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Leveraging entrepreneurship through private investments: does gender matter?

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  • Dora Gicheva

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  • Albert Link

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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

Suggested Citation

  • 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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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. David B. Audretsch & Erik E. Lehmann & Stefano Paleari & Silvio Vismara, 2016. "Entrepreneurial finance and technology transfer," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 1-9, February.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. 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.
    6. 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.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Innovation; Entrepreneurship; SBIR program; Venture capital; Gender discrimination; O31; L26; J16; G11;

    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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