Women and entrepreneurial finance: a systematic review

The intersection of gender and entrepreneurship has received growing attention in recent years from academics, practitioners, and policy makers. The current paper reviews research on what influences women's demand for- and supply of entrepreneurial finance, while suggesting a conceptual approach untangling contradictory findings in earlier studies. This is achieved through a systematic literature review of 113 carefully selected papers, published between 1989 and 2019. Specifically, the review includes 77 studies dedicated to female access to finance, 32 studies on female investment behaviour, and 4 studies addressing both. We find that inconsistent findings can be traced to a combination of wide theoretical plurality in one-half of the studies and an absence of theoretical anchoring in the other half, calling for conceptual integration of existing theories with feminist critiques. Accordingly, we propose integrative conceptual frameworks highlighting the roles of explicit and symbolic factors impacting women's access to- and investment of- financial resources. This approach led us to suggest that refocusing research on symbolic and intangible factors may help uncover new associations, otherwise obscured in earlier research. Furthermore, the inclusion of interaction terms with gender-related variables may also help untangle existing inconsistencies.

Automated summary

The paper reviews research on women's demand for and supply of entrepreneurial finance, suggesting integrative conceptual frameworks that highlight the roles of explicit and symbolic factors influencing women's access to and investment of financial resources. The findings point to inconsistent results stemming from theoretical plurality and lack of grounding in some studies, calling for a comprehensive integration of existing theories with feminist critiques. Revisiting symbolic and intangible factors and introducing interaction terms with gender-related variables may help elucidate new associations and resolve existing inconsistencies in research.