The strengths of close ties: Taiwanese online entrepreneurship, gender and intersectionality

Abstract

This article examines entrepreneurs who have started innovative Internet and mobile technology companies in Taiwan because they are at the forefront of industrial changes in the country. Similar to findings in Europe and the USA, education and careers in technology in Taiwan remain dominated by men. However, I argue that the gender inequality of the sector is partly the result of the fact that small new enterprises rely on family support and close social networks. Few women are able to join the sector with male friends and colleagues due to the close social ties of the founding teams (homophily). Among my female interviewees, half have started their nascent companies with their husbands and male partners (husband and wife teams). However, gender, family backgrounds and childcare responsibilities affect both men and women, and the interviewees in my study were open in discussing these personal factors in relation to being entrepreneurs. This article argues that starting an Internet company is a family decision, discussed within the household. Intersectionality, not only gender, explains the founders’ decision to start a company, and their choice of co-founders.

Keywords:

• social networks
• gender
• social capital
• new media
• start-up companies
• intersectionality

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Taiwan Fellowship (2014) and the Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, for their support during fieldwork that led to this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on the contributor

Leung Wing-Fai is Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese Studies and Head of Asian Studies at the University College Cork, Ireland. Her research specialism includes Chinese language media (including new media), Internet entrepreneurship and the impact of technological change on work and employment. Her publications include Multimedia stardom in Hong Kong: Image, performance and identity (Routledge, 2014) and articles in The Sociological Review, Journal of Chinese Cinemas and Asian Ethnicity. [email: [email protected]]

Notes

1. AppWorks Demo Day 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI9HTzOYnq0. Accessed 15 November 2014.

2. This was the third lowest in the world after Singapore and Macau. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html. Accessed 11 November 2014.