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Research Article

Investors prefer entrepreneurial ventures pitched by attractive men

Alison Wood Brooks, Laura Huang, Sarah Wood Kearney, and Fiona E. Murray
PNAS March 25, 2014 111 (12) 4427-4431; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1321202111
Alison Wood Brooks
aHarvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02163;
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  • For correspondence: awbrooks@hbs.edu
Laura Huang
bWharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104; and
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Sarah Wood Kearney
cMIT Sloan School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142
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Fiona E. Murray
cMIT Sloan School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142
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  1. Edited* by Nancy Hopkins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, and approved February 20, 2014 (received for review November 11, 2013)

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Significance

We identify a profound and consistent gender gap in entrepreneurship, a central path to job creation, economic growth, and prosperity. Across a field setting (three entrepreneurial pitch competitions in the United States) and two controlled experiments, we find that investors prefer entrepreneurial pitches presented by male entrepreneurs compared with pitches presented by female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitch is the same. This effect is moderated by male physical attractiveness: attractive males are particularly persuasive, whereas physical attractiveness does not matter among female entrepreneurs. These findings fundamentally advance the science related to gender, physical attractiveness, psychological persuasion, bias, role expectations, and entrepreneurship.

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a central path to job creation, economic growth, and prosperity. In the earliest stages of start-up business creation, the matching of entrepreneurial ventures to investors is critically important. The entrepreneur’s business proposition and previous experience are regarded as the main criteria for investment decisions. Our research, however, documents other critical criteria that investors use to make these decisions: the gender and physical attractiveness of the entrepreneurs themselves. Across a field setting (three entrepreneurial pitch competitions in the United States) and two experiments, we identify a profound and consistent gender gap in entrepreneur persuasiveness. Investors prefer pitches presented by male entrepreneurs compared with pitches made by female entrepreneurs, even when the content of the pitch is the same. This effect is moderated by male physical attractiveness: attractive males were particularly persuasive, whereas physical attractiveness did not matter among female entrepreneurs.

  • physical appearance
  • persuasion

Footnotes

  • ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: awbrooks{at}hbs.edu.
  • Author contributions: A.W.B., L.H., S.W.K., and F.E.M. designed research; A.W.B., L.H., and S.W.K. performed research; A.W.B. and L.H. analyzed data; and A.W.B., L.H., S.W.K., and F.E.M. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • ↵*This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor.

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Preference for attractive male entrepreneurs
Alison Wood Brooks, Laura Huang, Sarah Wood Kearney, Fiona E. Murray
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 2014, 111 (12) 4427-4431; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1321202111

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Preference for attractive male entrepreneurs
Alison Wood Brooks, Laura Huang, Sarah Wood Kearney, Fiona E. Murray
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Mar 2014, 111 (12) 4427-4431; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1321202111
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: 111 (12)
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