Gendered motives towards hybrid entrepreneurial intentions: Empirical evidence from China

Abstract

Hybrid entrepreneurship research is to probe into the increasingly widespread phenomenon of “employment + entrepreneurship” in real life, and to break the traditional practice of dichotomizing self-employment and employment. Hybrid entrepreneurship provides entrepreneurs with another employment alternative by combining entrepreneurship and employment. By analyzing data collected mainly from prospective entrepreneurs in China, this paper aims to explore the main influencing factors of hybrid entrepreneurial intentions, in particular how gender moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial motives and hybrid entrepreneurial intentions. Empirical findings reveal that gender differences are evident in prospective entrepreneurs who are motivated to be self-employed by necessity-driven factors and those who aim to test the waters of entrepreneurship via the hybrid path.