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2023 | Book

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Women in Alternative Finance

Exploring the Benefits of Equity Crowdfunding

Authors: Francesca Battaglia, Emanuela Giusi Gaeta

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book focuses on equity crowdfunding in order to shed light on female entrepreneurship. Global awareness of gender inequality has resulted in international efforts to alleviate disparities and promote women's growth. This book draws academics, policymakers, and practitioners' attention to equity crowdfunding as a good environment for female entrepreneurs to overcome gender gaps and establish a more inclusive and fair financial landscape. While women are often found to be at a disadvantage when compared to male counterparts in traditional credit markets, the book's our empirical evidence suggests that this is not the case for alternative funding channels such as crowdfunding. The book's distinguishing feature is its emphasis on the equity crowdfunding market, which could be viewed as the ideal environment for developing and growing female entrepreneurial skills. From this perspective, the book provides a clear recommendation to policymakers on how to support women in alternative finance, by providing more specific and detailed rules and action plans focusing on this topic.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter introduces the topics that will be covered in the following chapters of the book, by showing the reasons that led us to address this topic. As in the existing literature, there is substantial evidence that women are penalised with respect to men in many funding markets (i.e. private equity, institutional capital, and bank financing), female entrepreneurs have to find an answer elsewhere and seek funding from alternative channels. With this regard, there is some early evidence that women are not at a disadvantage compared to men in crowdfunding, where they even seem to perform better.
Francesca Battaglia
Chapter 2. Women in Entrepreneurial Finance: The Academic Perspective
Abstract
This chapter is dedicated to examining the scholarly viewpoint about the involvement of women in the domain of entrepreneurial finance. In further depth, it offers a comprehensive analysis of the scholarly literature, encompassing both theoretical frameworks and empirical studies, pertaining to the gender disparity observed in entrepreneurial finance. To this end, it is evident that the gender funding difference in entrepreneurial finance1987 can be attributed to a combination of structural reasons and psychological-social ones, as outlined in Eagly’s () social role theory. Afterwards, the chapter examines some recent initiatives undertaken by the European Union (EU) in order to support female entrepreneurship within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Emanuela Giusi Gaeta
Chapter 3. Women in Alternative Finance: A Focus on the Equity Crowdfunding
Abstract
This chapter covers an examination of the fundamental attributes of crowdsourcing, with a specific emphasis on the operational procedures of equity crowdfunding. Afterwards, our focus shifts towards examining the characteristics that may play a role in addressing the gender disparity evident in traditional financing channels, as well as distinguishing crowdfunding from other types of venture capital. The existing literature demonstrates that there is significant interest from scholars, policymakers, and practitioners in exploring the connection between female entrepreneurship and crowdfunding. Building upon this, the second part of this chapter aims to present an extensive examination of recent scholarly articles pertaining to this subject matter. This review will primarily concentrate on the outcomes of these studies and will also provide an analysis of the different competing theories.
Francesca Battaglia, Emanuela Giusi Gaeta
Chapter 4. An Empirical Investigation on the Italian Context
Abstract
This chapter presents an empirical cross-platform analysis of the Italian equity crowdfunding context over the period 2014–2020, aiming to explore the relationship between female entrepreneurs and the success of the campaigns. In more detail, we aim to investigate if female-led equity crowdfunding campaigns are more successful than male ones.
Francesca Battaglia
Chapter 5. Conclusions
Abstract
This chapter draws conclusions on the topic addressed in the book. Since traditional funding channels, such as private equity, institutional capital, and bank financing, have exhibited biases against female entrepreneurs, it concludes that female entrepreneurs have to turn to crowdfunding, as an alternative funding channel. The chapter underlines that the book's findings hold important policy implications, urging regulators to facilitate the development of alternative finance and foster a level playing field across European countries.
Francesca Battaglia
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Women in Alternative Finance
Authors
Francesca Battaglia
Emanuela Giusi Gaeta
Copyright Year
2023
Electronic ISBN
978-3-031-43467-9
Print ISBN
978-3-031-43466-2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43467-9