Purpose

Does gender stereotype endorsement play a role in the customer's cognitive evaluation of new ventures owned by women entrepreneurs? The authors’ cross-cultural study integrates literature on gender stereotype endorsement and cognitive legitimacy to address this research question.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a two-study experimental design and analyze our results by cultural context to test our hypotheses: one drawn from college students in Iran and one from working professionals in the United States.

Findings

The authors’ comparative results suggest that the evaluation of feminine versus masculine characteristics of women entrepreneurs varies depending on the evaluator's (in this case the customer's) endorsement of gender stereotypes and the cultural context. Specifically, the authors found that a new venture owned by a woman entrepreneur who displays feminine characteristics is perceived as more legitimate when the customer endorses feminine stereotypes, regardless of the country.

Research limitations/implications

The authors’ research contributes to the literature on cognitive legitimacy and women's entrepreneurship by unveiling the cultural conditions and factors that allow women entrepreneurs to benefit from acting in a stereotypically feminine way. The authors use a binary approach to gender. Future research should extend our findings to also include a non-binary approach.

Originality/value

This study contributes to women's entrepreneurship research by unraveling the implications of gender stereotype endorsement, legitimacy and culture in customer evaluation of ventures owned by women.

中文翻译：

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表现女性化是否值得？新企业评估中性别刻板印象认可和认知合法性的跨文化研究

目的

性别刻板印象代言是否在客户对女企业家拥有的新企业的认知评估中起作用？作者的跨文化研究整合了关于性别刻板印象认可和认知合法性的文献来解决这个研究问题。

设计/方法/方法

作者使用两项研究的实验设计并通过文化背景分析我们的结果来检验我们的假设：一项来自伊朗的大学生，另一项来自美国的工作专业人士。

发现

作者的比较结果表明，对女企业家的女性特征与男性特征的评估因评估者（在这种情况下是客户）对性别刻板印象和文化背景的认可而异。具体而言，作者发现，当客户认可女性刻板印象时，无论在哪个国家/地区，由具有女性特征的女性企业家拥有的新企业被认为更合法。

研究限制/影响

作者的研究揭示了允许女企业家从以刻板印象的女性方式行事中受益的文化条件和因素，从而为关于认知合法性和女性创业的文献做出了贡献。作者对性别使用二元方法。未来的研究应该将我们的发现扩展到还包括非二元方法。

原创性/价值

本研究通过揭示性别刻板印象认可、合法性和文化在客户评价女性拥有的企业中的影响，为女性创业研究做出贡献。