The Effect of Entrepreneurs’ Gender and Gendered Startup Fields on Organizational Attraction for Potential Applicants

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is growing, and thereby applicants are more often presented with the opportunity to work in a start-up. Simultaneously, a lack of gender diversity in start-up leadership has been reported, and gender stereotyping has manifested itself in the entrepreneurial world. These developments motivate further studies on how potential applicants are attracted to start-ups. In this study, I examine the effect that the entrepreneur’s gender and gendered start-up field has on potential applicants’ organizational attraction to the company. The present study investigates four fabricated start-ups: 1. Male founder of a technology start-up, 2. Male founder of a sustainable start up, 3. Female founder of a technology start-up, and 4. Female founder of a sustainable start up, where participants are randomly selected to reveal through an online experiment their intent to pursue the start-up. Data from 246 prospective graduates, graduates, and young professionals indicates that the start-up field is more valuable when considering one’s organizational attraction to a company than the entrepreneur’s gender. Unforeseeably, both the female and male participants preferred a sustainable context start-up, but with varying founder gender preferences.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Gender stereotypes; Applicant recruitment; Organizational attraction.