Employer attractiveness of female founders: the role of gender stereotypes

In this paper we explore the role played by gender of the entrepreneur in attracting employees for their new ventures. In particular, we study whether, why and under which circumstances female founders suffer from disadvantage in attracting employees. To do so we run two randomized-control trial experiments. In the former, we explore the causal relationship between gender and employer attractiveness. In the second one, we aim to obtain additional insights about the mechanisms underlying such relationship. To do so, we focus on the impact of the gender stereotype displayed by the female entrepreneur on employer attractiveness. Additionally, since social- rather than profit-oriented goals are generally perceived as more fitting with female stereotypes, we test how the social identity of the female founder moderates the relationship between gender stereotypes and employer attractiveness. With our study, we aim to contribute to research on gender gap in entrepreneurship and on employer attractiveness of new ventures.