The Role of Stereotype Threat, Anxiety, and Emotional Intelligence in Women’s Opportunity Evaluation

• Published in: Entrepreneurship theory and practice Vol. 47; no. 5; pp. 1699 - 1730
• Main Authors: Zhang, Hui, Zhou, Xiaohu, Nielsen, Mette Søgaard, Klyver, Kim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-09-2023; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Anxiety; Emotional intelligence; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Gender stereotypes; Masculinity; Women; women’s entrepreneurship; anxiety; emotional intelligence; stereotype threat; opportunity evaluation
• ISSN: 1042-2587; 1540-6520
• DOI: 10.1177/10422587221096905

Masculine stereotypes of entrepreneurship represent a threat to women. We aim to understand how such stereotype threat affects women’s opportunity evaluation through anxiety. We test our idea using a two-randomized-experiment strategy and achieve external validity using a survey of female entrepreneurs. We find that situational anxiety, as an emotional mechanism, explains why stereotype threat negatively influences opportunity evaluation among women. We further unveil emotional intelligence as a boundary condition enabling women to cope with stereotype threat during opportunity evaluation. Our studies provide new insights into an emotive view of stereotype threat in the context of women’s entrepreneurship.