The psychosocial profile of the entrepreneur: A study from the point of view of gender

Previous studies have shown that there are gender differences in the entrepreneur’s psychological profile (Moriano, 2005). Adopting the perspective of the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and the individualistic and collectivist values (Schwartz et al., 2001), the differential impact of gender on the entrepreneurial intention of a group of university students in northern Portugal is analyzed. The results show that there are differences: for women, self-efficacy, attitude, subjective norms and the entrepreneurial family have a significant influence on the intention to start-up, and values such as benevolence have a negative effect, while for men the entrepreneurial self-efficacy has positive and significant effects. These results may have important implications for the design of differentiated entrepreneurial educational programs.