Title: Gender roles shaping the entrepreneurial mindset: embedded in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and impacted by the pandemic

Authors: Mahsa Samsami; Hoda El Kolaly; José L. González-Pernía; Fatima Boutaleb

Addresses: University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway; Stellenbosch University, South Africa ' The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt ' Deusto Business School, University of Deusto, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Spain ' Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Hassan II Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco

Abstract: Entrepreneurial-minded people perceive business opportunities, take risks in starting a venture and have confidence in their ability to run it. How is the entrepreneurial mindset shaped by gender roles across the social context of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and the temporal context of the pandemic? We analyse mindsets of a globally representative sample of people surveyed by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in 35 countries before or shortly after the pandemic started in 2020. Analyses go beyond reconfirming the gender gap in mindset by finding that people's entrepreneurial mindset is shaped by institutions in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and that women's mindset is especially promoted by support for women's entrepreneurship. The pandemic has caused similar declines in the perception of opportunities and risk willingness for women and men. The findings contribute to women's entrepreneurship, specifically concerning how the mindset is shaped by gender roles, which are formed in ecosystemic and temporal contexts.

Keywords: entrepreneurial mindset; opportunity perception; risk willingness; self-efficacy; gender; gender roles; entrepreneurial ecosystem; crisis; COVID-19.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2024.137353

European Journal of International Management, 2024 Vol.22 No.4, pp.551 - 575

Received: 03 Jun 2021
Accepted: 11 Apr 2022
Published online: 13 Mar 2024 *

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