PurposeEntrepreneurship, which traditionally has been a male occupation, still attracts fewer women than men. Challenging gender stereotypes within entrepreneurship is one avenue to increase women's entrepreneurial intention and promote women entrepreneurship. This study adapts the “think manager – think male” leadership perspective to the entrepreneurship context and explores gender stereotype's implications for both entrepreneurial intention and motivation to become an entrepreneur.Design/methodology/approachA total of 902 Spanish non-entrepreneurs, both male and female, were randomly asked about the representation of successful entrepreneurs (no-gender-mention), successful men entrepreneurs or successful women entrepreneurs (reduced stereotype threat condition vs no-gender-mention or men entrepreneurs' conditions). Then, female participants' entrepreneurial intention, its antecedents (i.e. attitudes toward entrepreneurship, subjective norms and entrepreneurial self-efficacy) and necessity vs opportunity motivation were measured and compared to their male counterparts' scores in those three conditions.FindingsFemale participants reported higher entrepreneurial intention, self-efficacy and opportunity motivation when assigned to the successful women entrepreneurs' condition. Younger participants – compared to older ones – also exhibited higher entrepreneurial intention and opportunity motivation, more positive attitudes toward entrepreneurship and higher scores in subjective norms. Furthermore, findings suggest a woman entrepreneur seems to be less accessible (or more counter-stereotypical) to male participants than to female participants and, thus, the “think entrepreneur – think male” bias is more noticeable in male participants. Therefore, reducing negative stereotype threat for women in entrepreneurship may increase women's entrepreneurial career aspirations. This is of utmost importance to optimize training courses and mentoring programs to strengthen women's self-efficacy in their entrepreneurial skills and capabilities.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature about gender, entrepreneurial intention and motivation by adapting a leadership paradigm (“think manager – think male”) to entrepreneurship (“think entrepreneur – think male”). These findings shed new light on the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention and motivation and have implications for policy measures. Acknowledging that exposure to successful women entrepreneurs as role models potentially facilitates entrepreneurship among women, governments should provide tailor-made incentives and support for women entrepreneurs in the form of awareness raising, networking and in the mass media.

中文翻译：

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《思考企业家——思考男性》：减少性别刻板印象威胁对女性创业意向和机会动机的影响

目的创业传统上一直是男性的职业，但吸引的女性仍然少于男性。挑战创业中的性别陈规定型观念是提高女性创业意愿和促进女性创业的途径之一。本研究将“认为经理 - 认为男性”的领导视角适应创业环境，并探讨性别刻板印象对创业意图和成为企业家的动机的影响。设计/方法/方法总共 902 名西班牙非企业家，男性和女性, 被随机询问成功企业家（不提及性别）、成功的男性企业家或成功的女性企业家（减少刻板印象威胁条件与不提及性别或男性企业家的条件）的代表性。然后，测量女性参与者的创业意向、其前因（即对创业的态度、主观规范和创业自我效能）以及必要性与机会动机，并与男性同行在这三个条件下的得分进行比较。发现女性参与者报告了更高的创业意向、自我- 分配给成功女企业家的条件时的效率和机会动机。与年长的参与者相比，年轻的参与者也表现出更高的创业意愿和机会动机，对创业的态度更积极，主观规范得分更高。此外，研究结果表明，与女性参与者相比，男性参与者似乎更难以接近（或更反刻板印象）女性企业家，因此，“认为企业家 - 认为男性”的偏见在男性参与者中更为明显。因此，减少对女性创业的负面刻板印象威胁可能会增加女性的创业职业抱负。这对于优化培训课程和指导计划以增强女性在创业技能和能力方面的自我效能至关重要。原创性/价值本研究通过采用领导范式（“认为经理 - think male”）到创业（“think entrepreneur – think male”）。这些发现为创业意图和动机的前因提供了新的启示，并对政策措施产生了影响。