, April.
    16. Erkko Autio & Saurav Pathak & Karl Wennberg, 2013. "Consequences of cultural practices for entrepreneurial behaviors," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(4), pages 334-362, May.
    17. Ding, Zhujun & Au, Kevin & Chiang, Flora, 2015. "Social trust and angel investors' decisions: A multilevel analysis across nations," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 307-321.
    18. Diana M. Hechavarría & Amy E. Ingram, 2019. "Entrepreneurial ecosystem conditions and gendered national-level entrepreneurial activity: a 14-year panel study of GEM," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 431-458, August.
    19. Helene Tenzer & Siri Terjesen & Anne-Wil Harzing, 2017. "Language in International Business: A Review and Agenda for Future Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 815-854, December.
    20. K. Parboteeah & Sascha Walter & Jörn Block, 2015. "When Does Christian Religion Matter for Entrepreneurial Activity? The Contingent Effect of a Country’s Investments into Knowledge," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(2), pages 447-465, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:42:y:2018:i:5:p:797-817. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.