Principal Topic

Female entrepreneurship is primarily studied from two different theoretical views: entrepreneurship and gender theory. Earlier studies also show that there are differences between countries and regions, for instance in the ratio of entrepreneurs in general and also in the ratio of female entrepreneurs. There are, however, no studies on perceptions of entrepreneurship and gender roles in different cultural contexts. The aim of this paper is to investigate culturally dependent differences and the specific research question is: can cultural differences in perceptions of entrepreneurship and gender be identified between female entrepreneurs in the IT sector in a Swedish (Stockholm) and a US (Boston) region?

Method

A case study by interviews of experienced female entrepreneurs/founders in Stockholm and Boston (4 +4), all in the IT sector, covered experiences, life stories and perceptions of gender and entrepreneurship. By studying women in the same industry differences can more easily be attributed to culture. All women were interviewed by a pair of interviewers—one Swedish (with experience of living in the US) and one American (with experience of living in Sweden).

Results and Implications

The Stockholm group seems to integrate conventional female and male roles while the Boston group separates these roles. Another difference is that the Stockholm group stresses the negative sides of entrepreneurship (less security) while the Boston group stresses the positive sides (more freedom). These and other differences lead us to propose that there are culturally based differences in perceptions of entrepreneurship and gender roles. These might be described as perceived differences in distances between entrepreneurship and employment and between gender roles. This means that we cannot assume that entrepreneurship and/or gender are perceived alike in all cultures, and should not us to assume that the distance between masculine/feminine and entrepreneurship/employment is the same across cultures. From our study it seems as if the perceived distance between being an entrepreneur and an employee is longer for the Stockholm than for the Boston group, while the perceived distance between male and female roles is shorter for the Stockholm and longer for the Boston group.

CONTACT: Carin Holmquist, Stockholm School of Economics, Box 6501, SE–113 83 Stockholm, Sweden; (T) +46 08 736 93 55; (F) +46 08 31 27 85; carin.holmquist@hhs.se