Crises have significant implications for entrepreneurs' businesses. Female entrepreneurs are often found to suffer from crises due to their marginalized positions. Despite the increasing research at the nexus of crisis, entrepreneurship, and gender, how a crisis may influence investors' funding decisions concerning female entrepreneurs and whether different macro crises bring with them different implications remain under-explored questions. Drawing on role congruity theory and the crisis and strategic decision-making literature, this paper proposes that macro crises can shake the perceived incongruity between traditional stereotypes of the female gender role and masculine stereotypes related to the entrepreneur's role, thereby affecting financing for female entrepreneurs. We further compare two specific crises having different associated implications: the global financial crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted two studies, one emphasizing experimental manipulation and the second based on observational data. We found consistent evidence that investors were more likely to invest in female-founded ventures after the GFC; however, the opposite phenomenon occurred after COVID-19. Our experiment demonstrates that changed perceptions of gender role incongruity are a critical underlying mechanism driving our results. Our research has implications for both the entrepreneurship literature and role congruity theory.

Executive summary

Amidst the expanding body of research on crisis, entrepreneurship, and gender, there is a predominant focus on the entrepreneur, leaving a discernible gap in our understanding of how macro-level crises specifically influence investors' funding decisions related to female entrepreneurs, and whether different types of crises lead to varying outcomes. This paper aims to bridge this gap, drawing insights from role congruity theory and integrating perspectives from crisis and strategic decision-making literature. We suggest that macro crises have the potential to shift investors' perceived incongruities between female gender roles and the masculine stereotypes commonly associated with entrepreneur roles, consequently affecting funding decisions for female-founded ventures.

To test our hypothesis, we conducted two comprehensive studies within the contexts of two different crises, each with unique implications: the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first study employed experimental manipulation, while the second relied on observational data. Across both studies, the results were consistent: post-GFC, investors demonstrated an increased propensity to invest in female-founded ventures; conversely, after the onset of COVID-19, this trend reversed. Crucially, our findings underscore the pivotal role of perceptions of gender role incongruity in shaping the observed outcomes.

Our framework enriches the existing body of literature, offering nuanced insights into how various crises may impact investors' funding decisions based on gender. Moreover, our results underscore the importance of aligning actions with macro-level shifts as we strive to cultivate more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems.

中文翻译：

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当危机袭来时：审视全球金融危机和 COVID-19 大流行对女企业家融资的影响

危机对企业家的业务具有重大影响。女性企业家常常因其边缘地位而遭受危机。尽管对危机、创业和性别之间关系的研究越来越多，但危机如何影响投资者对女性企业家的融资决策以及不同的宏观危机是否会带来不同的影响仍然是尚未探索的问题。借鉴角色一致性理论以及危机和战略决策文献，本文提出，宏观危机可以动摇女性性别角色的传统刻板印象与与企业家角色相关的男性刻板印象之间的不一致，从而影响女性企业家的融资。我们进一步比较了具有不同相关影响的两种具体危机：全球金融危机 (GFC) 和 COVID-19 大流行。我们进行了两项研究，一项强调实验操作，第二项基于观察数据。我们发现一致的证据表明，全球金融危机之后，投资者更有可能投资于女性创办的企业；然而，在COVID-19之后却出现了相反的现象。我们的实验表明，对性别角色不一致的看法的改变是推动我们结果的关键潜在机制。我们的研究对创业文献和角色一致性理论都有影响。

执行摘要

在关于危机、创业和性别的研究不断扩大的过程中，人们主要关注的是企业家，这使得我们对宏观层面的危机如何具体影响投资者与女性企业家相关的融资决策以及是否存在不同的理解存在明显的差距。不同类型的危机会导致不同的结果。本文旨在弥合这一差距，从角色一致性理论中汲取见解，并整合危机和战略决策文献的观点。我们认为，宏观危机有可能改变投资者对女性性别角色与通常与企业家角色相关的男性刻板印象之间的不协调的看法，从而影响女性创办企业的融资决策。

为了检验我们的假设，我们在两种不同危机的背景下进行了两项综合研究，每种危机都有独特的影响：全球金融危机 (GFC) 和 COVID-19 大流行。我们的第一项研究采用了实验操作，而第二项研究则依赖于观察数据。两项研究的结果是一致的：全球金融危机后，投资者表现出投资女性创办企业的倾向增加；相反，在 COVID-19 爆发后，这种趋势发生了逆转。至关重要的是，我们的研究结果强调了性别角色不一致的看法在形成观察到的结果方面的关键作用。

我们的框架丰富了现有的文献，为各种危机如何影响投资者基于性别的融资决策提供了细致入微的见解。此外，我们的结果强调了在我们努力培育更具包容性的创业生态系统时将行动与宏观层面的转变相结合的重要性。