Gender risk preference in entrepreneurial opportunity: evidence from Iran

This paper examines how different representations of entrepreneurial opportunity can influence the risk preference of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, and whether this differs between men and women. A survey methodology was used with a random sample of 135 entrepreneurs and 126 non-entrepreneurs. The methodology was presented through a new risky choice framework containing five entrepreneurial opportunities. The first results indicate that framing information of opportunity caused significant differences in risk preferences between the entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs and also between the males and females. In negative situations, except for the lowest risk level of the experiment, the male entrepreneurs tended to choose higher risky opportunities than the female entrepreneurs. However, neither group showed a preference for the lowest opportunity return in certainty. In addition, a comparative analysis showed that there were more differences between the four groups in the negative situations than in the positive situations. The detailed differences and risk preferences of each of the four groups were also analysed. The results have been discussed with emphasis on entrepreneurship.