AAACE 2021 Annual Conference

Female entrepreneur competence, self-efficacy, self-directed-learning

Phenomenological pilot study results exploring female entrepreneurs’ perceptions of differences in their own and others’ assessments of participants’ entrepreneurial competence. Additionally, the study explores the influence of perceived differences on participants’ self-efficacy beliefs and self-directed strategies entrepreneurs employ to reconcile perceived discrepancies.

U.S. women-owned businesses make up 42% of all businesses and, between 2014 and 2019, increased faster than overall businesses (American Express, 2019). Women-owned businesses, however, earned just 30 cents on the dollar in 2019 compared to all private companies (American Express, 2019). Growing disparity between the number of female entrepreneurs and their relative earning power may be influenced by gendered perceptions of entrepreneurism.
Female entrepreneurs are perceived as less legitimate and committed, and thus, less worthy of investment (Balachandra, 2020; Edelman et al., 2018; Mijid, 2015), and are judged more harshly and held to higher competence standards (Eagly, 2007; Yang & Triana, 2019). These disparities may discourage women’s entrepreneurial aspirations, their pursuit of scalable or prestige ventures, and how strongly they pursue opportunities (Gupta et al., 2020; Lewis et al., 2016; Mitchell & Shepherd, 2010).
In this qualitative research, we inquired about differences between how women perceive themselves and how others perceive them as entrepreneurial leaders, how these differences may impact their belief in themselves, and what educational experiences have helped them to improve their leadership and self-efficacy. Using role congruity theory and self-directed learning, results offer better understanding about women entrepreneurs’ experiences, learning, and self-developed coping strategies.