Exploring the Influence of Female Human Capital on Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Multiple Case Study Approach

Women have currently reached positions that require behaviour and competences previously related to men. These circumstances have placed the implications of women for the entrepreneurial orientation (i.e. EO) at the centre of the debate. However, it is still an open issue what factors might drive the EO in the presence of women entrepreneurs. Based on these premises, our paper explores whether the women’s expertise and experience have implications for the EO in terms of innovativeness, risk-taking propensity and proactiveness. To this aim, it relies on a multiple case study approach and formulates ex post propositions. Our study suggests that the female human capital factors foster/moderate the woman’s personal traits in terms of risk aversion and web thinking which, in turn, affect the EO dimensions. Therefore, the article contributes to both research and practice. In particular, it provides scholars with propositions that can be empirically tested. Moreover, it calls the attention of female entrepreneurs on how expertise and experience can affect the EO dimensions by fostering or moderating the effect of their personal traits.