04/02/2025
By Lani Faith Gacula
The Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Manning School of Business invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation proposal by Lani Faith Gacula on “Inclusion to Equality: The Multi-Level Barriers to Female Entrepreneurship.”
Date: Monday, April 14, 2025
Time: 10 – 11:30 a.m.
Location: Virtual Zoom link
Committee Members
1) Committee Chair: Michael Obal, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
2) Committee Member: Denise Dunlap, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Manning School of Business, UMass Lowell
3) Committee Member: Rangapriya (Priya) Kannan, Ph.D., Dean, Lucas College & Graduate School of Business, San José State University
Abstract
This study strategically integrates the role of gender, investment decisions and the intricacies of female entrepreneurship at the macro, meso, and micro levels. The primary focus is on foregrounding female entrepreneurs while acknowledging the importance of social and environmental factors influencing women’s ability in accessing entrepreneurial financing. The acquisition of financial resources remains one of the most critical tasks for the entrepreneurs as they attempt to develop a new venture (Ko & McKelvie, 2018). However, entrepreneurship has historically been considered a male-dominated field (Bird & Brush, 2002) and research indicates that capital providers continue to display a preference for masculine traits often resulting in the underfunding of female-led ventures (Karlstrøm et al., 2024). This leads to a significant disparity in the acquisition of financial resources between male-led and female-led ventures (Sahasranamam et al., 2024). Examining female entrepreneurship through a multilevel analysis is crucial to developing a comprehensive understanding of the varied and interacting factors affecting female entrepreneurs in capital acquisition.
At a macro level (Essay 1), I drew upon gender role congruity theory to examine whether, how, and why women-led impact ventures experience disparity from their male counterparts in the ability to obtain early-stage equity investment and whether a country’s cultural masculinity deepens the hurdles for female entrepreneurs in the pursuit of equity funding. At the meso level (Essay 2), this research shifts the lens to investigate how stereotypes influence dynamics within new venture teams by investigating the effect of the team’s gender composition to funding success, and how female-founded new venture teams leverage human capital (diversity and average) in obtaining early-stage funding. This study draws from gender stereotype offering an understanding on how all-female founders and female lead founder navigate stereotypes within teams and information processing theory to understand the acquisition, exchange and application of information within teams (Deeter-Schmelz & Ramsey, 2003). At the micro level, I will be examining the likelihood of female entrepreneurs obtaining venture financing through the lens of homophily between female entrepreneurs and capital investors. Female entrepreneurs often experience gender bias due to gender stereotypes and established gender roles (Balachandra et al., 2019). This study will examine how similarities in social connections, education backgrounds and industry experiences between female entrepreneurs and investors impact the likelihood of securing funding.
By examining female entrepreneurship and their ability to acquire financing at a multilevel approach, we are able to collectively understand the different gender-based barriers they face. This proposal efforts to reveal underlying and interacting causes of persistent discriminations and biases thereby enabling academics and decision makers to develop a comprehensive and holistic perspective. This perspective can help guide new research, inform policymakers, shape supportive ecosystems, and contributes to the advancement of female entrepreneurs, ultimately fostering a more supportive, inclusive and equitable entrepreneurial environment.