Revisiting the decoupling phenomenon: Gender-based entrepreneurial responses to the government in an emerging economy

We revisit the classic policy–practice decoupling in institutional theory with a gender perspective. Employing data on 12,876 entrepreneurs in China, we find that male entrepreneurs tend to symbolically adopt government-mandated models to obtain legitimacy, whereas female entrepreneurs tend to implement these models substantively. Furthermore, past work experiences in the government enhance male entrepreneurs’ political knowledge and make them more likely to employ a symbolic adoption strategy. In contrast, current political statuses empower female entrepreneurs and reduce their tendencies to engage in substantive implementation. We contribute to women entrepreneurship and decoupling in entrepreneurial responses to the government in the context of emerging economies.