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\nStudy co-author Xiumei Li is an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Manitoba\u2019s Asper School of Business.<\/p>\n
Some gentle prodding revealed he was intimidated by her, but also felt that \u201cthere was a gap between what he expected for a partner versus what this female entrepreneur had to offer,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n
The proverbial light bulb switched on.<\/p>\n
Li is a researcher and an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Manitoba\u2019s Asper School of Business and wondered if there might be something here worth studying. She started reading media articles and watching roundtable discussions featuring female founders talking about being single and struggling to find partners.<\/p>\n
Li wondered: are men less likely to pursue relationships with female entrepreneurs?<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth this friend anecdote and the media discussion prompted us to think more about this phenomenon,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Li, along with fellow researchers Di Tong (Nottingham University, Ningbo, China) and Haemin Dennis Park (University of Texas at Dallas, Texas), did a deep dive into the journals to see if there was already any good literature on the topic. They found that while the professional barriers female entrepreneurs may face were represented, there were very few papers focused on the personal ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to see if there was something similar or complementary in the personal or private life domain, and that\u2019s why we started this project,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n
The project was composed of two field experiments and one survey experiment, the results of which were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Business Venturing under the heading A Romantic Penalty? Female Entrepreneurship and Relationship Initiation in Online Dating.<\/p>\n
For the first field experiment, the researchers used AI-generated portraits to create identical female profiles of users looking for long-term relationships and marriage on one of China\u2019s largest online dating platforms. Not only did the women in the profiles look the same, they had the same age (26, two years younger than the average age of marriage in China), height, income and education.<\/p>\n
The only thing different was their job title: a company owner versus a company manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we sent contact messages to male users on this platform, and then we just waited to see if any of those people responded, or if they didn\u2019t,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n
The team received institutional ethics approval for the experiment and did not disclose to the men swiping that these profiles were fake. Those who \u201cswiped right\u201d and were interested in the fictitious profiles were not engaged with further, or \u201cghosted,\u201d which happens on dating sites all the time.<\/p>\n
What they found: men were more likely to \u201cswipe left\u201d \u2014 or disregard \u2014 the profile of the entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that there\u2019s a statistical difference. If we focus on the female entrepreneur profile, we actually received very few, very limited replies compared to the other profile, which is manager,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n
Manager and entrepreneur were intentional choices, as both are considered less \u201cfeminine\u201d professions, Li says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut even in this case, we still see entrepreneurship has a disadvantage,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
In the second field experiment, everything about the profiles remained the same, except \u201cmanager\u201d was swapped out for three different \u2014 and more feminized \u2014 professions: primary school Chinese teacher, nurse and florist.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, the female entrepreneur is disadvantaged, so they receive fewer responses from those male users of the platform,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t The florist profile is also an entrepreneur \u2014 she owns her flower business \u2014 but because that profession is seen as more \u201cfeminine\u201d and \u201clife-oriented\u201d than, say, that of the founder of a cyber security tech startup, Li says, the florist did not seem to be at a disadvantage compared to the growth-oriented entrepreneur.<\/p>\n In the survey experiment, researchers made two profiles: a growth-oriented entrepreneur and a teacher. They then asked male participants open-ended questions about whether or not they would initiate relationships with these women.<\/p>\n While the male participants in the survey agreed that both careers are time demanding, there was a noted difference in perception.<\/p>\n \u201cThey think entrepreneurs voluntarily prioritize work, so they spend a lot of time on their business instead of family or life. But for teachers, they agree that teachers have a time-demanding job, but they believe that teachers will involuntarily devote time to their job,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n The language used about the women was also revealing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe found that they compliment female entrepreneurs, using words like \u2018independent\u2019 and \u2018accomplished.\u2019 For teachers, they usually use \u2018understanding,\u2019 \u2018kind,\u2019 and \u2018family or child-oriented.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The word \u201cdomineering\u201d came up for both professions, but with a critical difference. \u201cThey believe domineering is a personal trait for female entrepreneurs, but for teachers, they would say that it\u2019s more associated with, let\u2019s say, an authoritative classroom role instead of being a pervasive universal personality trait,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n She underscores that this research isn\u2019t meant to discourage women from being ambitious or founding their own companies; it\u2019s to better give a full accounting of the challenges they might face in all spheres of their lives.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the most important contribution of this study is to (the) literature. We do see papers talking about the business domain challenges that female entrepreneurs face \u2014 and also the challenges that married female entrepreneurs face balancing work and life. So we look at single entrepreneurs and see their challenges and their experiences,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t She hopes that it can also help move the needle in terms of how female entrepreneurs are viewed culturally.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to do something to help people understand that \u2018female entrepreneur\u2019 is not a label \u2014 it\u2019s not a trait. There is diversity among female entrepreneurs.\u201d<\/p>\n There was one demographic of men, however, who preferred female entrepreneurs: male entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s one positive thing out of this,\u201d Li says with a laugh.<\/p>\n jen.zoratti@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Jen Zoratti Jen Zoratti is a columnist and feature writer working in the Arts & Life department, as well as the author of the weekly newsletter NEXT<\/a>. A National Newspaper Award finalist for arts and entertainment writing, Jen is a graduate of the Creative Communications program at RRC Polytech and was a music writer before joining the Free Press in 2013. Read more about Jen<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Jen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2013 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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\nAn AI-generated, English-language illustration of the experiment using profile photos from Generated Photos to compare responses from dating-site user to profiles of \u2018entrepreneurs\u2019 versus other professions.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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