Title: Are there differences in the perception of the importance of training for female and male entrepreneurs?

Authors: Barbara A. Wech, Warren Martin, John Sandefur

Addresses: School of Business, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294–4460, USA. ' School of Business, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294–4460, USA. ' Digital Village, Hoover Alabama, USA

Abstract: This study investigated the importance of a variety of training areas for female and male entrepreneurs. Initial results indicated that the female entrepreneurs rated several training areas as significantly more important than male entrepreneurs. These differences were not found in additional significance tests conducted using a sub-sample of males and females matched on age, type of business, number of full time employees and age of business. The implication of these findings is that when male and female business owners are matched on relevant variables, the gender differences in ratings of the importance of training disappear.

Keywords: women business owners; small business; entrepreneurship; human capital; social capital; training; women entrepreneurs; female entrepreneurs; gender.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2008.017311

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2008 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.389 - 400

Published online: 24 Feb 2008 *

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