Social entrepreneurial intention from a gender perspective: An analysis of students at the University of Huelva, Spain

Abstract

This study starts from the hypothesis that the intention towards social entrepreneurship is stronger in women than in men. It was carried out under a quantitative focus, with an exploratory‐descriptive and correlative design, based on a sample of 1900 students at the University of Huelva. Participants completed structured questionnaires. The analytical procedures applied to the data were descriptive statistics, the Student t ‐test for independent samples and a binary logistic regression model to determine the strength of the associations between these factors and gender. The results show statistically significant differences in the factors determining intention towards social entrepreneurship. Specifically, women showed higher scores and a greater degree of association with respect to factors such as future vision, initiative, need for success, time management, problem identification, values and locus of control, whereas men showed a greater degree of association with innovation and saving habits. In addition, factors in common with both genders were identified, underlining the inclusive nature of social entrepreneurship. The findings confirm that intention towards social entrepreneurship is influenced by factors that differ according to gender and suggest that this kind of entrepreneurship can contribute to reducing the gender gap by enhancing skills in which women are stronger.