Female underperformance or goal orientated behavior?
International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship
ISSN: 1756-6266
Article publication date: 20 November 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of an owner’s growth goal on the relationship between the gender of new venture owners and the growth outcomes of their ventures.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a quantitative study using a large, national database and structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings indicate that the negative relationship between gender and growth outcomes is fully mediated by the growth goals of new venture owners, their available internal resources and the amount of time and money they are able (prepared) to invest in their new venture.
Research limitations/implications
The research implications include the need to better understand the impact of goal setting on new venture performance outcomes.
Practical implications
The government policies (for example, to stimulate firm growth) need to be designed by having a proper understanding of the various motives/goals that entrepreneurs might have when launching a new venture. Similarly, anyone providing advice to individuals involved in establishing a new venture should, before providing that advice, ensure that they have a clear understanding of the individual’s goals.
Social implications
Social implications include a need to better understand the negative impact that lower available human and financial capital can have on the goals set by female new venture owners and the outcomes achieved by those ventures.
Originality/value
This research makes an original contribution to the literature by demonstrating: the impact of gender on human, social and financial capital; the influence of these resources on new venture goals; and, in turn, the influence of goals on new venture performance outcomes.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Australian Research Council Grants DP0666616 and LP0776845 and contributions by the QUT Business School and two industry partners: the accounting and advisory firm BDO; and the National Australia Bank.
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Citation
Watson, J., Stuetzer, M. and Zolin, R. (2017), "Female underperformance or goal orientated behavior?", International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 298-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-03-2017-0015
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited