An Exploratory Study on Gender and Leadership Style Perception of the Entrepreneur in the Mexican Venture Capital Industry.

Abstract

In this study, the leadership style of the Mexican entrepreneur was explored and understood from an investor´s perspective. Considering the lack of leadership research focusing on gender in the context, the research philosophy was interpretivist and in order to bring knowledge into the context, an exploratory study was made from an inductive approach. Qualitative data was collected through interviews in order to respond the research question. The findings provided substantial insights that could be helpful for future research in the industry. In a male dominated industry such as entrepreneurship, it was shown that leadership style is shaped by social constructions and its characteristics related to efficiency and success have traits that are proper to a transformational style of leadership. Gender stereotype and prejudice against women were topics that were covered in order to provide insights to reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship. The dissertation also examined the difference between female and male entrepreneurs and to which extent they were of advantage or disadvantage for the industry. Therefore, it was concluded that traits for both male and female entrepreneurs could be of advantage and some others of disadvantage.