Gender and the Perception of the Dark Side of Entrepreneurship: Associations with Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Intentions

Abstract

Research on entrepreneurship increasingly recognizes the need to understand its psychological, ethical, financial,
and social costs. This study investigates how gender role orientation (GRO) relates to perceptions of two dimensions of the
dark side of entrepreneurship: financial and structural burdens, and work-life and emotional imbalance, as well as to
entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial intentions. Data were collected from 721 final-year university
students in Poland. The dark side dimensions were measured using an instrument developed for this study, informed by
prior work on negative entrepreneurial experiences; other constructs were assessed with validated scales. Results show that
masculine GRO is positively associated with ESE and entrepreneurial intentions, whereas feminine GRO relates positively
only to ESE. Feminine GRO is also linked to stronger perceptions of both dark side dimensions, while masculine GRO is weakly
and negatively related to financial and structural burdens. These findings indicate the importance of presenting
entrepreneurship in a gender-neutral way and of specific elements of dark side of entrepreneurship within entrepreneurship
education.