Gender Diversity Effects in Investment Decisions

Lennard Hohl · Peter M. Bican · Carsten Christian Guderian · Frederik J. Riar

25 citations0/0 files storedThe Journal of Entrepreneurship

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Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences Gender Diversity and Inequality Private Equity and Venture Capital

Abstract

This study examines the gender gap in investment decisions in a prominent setting: the American TV show Shark Tank. Our study is based on a sample of 895 pitches from 10 seasons comprising 222 episodes from 2009 to 2019. Contradicting prior research, our findings suggest that female entrepreneurs are not discriminated against in pitch success rates, independent of their respective industrial settings. We find that the valuations from the entrepreneurs themselves (males overvalued their ventures by 57.19%) and final deal valuations (male deals were overvalued by 50.50%) are significantly lower for females, hinting towards a self-imposed gender gap in entrepreneurship and angel investing. As the gender gap in entrepreneurship and angel investment seems to result from a lower rate of entrepreneurial intentions by women, we suggest fostering female entrepreneurship by raising the number of female entrepreneurs and business angels who may serve as role models among those potential female entrepreneurs and business angels at the brink of becoming actual entrepreneurs, as demonstrated in Shark Tank. Particularly, in teams, mixed founder teams consisting of males and females may support the creation of promising start-ups with viable business models.

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References

1998The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle 2002Venture Capital and the Professionalization of Start‐Up Firms: Empirical Evidence 1980Risk Taking Propensity of Entrepreneurs.2012Exploring the dynamics of gender, feminism and entrepreneurship: advancing debate to escape a dead end?2017We Ask Men to Win and Women Not to Lose: Closing the Gender Gap in Startup Funding 2018The emergence of entrepreneurial ecosystems: A complex adaptive systems approach 2014Investors prefer entrepreneurial ventures pitched by attractive men 2006The Normative Context for Women's Participation in Entrepreneruship: A Multicountry Study

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2025Gender differences in entrepreneurial equity financing—a systematic literature review 2022Access to venture capital: Does gender (still) really matter?2021Influential Factors of Network Changes: Dynamic Network Ties and Sustainable Startup Embeddedness 2025Gender disparities in entrepreneurial finance: drivers, mechanisms, boundary conditions, and future research avenues

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