Gender disparities in entrepreneurial finance: drivers, mechanisms, boundary conditions, and future research avenues

Since the early work of Buttner and Rosen (1988), research about the gender disparities in entrepreneurial finance has grown dramatically, especially in the last decade. However, research is generally fragmented across topic and geography, resulting in a lack of understanding about the drivers of the gender disparities, the theoretical mechanisms causing them, and the boundary conditions making these disparities more (or less) pronounced. Through a systematic literature review, we identify 123 articles on this topic published in high-quality journals from 1988 to now and offer a conceptual framework to systematize this literature. The framework considers three dimensions: the different financial channels entrepreneurs use, the supply/demand sides of the financial market, and the micro, meso, and macro levels of the analysis. We also consider the geographic context to which findings relate. Relying on this framework, we unearth relevant gaps in the literature and propose avenues for future research.