Purpose

Expanding access to entrepreneurship training programs can be a method to increase female involvement in technology commercialization only if these programs adequately address the specific challenges facing female faculty and graduate students. In the context of the US National Science Foundation's Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps) program, this study examines gender differences in prior experience and attitudes towards the training in order to propose improvements to the program design.

Design/methodology/approach

This quantitative study uses Pearson's Chi-Square and ANOVA tests on survey data from the I-Corps national program (n = 2,195), which enrolls faculty members, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and industry experts.

Findings

In comparison to male participants, female I-Corps participants reported less entrepreneurial experience prior to the program, poorer team relationships during the program and lower entrepreneurial intention and technology commercialization readiness at both the beginning and the end of the program. However, no gender differences were found in positive or negative perceptions of the instructional climate or perceptions of program usefulness.

Originality/value

This study is unique as it is based on a large-scale dataset drawn from sites across the United States. The results support potential changes to I-Corps and similar programs, including providing more explicit instructions for tasks with which female participants have less prior experience than males (e.g. in applying for patents), offering guidance for team interactions, and providing mentorship to assess whether low self-efficacy is leading women to underestimate the potential success of their projects.

中文翻译：

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学术创业中的性别差异：NSF I-CORPS 参与者的经验、态度和成果

目的

只有当这些项目充分解决女性教师和研究生面临的具体挑战时，扩大创业培训项目的机会才能成为增加女性参与技术商业化的一种方法。在美国国家科学基金会的创新团队 (NSF I-Corps) 计划的背景下，本研究检查了先前经验和对培训的态度的性别差异，以提出改进计划设计的建议。

设计/方法/方法

这项定量研究对来自 I-Corps 国家计划 ( n = 2,195)的调查数据使用 Pearson 的卡方和 ANOVA 检验， 该计划招收教职员工、研究生、博士后研究人员和行业专家。

发现

与男性参与者相比，女性 I-Corps 参与者在项目开始前报告的创业经验较少，项目期间的团队关系较差，在项目开始和结束时的创业意愿和技术商业化准备程度较低。然而，在对教学氛围的正面或负面看法或对项目有用性的看法中，没有发现性别差异。

原创性/价值

这项研究是独一无二的，因为它基于从美国各地站点提取的大规模数据集。结果支持对 I-Corps 和类似计划的潜在改变，包括为女性参与者先前经验少于男性的任务（例如申请专利）提供更明确的指导，为团队互动提供指导，并提供指导以评估是否低自我效能感导致女性低估了她们项目的潜在成功。