Accelerating alienation: gender and self-efficacy in the accelerator context
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research
ISSN: 1355-2554
Article publication date: 1 November 2022
Issue publication date: 22 November 2022
Abstract
Purpose
This study focuses on the lived experiences of early-stage women founders in a venture accelerator context. In particular, this work explores how gender shapes entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) development in early-stage female founders in the venture accelerator context.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative, feminist-sensitive research methodology was utilized, with empirical evidence drawn from interviews with fifty one female founders and four accelerator managers located in four, competitive accelerator programs located in the Northeastern United States.
Findings
Study findings highlight how accelerators contribute to ESE development. Data also shows how the micro-processes related to masculinized discourse, culture, as well as mentorship and training, contribute to the “othering” and minimization of women during early-stage venture development.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the accelerator literature through a provision of insights into the ways a dominant, masculinized discourse and culture alienates female participants, making them feel “othered’, and resulting in a lack of fit with critical networking and funding opportunities. Second, this study builds on self-efficacy theory by applying a gender lens to the areas of mastery learning, vicarious learning, social persuasion and mental state, thus illuminating ways that the masculinization of these processes negatively disrupts the ESE development of female founders. Third, this study builds more broadly on the women's entrepreneurship literature by showing how masculine norms and culture ultimately impact upon the well-being of women in an early-stage entrepreneurship context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership at Babson College and Western New England University for their financial support of this study. In addition, the authors immensely appreciate the early encouragement and guidance provided by Dr. Susan Duffy, Dr. Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, and Dr. Maureen Scully. Lastly, the authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their recommendations that contributed to the paper.
Citation
MacNeil, H., Schoonmaker, M. and McAdam, M. (2022), "Accelerating alienation: gender and self-efficacy in the accelerator context", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 28 No. 8, pp. 2083-2102. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-11-2021-0935
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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