The role of digitalization in decreasing gender gap in opportunity driven entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT

Women entrepreneurs are a promising yet under-supported group that have notable impacts on the economy. Recent societal attempts to empower female entrepreneurs and their critical role in economic development have motivated research on determinants of women’s participation in entrepreneurship and what can reduce gender disparities in this field. Drawing on insights from information economics, this paper emphasizes the recent transformations through digital technologies and examines the effect of digital readiness of an economy on women’s ability to close the gap on entrepreneurial activities. Using a sample of international observations over the 2010–2016 period, we show that the capability of an economy to exploit digital opportunities increases female participation in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. The results also indicate that the positive role of digital readiness in women’s entrepreneurship strengthens in populations with higher perceived opportunity and, more interestingly, higher fear of failure.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital economy
• gender gap
• female entrepreneurs
• opportunity-driven entrepreneurship

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

M. Mahdi Moeini Gharagozloo

M. Mahdi Moeini Gharagozloo is faculty member in the field of Strategic Management at Morgan State University. He has a PhD in Strategic Management and his research is focused on Corporate Strategy, Digitalization of Economy and Merger and Acquisition market.

Mahdi Forghani Bajestani

Mahdi Forghani Bajestani is a faculty member in the field of Management at Alabama State University. He primarily teaches Strategic Management courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He also conducts research in the fields of International Business, Strategic Management, and Entrepreneurship. He has a PhD in Strategic Management from Old Dominion University.

Ali Moeini Gharagozloo

Ali Moeini Gharagozloo is a master degree student in Artificial Intelligence at Azad University. He does research in the field of AI and Data Science.

Amirmahmood Amini Sedeh

Amirmahmood Amini Sedeh (PhD) is currently serving as an Assistant Professor of Management at St. Edward's University. He centers his research on innovative entrepreneurship, resource mobilization in entrepreneurial ventures, and entrepreneurship in emerging and developing nations.

Fatemeh Askarzadeh

Fatemeh Askarzadeh is a faculty member at Marilyn Davies College of Business at University of Houston-Downtown. She has a doctorate in Business Administration (with a major in Strategy and minor in International Business) from Old Dominion University.