Beyond Engagement: A Theory of Gender Congruity in Women Entrepreneurs’ Online Social Support

Digital platforms are increasingly important spaces where entrepreneurs vent frustrations and seek social support. Yet women entrepreneurs often report a paradox: despite receiving substantial engagement when venting online, they frequently do not feel supported. We address this disconnect by developing a dynamic, interactional theory of gender congruity grounded in identity management. Rather than focusing on whether social support is offered, we examine how different forms of social support, such as emotional versus informational, carry distinct identity implications. Using large-scale observational data from Reddit, we show that women entrepreneurs' venting elicits systematic variation in social support provision depending on venting topic and listener gender. When women vent about business difficulties, they receive more emotional support overall, largely from female listeners, but less informational support, especially from male listeners, despite informational support being most strongly associated with feeling supported in this context. When women vent about work-life balance, emotional support declines while informational support increases, driven primarily by female listeners. Overall, perceived supportedness depends on whether social support aligns with the identity meaning of the vented issue, explaining why engagement alone is an incomplete indicator of social support in online entrepreneurial communities.