Are female founding CEOs penalized when raising funds for their ventures based on industry served? Across an observational study conducted on ventures seeking funding (N = 392) and an experimental study conducted on investors allocating venture funding (N = 130), we find evidence for a “lack of fit” effect: Female-led ventures catering to male-dominated industries receive significantly less funding at significantly lower valuations than female-led ventures catering to female-dominated industries. In contrast, male-led ventures attain similar funding and valuation outcomes regardless of the gender dominance of the industries to which they cater. We confirm that this is because investors perceive lower degrees of fit between founding CEO and venture for female-led ventures catering to male- as opposed to female-dominated industries (with no perceived fit differences for male-led ventures across industries). Degree of investor sophistication emerges as a potential attenuating factor, appearing to help reduce gender bias from perceived lack of fit.

女性创始 CEO 在为基于行业服务的企业筹集资金时是否会受到惩罚？一项针对寻求资金的企业进行的观察性研究（N = 392）和一项针对投资者分配风险资金的实验性研究（N= 130)，我们发现了“不适合”效应的证据：与女性主导的迎合女性主导行业的企业相比，女性主导的迎合男性主导行业的企业获得的资金要少得多，估值也低得多。相比之下，男性主导的企业获得了相似的资金和估值结果，而不管他们所服务的行业的性别主导地位如何。我们确认这是因为投资者认为女性主导的企业迎合男性主导的行业的创始 CEO 和风险投资之间的契合度较低（与女性主导的行业相比，男性主导的企业之间没有感知到的契合度差异）。投资者的老练程度成为一个潜在的衰减因素，似乎有助于减少因不合适而导致的性别偏见。