Gender moderates firms’ innovation performance and entrepreneurs’ self-efficacy and risk propensity

On the basis of upper echelons theory and social learning theory, we examined the direct effects of 2 cognitive characteristics—self-efficacy and risk propensity—on entrepreneurs’ innovation in the early stage of entrepreneurial activities. We also investigated the moderating role of gender on these relationships, using data collected from the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database, comprising 12,828 entrepreneurs from 44 countries. We found that both self-efficacy and risk propensity were positively associated with innovation. In addition, gender acted as a moderator in the 2 relationships, and both were strengthened when the entrepreneurs were male. We have made 2 main contributions to the literature. First, we investigated the effects of two cognitive factors on innovation from a global perspective. Second, we introduced gender and examined it as a novel moderator in relation to its influence on these relationships.