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This study compares the performance of female majority-owned new ventures (FNV) vs. male majority-owned new ventures (MNV). It analyzes the differences in levels of variables such as education, the same industry work experience of owners, and other venture level attributes between FNVs and MNVs. More importantly, this study employs decomposition techniques to determine the individual contribution from the intergender difference of each attribute on the performance of the new venture. For example, the study finds that, on average, the owners of an MNV possessed 3.4 years more of the same industry work experience than their FNV counterparts. This difference in work experience accounted for 47% of the “explained” gap [1] in Net Profits between the FNVs and MNVs.

This paper utilizes the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal dataset of 4,928 new ventures started in the USA in 2004. It employs Blinder-Oaxaca and Fairlie decomposition techniques in conjunction with OLS and Logit regressions. Both methods provide point estimates of contributions to the performance gap due to the heterogeneity in each attribute across the groups (FNV and MNV). This approach has a significant advantage over OLS or mediation analysis, which can only provide a directional analysis of the contributions of differences in attributes to performance.

The paper finds no performance gap between MNVs and FNVs. It further investigates whether the heterogeneous characteristics of MNVs vs FNVs are related to different effects on survival and performance. It finds that characteristics such as owners’ work experience in the same industry, average hours worked by owners in the new venture, the technology level of the venture, and its incorporation status are related with a differential impact on new venture survival and performance.

All firms in the dataset belonged to a single cohort (2004) of new ventures started in the US. Future studies are encouraged to develop a dataset from multiple geographies and founding over several years so that the results may be more generalizable.

The paper provides crucial practical guidance to policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs. In general, policies that enhance the work experience of women entrepreneurs and provide access to infrastructure such as daycares, which may allow them to work more hours, would probably improve the performance of FNVs.

The paper furthers the literature on women entrepreneurship by analyzing point estimates of differential contribution of disparate variables to performance. From a methodological perspective, the study reconciles the results between regression and decomposition analyses.

This paper aims to examine the determinants of entrepreneurial intention among students of a university in Nigeria, with particular emphasis on their risk-taking propensity, social support and demographic variables.

Data for the study were collected from 350 undergraduates across seven faculties in Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, through a self-reported questionnaire. Descriptive and regression statistical analysis were used to estimate and test the relationship among entrepreneurial intention and social support, risk-taking propensity and demographic variables.

The results showed high entrepreneurial intention among the students. The push factors, such as perceived social support from families, risk-taking propensity and previous engagement in business, are key determinants of entrepreneurship intention among the students. The age and father’s occupation also showed a significant relationship with the level of entrepreneurial intention.

This result suggests that strengthening social support for entrepreneurship among students could enhance their desire to own a business during and after graduation. Improving entrepreneurship ecosystems in the university could further motivate those already practicing entrepreneurship while also stimulating intentions among others. For instance, provision of entrepreneurship infrastructure and incentives such as business incubators, innovation hubs, science parks and competitive business grants could enhance the risk-taking propensity among students and motivate them for venture creation.

Understanding the influence of social support and risk-taking propensity on entrepreneurial intention among undergraduates is important for policy and practice. The result further reinforces the need to promote entrepreneurship education to create a critical mass of potential entrepreneurs in the university.

How a micro-founded discipline such as economics could deal with the increasing global economic reality? This question has been asked frequently since the last economic crisis that appeared in 2008. In this challenging context, some commentators have turned their attention to a new area of knowledge coming from physics: econophysics which mainly focuses on a macro-analysis of economic systems. By showing that concepts used by econophysicists are consistent with an existing economic knowledge (developed by J.S. Mill), the purpose of this paper is to claim that an interdisciplinary perspective is possible between these two communities.

The authors propose a historical and conceptual analysis of the key concept of emergence to emphasize the potential bridge between econophysics and economics.

Six methodological arguments will be developed in order to show the existence of conceptual bridges as a necessary condition for the elaboration of a common language between economists and econophysics which would not be superfluous, in this challenging context, to clarify the growing complexity of economic phenomena.

Although the economics and econophysics study same the complex economic phenomena, very few collaborations exist between them. This paper paves a conceptual/methodological path for more collaboration between the two fields.

While it is argued that entrepreneurship provides considerable freedom, it is also underlined that it might have the potential for exclusion and oppression. The study contributes to this debate and aims to investigate how entrepreneurs with disabilities (EWD) ascribe meaning to freedom in a contested terrain informed by entrepreneurial autonomy as well as constraints due to impairments and an ableist social environment.

The study uses a qualitative approach and builds upon the critical concepts of negative, positive and social freedom as a theoretical lens for the in-depth analysis of the twenty-nine semi-structured interviews with EWD in Hungary.

Findings indicate that EWD experiences freedom in ambivalent ways. Engaging in the discourse of entrepreneurship offers a subversive discursive toolkit to debunk the constraints established by ableism, enabling both negative and positive freedom. However, individualism being at the heart of entrepreneurship results in othering and undermines social freedom. Thus, while entrepreneurship offers greater individual freedom in both a negative and a positive sense for people with disabilities (PWD), it nevertheless fails to promote collective social change.

Contributing to the critical disability literature, findings contrast the view that having an impairment only reduces a person's abilities and highlight that it also affects the very nature of liberty. Contributing to critical studies on entrepreneurship, the case of EWD provides empirical evidence for understanding the simultaneous emancipatory and oppressive character of entrepreneurship through the interplay of the subjective experience of freedom related to disability and entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this paper is to add to the small but growing body of research examining the influence of founder gender on new venture access to venture development programs.

Hypotheses were tested utilizing a sample of 482 nascent technology ventures which applied for admittance into a venture development organization headquartered in the southern region of the United States from March 2004 through February 2016.

Findings suggest that female-founded applicant ventures experience a higher likelihood of acceptance into venture development programs than male-founded applicant ventures. Results further suggest that social attention to gender equality reduces this effect for female-founded applicant ventures. Findings extend the understanding of the gendered nature of high-technology venturing and venture development organizations.

The findings of this study may not generalize to new ventures operating in other contexts (e.g., non-U.S., low-tech, and other venture development programs). Additionally, this study's design and data limitations do not allow for the establishment of causality or address founder motivations to apply for acceptance into venture development programs.

This study adds to empirical findings regarding the influence of founder gender on new venture acceptance into venture development programs by developing and testing competing hypotheses. This study also extends extant research by examining the moderating effect of social attention to gender equality on the hypothesized relationships between founder gender and acceptance into venture development programs.

In a dynamic environment, understanding the consumer’s behavior in an online market is critical for the development of online retailers’ strategies. In Egypt, although the number of internet users is growing rapidly, online shopping is at an early stage of development. In addition, there is a lack of knowledge about the behavior of Egyptians toward online shopping and the factors that influence their behavior.

To demonstrate the applicability of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this research applies an extended TAM to analyze the factors that impact the Egyptian consumers’ online shopping behavior. Structural equation modeling is used for fitting the data and testing the hypothesis.

Findings revealed that perceived enjoyment, perceived ease of use, social norm and perceived risk have significant influences on the respondents to shop online; while the site language effect was insignificant.

This study has mainly four limitations. The first concerning the sample, it should cover diversified areas other than Cairo and should include respondents from different education levels. Future studies may consider using a national sample of current and potential online shoppers to be able to generalize the results. Second, the questionnaire should include questions about the levels of education and the level of income to analyze if they influence actual online shopping. Third, although the benefits of using online surveys such as reducing the costs and time and collecting data more accurately compared to paper-pencil surveys, the low response rate may lead to non-response bias. Finally, constructs such as website content, design, and response could be added to the TAM to examine different aspects of website functionalities on the actual shopping.

Considering that online shopping is still at the early stage of development in Egypt, there is a need to examine the factors that influence the behavior of Egyptian consumers while adopting online shopping. To fill in this gap, this study is analyzing the factors impacting the consumers’ decisions to shop online by examining a sample of students from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University. This study will contribute to providing an empirical application of the TAM on the Egyptian consumers in addition to, enhancing the knowledge of electronic retailers about the factors that drive consumers toward shopping online.