The Role of Stereotype Threat, Anxiety, and Emotional Intelligence in Women’s Opportunity Evaluation

Abstract

Masculine stereotypes of entrepreneurship represent a threat to women. We aim to understand how such stereotype threat affects women’s opportunity evaluation through anxiety. We test our idea using a two-randomized-experiment strategy and achieve external validity using a survey of female entrepreneurs. We find that situational anxiety, as an emotional mechanism, explains why stereotype threat negatively influences opportunity evaluation among women. We further unveil emotional intelligence as a boundary condition enabling women to cope with stereotype threat during opportunity evaluation. Our studies provide new insights into an emotive view of stereotype threat in the context of women’s entrepreneurship.