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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

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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    Keywords

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    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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