The effect of gender, age and education on entrepreneurial curiosity

Abstract

Purpose: Entrepreneurial mind-set has been a topic of various research. Entrepreneurial curiosity has been related to some other constructs in entrepreneurial research, whereas the antecedents or the relation to the entrepreneur's demographics has yet not been investigated. We therefore test how gender, age and the level of education affect entrepreneurial curiosity. Design/methodology/approach: Since there is no previous research on which we could build hypotheses, we use three research questions; and explore if there is a difference in entrepreneurial curiosity depending on the gender, and the possible curvilinear relationships among age and entrepreneurial curiosity, and the level of education and entrepreneurial curiosity. Participants in this study were entrepreneurs from Serbia, from which we gathered data through the interviews, by using a survey in which they were questioned about their gender, age, level of education and on the variables composing entrepreneurial curiosity. Findings: The results show a difference in entrepreneurial curiosity based on gender, indicating that entrepreneurial curiosity was greater for women than men. Potential curvilinearity between age and entrepreneurial curiosity and the level of education and entrepreneurial curiosity was not confirmed due to the lack of statistical significance. Research/practical implications: The results of this study give better insights into the basic demographics' effect on entrepreneurial curiosity. The implications are foremost for the policy makers, investors and entrepreneurship researchers, so they can have better insights on whom the entrepreneurially curious ones are. Suggestions for further research are to continue investigating the antecedents of entrepreneurial curiosity and also its consequences. Originality/value: The proposed research has not yet been done, so that this will contribute to entrepreneurship theory and practice.