IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobuve/v20y2023ics2352673423000288.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mirror, mirror—A gendered lens on female entrepreneurs’ facial attractiveness in reward-based crowdfunding

Author

Listed:
  • Seigner, Benedikt David Christian
  • Milanov, Hana

Abstract

Scholars investigating women's attractiveness have documented its disadvantages (the “beauty is beastly” effect), especially in male-typed domains, including entrepreneurship. However, reward-based crowdfunding research demonstrates that these platforms reverse gender biases typically found in traditional entrepreneurial finance. Thus, in reward-based crowdfunding, the adverse effect of women's attractiveness needs to be re-examined. In a sample of 7447 Kickstarter projects, we find that facial attractiveness increases funding success for women more than for men and that sex differences in attractiveness effects are greater in male-typed categories like technology. A post-hoc reveals a surprising attractiveness penalty for men in the technology sector and offers insights for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Seigner, Benedikt David Christian & Milanov, Hana, 2023. "Mirror, mirror—A gendered lens on female entrepreneurs’ facial attractiveness in reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:20:y:2023:i:c:s2352673423000288
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673423000288
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00399?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gry Agnete Alsos & Espen John Isaksen & Elisabet Ljunggren, 2006. "New Venture Financing and Subsequent Business Growth in Men– and Women–Led Businesses," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 667-686, September.
    2. Peter Younkin & Venkat Kuppuswamy, 2018. "The Colorblind Crowd? Founder Race and Performance in Crowdfunding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 3269-3287, July.
    3. Allison, Thomas H. & Davis, Blakley C. & Webb, Justin W. & Short, Jeremy C., 2017. "Persuasion in crowdfunding: An elaboration likelihood model of crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 707-725.
    4. Massimo G. Colombo & Chiara Franzoni & Cristina Rossi–Lamastra, 2015. "Internal Social Capital and the Attraction of Early Contributions in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 75-100, January.
    5. Hadar Gafni & Dan Marom & Alicia Robb & Orly Sade, 2021. "Gender Dynamics in Crowdfunding (Kickstarter): Evidence on Entrepreneurs, Backers, and Taste-Based Discrimination [Women on the verge of a breakthrough: networking among entrepreneurs in the United," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 235-274.
    6. Johnson, Michael A. & Stevenson, Regan M. & Letwin, Chaim R., 2018. "A woman's place is in the… startup! Crowdfunder judgments, implicit bias, and the stereotype content model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 813-831.
    7. Todd W. Moss & Donald O. Neubaum & Moriah Meyskens, 2015. "The Effect of Virtuous and Entrepreneurial Orientations on Microfinance Lending and Repayment: A Signaling Theory Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 27-52, January.
    8. Jaeger, Bastian & Sleegers, Willem W.A. & Evans, Anthony M. & Stel, Mariëlle & van Beest, Ilja, 2019. "The effects of facial attractiveness and trustworthiness in online peer-to-peer markets," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PA).
    9. Devin G. Pope & Justin R. Sydnor, 2011. "What’s in a Picture?: Evidence of Discrimination from Prosper.com," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(1), pages 53-92.
    10. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    11. Thomas H. Allison & Blakley C. Davis & Jeremy C. Short & Justin W. Webb, 2015. "Crowdfunding in a Prosocial Microlending Environment: Examining the Role of Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Cues," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 53-73, January.
    12. Anglin, Aaron H. & Wolfe, Marcus T. & Short, Jeremy C. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Pidduck, Robert J., 2018. "Narcissistic rhetoric and crowdfunding performance: A social role theory perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 780-812.
    13. Bradley J. Ruffle & Ze'ev Shtudiner, 2015. "Are Good-Looking People More Employable?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(8), pages 1760-1776, August.
    14. Jenq, Christina & Pan, Jessica & Theseira, Walter, 2015. "Beauty, weight, and skin color in charitable giving," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 234-253.
    15. Li, Yuanqing & Sui, Sui & Wu, Sibin, 2022. "The effect of gender fit on crowdfunding success," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    16. Dushnitsky, Gary & Fitza, Markus A., 2018. "Are we missing the platforms for the crowd? Comparing investment drivers across multiple crowdfunding platforms," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 10(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Ron Johnston & Kelvyn Jones & David Manley, 2018. "Confounding and collinearity in regression analysis: a cautionary tale and an alternative procedure, illustrated by studies of British voting behaviour," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1957-1976, July.
    18. Mahmood, Ammara & Luffarelli, Jonathan & Mukesh, Mudra, 2019. "What's in a logo? The impact of complex visual cues in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 41-62.
    19. Helene Ahl, 2006. "Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 595-621, September.
    20. Davis, Blakley C. & Hmieleski, Keith M. & Webb, Justin W. & Coombs, Joseph E., 2017. "Funders' positive affective reactions to entrepreneurs' crowdfunding pitches: The influence of perceived product creativity and entrepreneurial passion," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 90-106.
    21. Malin Malmström & Jeaneth Johansson & Joakim Wincent, 2017. "Gender Stereotypes and Venture Support Decisions: How Governmental Venture Capitalists Socially Construct Entrepreneurs’ Potential," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(5), pages 833-860, September.
    22. Jason Chan & Jing Wang, 2018. "Hiring Preferences in Online Labor Markets: Evidence of a Female Hiring Bias," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 2973-2994, July.
    23. Heilman, Madeline E. & Stopeck, Melanie H., 1985. "Being attractive, advantage or disadvantage? Performance-based evaluations and recommended personnel actions as a function of appearance, sex, and job type," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 202-215, April.
    24. Wesemann, Henrik & Wincent, Joakim, 2021. "A whole new world: Counterintuitive crowdfunding insights for female founders," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    25. Vincenzo Butticè & Massimo G. Colombo & Mike Wright, 2017. "Serial Crowdfunding, Social Capital, and Project Success," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 183-207, March.
    26. Vitaly Skirnevskiy & David Bendig & Malte Brettel, 2017. "The Influence of Internal Social Capital on Serial Creators’ Success in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 209-236, March.
    27. McSweeney, Jordan J. & McSweeney, Kevin T. & Webb, Justin W. & Devers, Cynthia E., 2022. "The right touch of pitch assertiveness: Examining entrepreneurs' gender and project category fit in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    28. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Geiger, Mark, 2020. "A meta-analysis of the gender gap(s) in venture funding: Funder- and entrepreneur-driven perspectives," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    2. Hassna, Ghazwan, 2022. "Crowdfund smart, not hard – Understanding the role of online funding communities in crowdfunding success," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    3. Lin, Tse-Chun & Pursiainen, Vesa, 2022. "Regional social capital and moral hazard in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    4. Calic, Goran & Shevchenko, Anton, 2020. "How signal intensity of behavioral orientations affects crowdfunding performance: The role of entrepreneurial orientation in crowdfunding business ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 204-220.
    5. Veronica Crescenzo & Angelo Bonfanti & Paola Castellani & Alfonso Vargas-Sánchez, 2022. "Effective entrepreneurial narrative design in reward crowdfunding campaigns for social ventures," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 773-800, June.
    6. McSweeney, Jordan J. & McSweeney, Kevin T. & Webb, Justin W. & Devers, Cynthia E., 2022. "The right touch of pitch assertiveness: Examining entrepreneurs' gender and project category fit in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    7. Aaron H. Anglin & Christopher Courtney & Thomas H. Allison, 2022. "Venturing for Others, Subject to Role Expectations? A Role Congruity Theory Approach to Social Venture Crowd Funding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 421-448, March.
    8. Tajvarpour, Mohammad Hossein & Pujari, Devashish, 2022. "The influence of narrative description on the success of crowdfunding campaigns: The moderating role of quality signals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 123-138.
    9. Maurer, Joshua D. & Creek, Steven A. & Allison, Thomas H. & Bendickson, Joshua S. & Sahaym, Arvin, 2024. "Getting to know someone in ten seconds: Social role theory and perceived personality in entrepreneurial pitch videos," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    10. Sewaid, Ahmed & Parker, Simon C. & Kaakeh, Abdulkader, 2021. "Explaining serial crowdfunders' dynamic fundraising performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    11. Xiaobei Liang & Xiaojuan Hu & Jiang Jiang, 2020. "Research on the Effects of Information Description on Crowdfunding Success within a Sustainable Economy—The Perspective of Information Communication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-36, January.
    12. Kincaid, Paula A. & Short, Jeremy C. & Wolfe, Marcus T., 2022. "Got ink, get paid? Exploring the impact of tattoo visibility on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    13. Yang Zhao & Xuemei Xie & Liuyong Yang, 2021. "Female entrepreneurs and equity crowdfunding: the consequential roles of lead investors and venture stages," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1183-1211, September.
    14. Jin, Xianzhe & Li, Jingnan & Gao, Jijun, 2022. "Joint effect of linguistic style and ethnicity on entrepreneurial fundraising: Evidence from equity crowdfunding," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    15. Chan, C.S. Richard & Parhankangas, Annaleena & Sahaym, Arvin & Oo, Pyayt, 2020. "Bellwether and the herd? Unpacking the u-shaped relationship between prior funding and subsequent contributions in reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).
    16. Maria Figueroa-Armijos & John P. Berns, 2022. "Vulnerable Populations and Individual Social Responsibility in Prosocial Crowdfunding: Does the Framing Matter for Female and Rural Entrepreneurs?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(2), pages 377-394, May.
    17. Oo, Pyayt P. & Jiang, Lin & Sahaym, Arvin & Parhankangas, Annaleena & Chan, Richard, 2023. "Actions in words: How entrepreneurs use diversified and changing speech acts to achieve funding success," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    18. Vincenzo Butticè & Diego Useche, 2022. "Crowdfunding to overcome the immigrant entrepreneurs’ liability of outsidership: the role of internal social capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1519-1540, December.
    19. Elitzur, Ramy & Solodoha, Eliran, 2021. "Does gender matter? Evidence from crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    20. Chandler, Jeffrey A. & Anglin, Aaron H. & Kanwal, Fizza & Short, Jeremy C., 2024. "No politics in funding pitches: An expectancy violations theory perspective of entrepreneurs' political expressions in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 39(1).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:20:y:2023:i:c:s2352673423000288. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-business-venturing-insights .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.