Abstract:

Social inequality is on the rise globally despite the efforts that developing economies are making to reduce the gap. Social entrepreneurship (SE) has become a fashionable construct known for its mission to address the social exclusion of persons in vulnerable situations. The debate on SE has reached various institutions and research networks around the world. Scientific research in the field is growing, as is evident from the proliferation of publications on the topic. However, empirical investigations on the antecedents to social entrepreneurial intentions in South Africa are still rare. This study aimed at investigating the influence of gender on antecedents to social entrepreneurial intentions among university students and professionals in South Africa and Germany. A questionnaire was administered to 703 students from a selection of universities in South Africa and Germany. ANOVA was applied to examine the differences regarding the influence of gender on social and commercial entrepreneurial intentions. Significant differences were found regarding gender and both types of entrepreneurial intentions in a way that social entrepreneurial intention levels were higher among women, and commercial entrepreneurial intention levels were higher among men in both samples. It may therefore be concluded that entrepreneurship is still a rather gendered career in a way that attributes linked to commercial entrepreneurship are usually stereotypically male, whereas attributes linked to social entrepreneurship are usually stereotypically female. Furthermore, given the predominantly moderate to high effect sizes of gender, it is argued that the effect of gender in the entrepreneurial intention formation process is too substantial to be limited to a control variable.

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