Purpose

The purpose of this paper is threefold. The first is to explore how children engage in entrepreneurship by creating a comprehensive inventory of commercial activities in which children engage. The second is to examine the extent to which the activities and categories of activities are gendered. The third purpose is to explore if the breadth of entrepreneurial activities (i.e., balanced skillset) increases entrepreneurship chances in emerging adults.

Design/methodology/approach

A holistic approach was used to create an inventory of commercial activities in which children engage. The researchers engaged in seven iterations, including scholarly and Internet searches, think-aloud and pilot tests, before submitting the inventory of over 100 activities to 928 participants. The relationship between general experiences and business startup was analyzed using binary logistic regression with a subsample of emerging adults aged 18–29.

Findings

The results revealed that 61% of the 23 categories and 53% of the 121 activities were gendered. Girls and boys tend to gravitate to gender-stereotypical entrepreneurial endeavors. Males were more likely to engage in stereotypical male commercial activities outside of the home, such as yard work, farm work and painting structures. In contrast, females were more likely to engage in stereotypical female commercial activities inside the home or activities related to beauty, crafts or food. Results also revealed that a variety of entrepreneurial activities and a general versus specific college degree increased the odds of starting a business in emerging adults regardless of gender.

Originality/value

Research and viewpoints explaining the gendered construction of entrepreneurship have been widely discussed. However, little is known about early-age commercial activities and their gendered nature. To our knowledge, this is the first construction of a childpreneur inventory and a subsequent demonstration of a connection between childpreneur activities and gender. This study also builds on prior work with emerging adults and the jack of all trades theory by suggesting that pursuing a balanced skillset is something learned early in life. The results will be useful to other researchers in gender and entrepreneurship and support agencies that seek to encourage children's entrepreneurial aspirations.

中文翻译：

---

草坪和柠檬水：儿童创业者的活动有性别吗？

目的

本文的目的有三个。第一个是通过创建儿童参与的商业活动的综合清单来探索儿童如何参与创业。第二个是检查活动和活动类别的性别化程度。第三个目的是探索创业活动的广度（即平衡的技能组合）是否会增加新兴成年人的创业机会。

设计/方法/方法

使用整体方法创建儿童参与的商业活动清单。研究人员进行了七次迭代，包括学术和互联网搜索、大声思考和试点测试，然后将 100 多项活动的清单提交给 928 名参与者。使用二元逻辑回归对 18-29 岁的新兴成年人进行子样本分析一般经验与创业之间的关系。

发现

结果显示，23 个类别中的 61% 和 121 个活动中的 53% 是性别化的。女孩和男孩倾向于被性别陈规定型的创业努力所吸引。男性更有可能在家外从事陈规定型的男性商业活动，例如庭院工作、农场工作和油漆结构。相比之下，女性更有可能在家中从事陈规定型的女性商业活动或与美容、手工艺或食品相关的活动。结果还显示，无论性别如何，各种创业活动以及普通与特定大学学位都会增加新兴成年人创业的几率。

原创性/价值

解释创业性别化构建的研究和观点已被广泛讨论。然而，人们对早期商业活动及其性别性质知之甚少。据我们所知，这是首次构建儿童创业者清单，并随后证明了儿童创业者活动与性别之间的联系。这项研究还建立在先前对新兴成年人的研究和万事通理论的基础上，表明追求平衡的技能组合是在生命早期学到的东西。研究结果将对性别和创业领域的其他研究人员以及寻求鼓励儿童创业抱负的支持机构有用。