The effect of spouses on the entrepreneurial gender gap

In a novel contribution to the entrepreneurial, the Gender and Development (GAD) and the relational capital (RC) literatures, this study examines the possible role of spouses on the entrepreneurial gender gap through the family embeddedness model, which sees the family members as embedded in their social relationships and describes family systems through three interrelated characteristics (family transitions, family resources and family norms including attitudes, and values). Using a unique representative matched sample of 321 married couples, the results supports both the preselection and especially the socialization hypotheses by showing that married people have a significant association with their partners regarding their entrepreneurial tendency which also increases as marriage duration extends. Furthermore, while such similarity is associated with an increased probability for women to become an entrepreneur, it is also associated with men’s decreased probability to become an entrepreneur. Finally, clear evidence was found that family income had a significant positive association with men’s entrepreneurial tendency as well as with their probability to become entrepreneurs. However, it did not have any significant association with a woman’s entrepreneurial tendency nor with their probability to become entrepreneurs. The results shed light on important possible drivers for the entrepreneurial gender gap that works inside the family premises.