The role of digitalization in decreasing gender gap in opportunity driven entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT Women entrepreneurs are a promising yet under-supported group that have notable impacts on the economy. Recent societal attempts to empower female entrepreneurs and their critical role in economic development have motivated research on determinants of women’s participation in entrepreneurship and what can reduce gender disparities in this field. Drawing on insights from information economics, this paper emphasizes the recent transformations through digital technologies and examines the effect of digital readiness of an economy on women’s ability to close the gap on entrepreneurial activities. Using a sample of international observations over the 2010–2016 period, we show that the capability of an economy to exploit digital opportunities increases female participation in opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. The results also indicate that the positive role of digital readiness in women’s entrepreneurship strengthens in populations with higher perceived opportunity and, more interestingly, higher fear of failure.