Gender in Entrepreneurship: Conflict Styles, Self-Efficacy, Gender Traits, and Financial Decision-Making

Abstract

While approximately half the workforce in the United States is female, the proportion of female entrepreneurs is much less than that of the male entrepreneurs (36% small businesses owned by women verses 64% by men). There are disparities in the conflict styles used in negotiations, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, the valuation of business relationships, and financial decision-making. In this thesis, I test specific factors related to gender and entrepreneurship, including, gender differences in entrepreneurial conflict styles, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, gender traits, and financial decision-making. My research identified significant differences in conflict styles during negotiations with female entrepreneurs reporting higher levels of compromising. Women business owners also stated their felt lower-levels of entrepreneurial self-efficacy, expressed higher levels of communal traits, and demonstrated higher levels of accounting conservatism.