SUMMARY
Contextualizing Legitimacy And Social Capital For Women Entrepreneurs
Patrick Murphy, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, USA
Jill Kickul, Simmons School of Management, Boston, MA, USA
Lindsay Titus, Simmons School of Management, Boston, MA, USA
Principal Topic
Previous research has shown that women entrepreneurs recognize the importance of information seeking and planning (Gundry/Welsch, 2001). Our study adds to this work by forecasting venture outcomes (funding success, net worth, longevity) in gendered contexts via risk-taking preference, legitimacy, and social capital. We utilize signaling theory (Deeds et al., 1997; Higgins/Gulati, 2000; Stuart et al., 1999) to define the content of these antecedents and provide a test of established theory (e.g., Aldrich/Fiol, 1995; Rao, 1994) in a context of conformity to social norms, values, and expectations (Dowling/Pfeffer, 1975).
Method
The 711 PSED cases (334 women; 377 men) reporting starting a business on their own provided primary data. We operationalized study variables via PSED items. Due to data turbulence (e.g., skewness, kurtosis, outliers) we employed distribution free (non-parametric) statistics and recoded continuous variables dichotomously in light of analysis requirements, although the response options of some variables (e.g., risk preference) lent themselves conveniently to dichotomization. This approach ensured data did not violate analysis assumptions (e.g., violations of normality, missing data, skewness, outliers) and also promoted the validity of our findings (Robinson/Hofer, 1997).
Results and Implications
We executed three series (i.e., overall, women, men) of 22 frequency analyses. We measured associations using c2 test statistics. Findings delineate unique aspects of resource procurement, success, and survival for women-run entrepreneurial firms. Results showed only legitimacy to be associated with venture longevity for all entrepreneurs (c2 = 3.61; p = .039) and men in particular (c2 = 2.782; p = .069). Additional analyses contextualized social capital (general/expert) and funding (formal/informal) to distinguish women entrepreneurs. Expert capital impacted (a) legitimacy directly for all cases (c2 = 8.84; p = .003), (b) informal funding success indirectly for women only (c2 = 3.81; p = .070), and (c) formal funding success directly for women only (c2 = 3.43; p = .061). Results hold value for researchers, entrepreneurs, and policy makers. Although most women entrepreneurs (56%) reported finding expert guidance problematic, our study shows this kind of social capital is very important for bolstering their legitimacy and venture funding success.
CONTACT: Patrick J. Murphy, Department of Management, Suite 7000, DePaul University, 1 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604; (T) 312-362-8487; (F) 312-362-6973; pmurph12@depaul.edu