Academics’ Entrepreneurship Propensities and Gender Differences

Abstract

Using survey data from a large public research organization, this study examines entrepreneurship propensities of academic researchers, focusing on gender differences. Although sample means of female and male propensities toward entrepreneurship are fairly similar, regression estimates show significant gender differences in the association of several factors with propensities to start businesses. In particular, prior record of researchers’ patenting and institutional leadership promote tendencies towards entrepreneurship among male researchers, but not among female researchers. Also, unlike the male scientists, doctoral degrees and preference for open access of research results do not significantly influence the entrepreneurial attitudes of female researchers. The results for the full sample are similar to those for the male sub-sample, with a negative coefficient on the variable identifying females.