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Leveraging entrepreneurship through private investments: does gender matter?

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  • Dora Gicheva
  • Albert Link

Abstract

Using project data from a random sample of Phase II research awards from the National Institutes of Health SBIR program, we estimate the relative probability that woman-owned firms are able to attract private investments to fund the transition of the technology developed under the sponsorship of the SBIR program to an innovation to enter the market. We find that women-owned firms are as much as 16% points less likely to attract private investment dollars compared to male-owned firms, factors excluding the size of the SBIR award held constant. Women-owned firms that received larger awards performed substantially better. Although the SBIR program has a legislated directive to increase the participation of woman-owned firms in the program, our findings suggest that it might not be sufficient to overcome market perceptions about the profitability of such investments actually bringing a developed technology to market. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. 2013

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  • Dora Gicheva & Albert Link, 2013. "Leveraging entrepreneurship through private investments: does gender matter?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 199-210, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:40:y:2013:i:2:p:199-210
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-011-9411-y
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Women can help bridge the 'valley of death' in science innovation
      by Cathy Foley, President of Science and Technology Australia at CSIRO in The Conversation on 2014-02-20 01:26:37

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    3. Cassidy R Sugimoto & Chaoqun Ni & Jevin D West & Vincent Larivière, 2015. "The Academic Advantage: Gender Disparities in Patenting," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-10, May.
    4. Albert N. Link & Christopher J. Ruhm & Donald S. Siegel, 2014. "Private Equity and the Innovation Strategies of Entrepreneurial Firms: Empirical Evidence from the Small Business Innovation Research Program," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(2), pages 103-113, March.
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    7. Ashish Vazirani & Titas Bhattacharjee, 2021. "Entrepreneurial Finance in the Twenty-first Century, a Review of Factors Influencing Venture Capitalist’s Decision," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 30(2), pages 306-335, September.
    8. Rajeev Goel & Devrim Göktepe-Hultén & Rati Ram, 2015. "Academics’ entrepreneurship propensities and gender differences," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 161-177, February.
    9. Claudia Capozza & Marialuisa Divella, 2024. "Gender diversity in European firms and the R&D-innovation-productivity nexus," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 801-822, June.
    10. Katherina Kuschel & Kerstin Ettl & Cristina Díaz-García & Gry Agnete Alsos, 2020. "Stemming the gender gap in STEM entrepreneurship – insights into women’s entrepreneurship in science, technology, engineering and mathematics," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, March.
    11. Amol M. Joshi & Todd M. Inouye & Jeffrey A. Robinson, 2018. "How does agency workforce diversity influence Federal R&D funding of minority and women technology entrepreneurs? An analysis of the SBIR and STTR programs, 2001–2011," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 499-519, March.
    12. Troy J. Scott & John T. Scott & Albert N. Link, 2017. "Commercial complexity and entrepreneurial finance," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 489-500, July.
    13. Shiri M. Breznitz & Qiantao Zhang, 0. "Determinants of graduates’ entrepreneurial activity," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-18.
    14. Steven Bednar & Dora Gicheva & Albert N. Link, 2021. "Innovative activity and gender dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1591-1599, April.
    15. Bradley, Samantha R. & Gicheva, Dora & Hassell, Lydia & Link, Albert N., 2013. "Gender Differences in Access to Private Investment Funding to Support the Development of New Technologies," UNCG Economics Working Papers 13-9, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    16. Fernando Alexandre & Miguel Chaves & Miguel Portela, 2025. "Investment grants and firms’ productivity: how effective is a grant booster shot?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1601-1641, April.
    17. Scott, John T. & Scott, Troy J., 2016. "The entrepreneur's idea and outside finance: Theory and evidence about entrepreneurial roles," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 118-130.
    18. Malin Malmström & Jeaneth Johansson & Joakim Wincent, 2017. "Gender Stereotypes and Venture Support Decisions: How Governmental Venture Capitalists Socially Construct Entrepreneurs’ Potential," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(5), pages 833-860, September.
    19. Bradley, Samantha R. & Gicheva, Dora & Hassell, Lydia & Link, Albert N., 2013. "Private Investment to Support New Technologies: Quantifying Gender Differences," UNCG Economics Working Papers 13-11, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    20. Lauto, Giancarlo & Salvador, Elisa & Visintin, Francesca, 2022. "For what they are, not for what they bring: The signaling value of gender for financial resource acquisition in academic spin-offs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(7).
    21. Gicheva, Dora & Link, Albert, 2015. "The Gender Gap in Federal and Private Support for Entrepreneurship," UNCG Economics Working Papers 15-5, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    22. Tristan Boyer & Régis Blazy, 2014. "Born to be alive? The survival of innovative and non-innovative French micro-start-ups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 669-683, April.
    23. Sara Poggesi & Michela Mari & Luisa Vita & Lene Foss, 2020. "Women entrepreneurship in STEM fields: literature review and future research avenues," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 17-41, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; Entrepreneurship; SBIR program; Venture capital; Gender discrimination; O31; L26; J16; G11;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

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