Entrepreneur career selection and gender: A socialization approach

ENTREPRENEUR CAREER SELECTION AND GENDER: A SOCIALIZATION APPROACH Employment of women has increased substantially over the last fifty years. Currently, over 50 percent of the labor force in the United States is composed of female workers (Bowen and Hisrich 1986). This trend of increasing female labor force participation is expected to continue for the rest of the twentieth century. In addition, the last decade has seen the number of self-employed women increase by 69 percent compared to a 13 percent increase in the number of self-employed men (Mitchell 1983, Phillips and Crockett 1987, and Nelton 1989). It has been suggested that this growth is in part due to women in the corporate environment hitting the "glass ceiling, the level beyond which promotions are no longer expected (Nelton 1989). However, while women have made inroads into career fields dominated by males, (referred to as non-traditional female careers), their numbers are still quite low. This difference becomes acute when considering the fact that as of 1986 only 29.6 percent of the total sole proprietorships in the United States were owned by women (The State of Small Business 1989). Given that entrepreneurial activity is a major factor in furthering the growth of our national economy, encouraging women to explore the possibilities of pursuring an entrepreneurial career, coupled with the influx of women into the workforce, may have important implications for public, social, and educational policies. A number of investigations have explored the hypothesis that males and females differ on dimensions related to entrepreneurial activity. Traditionally, research has focused on revealing differences in personality traits presumed to differentiate entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs (Welsch and Young 1984, DeCarlo and Lyons 1979, Waddel 1983, Sexton and Bowman 1983, Brockhaus and Horwitz 1986). Even though the data concerning personality differences between male and female entrepreneurs is limited, researchers have concluded that gender differences with respect to traits are not a significant factor in explaining the career decisions of entrepreneurs and are not helpful in distinguishing between males and females (Chaganti 1986, Birley 1989). Consequently, the thrust in entrepreneurship research has moved away from investigating psychological traits, instead focusing on such factors as social learning and behavioral experiences (Carsrud and Johnson 1989; Scherer, Adams, and Wiebe 1990). BACKGROUND LITERATURE In the career selection literature differences in male and female career choices have centered on the early social learning experiences of the career decision maker. Such variables as sex-role stereotyping, lack of appropriate role models, and other environmental constraints have been investigated. The conclusion is that women enter traditionally male-dominated occupations less frequently than males as a result of these early experiences which serve to negatively shape preferences for the non-traditional career (Betz and Hackett 1981, Marini 1978, Brooks 1988). When looking at the preference for starting one's own business, similar conclusions have emerged. For example, Scott and Twomey (1988) found that individuals expressing a preference for an entrepreneurial career had been influenced positively by their environment in terms of perceiving that they had the ability to work long hours, possessed a special skill, and were innovative. Ronstadt (1983) looked at individuals who decided against starting their own businesses and found family considerations, time commitments, and lack of role models as important factors. These descriptive studies have been useful in building a demographic profile of the would-be entrepreneur, but have not focused specifically on socialization differences, by gender, in relation to entrepreneurial career selection. Scherer, Adams, and Wiebe (1990) have proposed three social learning indicators of entrepreneurial career selection which can be useful in distinguishing between males and females with respect to entrepreneurial career preference: education and training aspirations, career entry expectations, and career self-efficacy. …