Description

#VSSER25 #session2

🎙️ Welcome to Revise and Resubmit — the podcast where research meets reflection, and insights are too powerful to be left on the page.

Today, we’re diving into the invisible ideas that shape who we think entrepreneurs are — and who we believe they should be.

Some people picture a risk-taker in a sharp suit. Others see a changemaker solving global problems. But what happens when we stop and ask: Does gender shape how we imagine entrepreneurship itself?

In this episode, we explore a powerful study by Vishal K. Gupta, Alice M. Wieland, and Daniel B. Turban, titled “Gender Characterizations in Entrepreneurship: A Multi-Level Investigation of Sex-Role Stereotypes about High-Growth, Commercial, and Social Entrepreneurs.”

Published by Wiley on December 4, 2018, this article appeared in the Journal of Small Business Management — a prestigious journal ranked in the ABDC A list, one of the most respected ratings in academic publishing. This isn’t your average business blog — it’s top-tier scholarship.

The authors use social role theory to unpack how deeply-rooted gender stereotypes color our perceptions of entrepreneurs. Through clever experimental design, they reveal that high-growth and commercial entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly viewed as masculine and agentic. Meanwhile, low-growth entrepreneurs are seen as feminine and communal. And social entrepreneurs? They live in an in-between world — a mix of traits, but still pulled toward the masculine side of agency.

But here’s where it gets even more interesting: Women were more likely than men to see entrepreneurship through a more gender-inclusive lens. And people high in modern sexism? They had trouble seeing femininity and entrepreneurship as compatible at all.

This research doesn’t just uncover bias — it challenges us to confront the subtle ways stereotypes keep certain people out of the entrepreneurial spotlight.

So here’s the curious question:
If our ideas about who “looks” like an entrepreneur are this biased, how many world-changing ventures never even get started?

Stick around.

Don’t forget to subscribe to Revise and Resubmit on Spotify, and follow our YouTube channel, Weekend Researcher. You can also listen on Amazon Prime and Apple Podcasts — and if you believe in what we’re building, support us on Patreon.

Special thanks to the authors — Vishal K. Gupta, Alice M. Wieland, and Daniel B. Turban — and to Wiley, for publishing this important and timely work in one of the world’s most respected journals.

Reference

Gupta, V. K., Wieland, A. M., & Turban, D. B. (2018). Gender Characterizations in Entrepreneurship: A Multi-Level Investigation of Sex-Role Stereotypes about High-Growth, Commercial, and Social Entrepreneurs. Journal of Small Business Management, 57(1), 131–153. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsbm.12495

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