Understanding the factors that influence entrepreneurs throughout the entrepreneurial process has been a vital topic of entrepreneurial research. Despite societal changes, male entrepreneurs still outnumber females. The purpose of this paper is to develop a greater grasp on the factors that contribute to this phenomenon.
Utilizing social dominance theory and social cognition theory, the authors suggest that a female entrepreneur’s social dominance orientation (SDO) and mentorship experiences will influence her social and conventional entrepreneurial intention.
The authors’ theorizing suggests SDO can lower entrepreneurial self-efficacy which in turn can lower conventional entrepreneurial intentions but increase social intentions in some women. However, if the entrepreneur has mentoring, the effect could be dissipated.
This paper is one of the first to examine the impact of SDO on entrepreneurial intentions, and builds on the work of other scholars.