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A longitudinal study of the characteristics, business creation process and outcome differences of Canadian female vs. male nascent entrepreneurs

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Abstract

This paper concerns a longitudinal study, of a random sample of nascent entrepreneurs in Canada (based on an initial screening sample of 49,763 households). We study gender differences, including number and type of gestational activities, the characteristics of the business created, and the status of the start-up effort after the 4th year of data collection. Logistic regression is used to predict the creation of an operating business from gender and other variables. Four of nine gender difference hypotheses were supported. Findings show that women who are members of a start-up team are six times more likely to achieve an operating business.

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Notes

  1. For information on the GEM see http://www.gemconsortium.org.

  2. Nascent entrepreneurs are defined as those individuals who are actively engaged in the start-up process, but who have not yet achieved an actual firm birth (a viable business) (Reynolds, 2000).

  3. For a study of male and female Canadian entrepreneurs that reported contrary findings see Menzies et al. (2004).

  4. The Entrepreneurial Research Consortium (ERC) included researchers across many countries (US, Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom).

  5. An important issue is the “difference in entry”, which is the lower incidence of female vs. male nascent entrepreneurs, however, we do not pursue this in this paper.

  6. For a description of the survey methodology and overall study results, see Diochon, Menzies & Gasse (2003, 2004, 2005a, 2005b); Gasse, Diochon and Menzies (2004); Menzies, Gasse, Diochon, and Garand (2002).

  7. A few activities which were included by Davidsson and Honig (2003) were not asked about in the current study and could not be included in the total.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the funding support from SSHRC Research Grant No. 412-98-0025 and Industry Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada, L2S 3A1

    Teresa V. Menzies

  2. Department of Business Administration, St-Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS, Canada, B2G 2W5

    Monica Diochon

  3. Faculté des sciences de l’administration, Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, PQ, Canada, G1K 7P4

    Yvon Gasse

  4. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Susan Elgie

Authors
  1. Teresa V. Menzies
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  2. Monica Diochon
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  3. Yvon Gasse
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  4. Susan Elgie
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Teresa V. Menzies or Monica Diochon.

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Menzies, T.V., Diochon, M., Gasse, Y. et al. A longitudinal study of the characteristics, business creation process and outcome differences of Canadian female vs. male nascent entrepreneurs. Int Entrep Manag J 2, 441–453 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-006-0013-0

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