Gender and Entrepreneurship: A Meta-Analytic Synthesis and Extension

To cumulate and reconcile conflicting results in the research on gender and entrepreneurship, we meta-analyze 97 primary studies on entrepreneurial entry, financing, and performance, test existing explanations for gender differences, and propose alternative explanations grounded in self-efficacy, credit rationing, and growth orientation. We find gender differences in proclivity for entry shrink over the launch process; women face greater barriers in access to, than in the terms of, financing; ventures led by women are smaller and grow more slowly than those led by men but are equally profitable; venture industry largely explains gender differences in financing and performance; and, relative to men, female entrepreneurs do worse in the USA than elsewhere. Several of our results rely on a new technique we develop for meta-analyzing regression coefficients.