Do gender-related differences exist in Spanish entrepreneurial activities?

Federico Pablo-Martí, Antonio García-Tabuenca, José Luis Crespo-Espert
2014 International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship  
Academic research over the last three decades has tried to understand women"s behaviours in entrepreneurial activity as well as establish the differences compared to men. Although some discrepancies do exist, generally the main topics anlaysed show similar findings: features and motivations, leadership style, strategic choice, obstacles and results. This research delves further into these differences by examining mainly the personal features of entrepreneurs, the motivation to enter the
more » ... and the performance of their enterprises. Through descriptive analyses and logistic estimations, we study the Spanish entrepreneurial activity using a specific survey carried out in 2009 of 608 randomly selected entrepreneurs. Conclusions generally coincide with literature, although some new results are provided. On the one hand, we can observe the coexistence of two groups of entrepreneurial women with different profiles and results: the first one basically develops within the same sectors as the economic average; and the second one mainly operates in those sectors traditionally considered as female. On the other hand, despite the fact that male and female personal features and motivations are different, the reasons for success and survival of their enterprises are substantially the same. Among the differences found, it is worth highlighting the great amount of time devoted by entrepreneurial women to household chores, the higher proportion of women in their staff and their commitment with product and service innovation.
doi:10.1108/ijge-01-2014-0005 fatcat:6ymvtic6hrfw5ed7ojreqrg4oe