The gender gap in Ph.D. entrepreneurship: How do students perceive the academic environment?

This paper investigates gender issues in Ph.D. entrepreneurship. The empirical analysis is based on data from a questionnaire survey run in 2014-15 in Italy. We analyse how Ph.D. students perceive the institutional entrepreneurial environment, the drivers and the factors hindering entrepreneurship and gender-equality among faculties at the parent institution. We find evidence of a gender bias in Ph.D. entrepreneurship and that the perception about the factors either hampering or supporting entrepreneurship is deeply different between sexes. The academic environment can have a fundamental impact on students' decisions to start new ventures and on the probability that they will abandon their entrepreneurial intentions. Female student entrepreneurs particularly benefit from the opportunity to engage with a gender-balanced work environment.

The Impact of Foreginness on the Relationship between Gender and Entrepreneur Performance

This paper examines the influence of the foreignness of an entrepreneur on the relationship between an entrepreneur's gender and business performance. It draws on current research on gender in entrepreneurship literature and foreignness, and argues that foreignness affects performance of men and women entrepreneurs differently. Data was collected from both domestic and foreign business owners in the US. The results suggest that while gender does not affect performance by itself, entrepreneur foreignness was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between gender and performance. Theoretical implications of the findings for both entrepreneurship and foreignness literature, practical implications for potential investors, managers of overseas operations and policymakers, and future directions of the study are also discussed.