Gender composition of Social Venture Teams

Research Paper Title:

“How cultural tightness interacts with gender in founding teams: Insights from the commercialization of social ventures”

Authors:

Ikenna Uzuegbunam (Howard University)
Seemantini Pathak (University of Missouri-St. Louis)
Amy Taylor-Bianco (Ohio University)
Brandon Ofem (University of Missouri-St. Louis)

Background:

Social entrepreneurs often combine commercial activity with their social goals for better access to resources. Given gendered stereotypes that associate men with commercial activity and women with social activity, all-male social venture founding teams are the most likely to claim a commercial intent or legal form (i.e., the hybrid approach), followed by mixed-gender teams, while all-female teams are the least likely to do so. But how does societal culture shape the impact of gender on commercialization?

Methodology:

Sample: Drawn from a global database of new ventures that applied to over 210 accelerator programs between 2013 and 2018 (Entrepreneurship Database Program, EDP)
Sample Size: 6657
Analytical Approach: Two-stage multivariate Heckprobit models

Hypothesis:

• New venture team (NVT) gender composition impacts social venturing such that all-male NVTs are the most likely to (a) declare a commercial intent and (b) incorporate a for-profit legal form, followed by mixed -gender NVTs, and finally all-female NVTs. (Supported)

• Cultural tightness moderates the effect of NVT gender composition on the likelihood of commercialization of a social venture such that tight societies (versus loose societies) will encourage mixed-gender NVTs toward commercial intent as well as the for-profit legal form when compared to homogeneous (i.e. either all-male or all-female) NVTs. (Supported)

Results:

1. There is a gendered hierarchy in the commercialization of social ventures - the higher the female presence on the founding team, the lower the likelihood of commercialization intent.

2. All-male new venture teams (NVTs) in social ventures are 5.2% more likely than other team configurations to adopt a commercial intent.

3. All-female NVTs in social ventures have the lowest likelihood of commercial intention. All-female NVTs are 6% less likely than all-male NVTs to adopt a commercialization intent while mixed-gender NVTs are 5% less likely than all-male NVTs to adopt a commercialization intent.

4. Mixed-gender teams are most likely to express a commercialization intent in tight cultures. However, tight cultures seem to discourage commercialization intent by all-male teams.

5. The relationship between gender composition and commercialization intent is consistently higher than commercialization in legal form, reflecting that incorporating a commercial legal form is a stronger commitment than a commercial intent. The gap between commercialization intent and legal form is widest for all-female teams, lending more credence to arguments of greater sanctioning for women engaging in perceived gender incongruent behavior.

6. Mixed-gender teams in tight cultures are likely to express commercialization intent and incorporate a for-profit legal form at nearly the same rates as all-male teams. The attrition rate between commercial intent and form for mixed-gender teams is also much lower in tight cultures than in the full sample, and similar to that of all-male teams.

7. For loose cultures, differences between all three types of teams (all-male, mixed-gender, and all-female) with respect to commercialization intent are more diminished than the effects documented for the full sample. While the gap between commercialization intent and legal form narrows for all-male and mixed gender NVTs, all-female teams still have an extremely high gap in incorporating such intent into legal form.

Conclusion:

This examination of both gender and cultural tightness in a global sample of social ventures demonstrates how cultural context affects the relationship between gender and commercial activity in social venturing. By impacting early decisions about the choice to claim a commercialization intent and to pursue a commercial legal form, the characteristics of founders also influence the presence and prominence of hybrid ventures in a community. The authors contribute to research on cultural tightness by demonstrating how mixed-gender teams leverage gender role stereotypes to their advantage in tight societies. The authors show how mixed-gender teams bend or break tight gender norms by leveraging gender-specific intangible resources in combining social and commercial motives. At the same time, it is important for entrepreneurship research, particularly that on commercialization of social ventures, to note that rule-breaking is easier for all-male as well as all-female teams in loose cultures, leading to less variation in commercial intent between all three gender compositions in loose societies.