New article published in SAGE Open: female entrepreneurship in STEM

 

We have published a new article in SAGE Open in which we analyse a highly relevant issue for universities, entrepreneurship ecosystems and gender equality policies:

The Influence of Environmental and Cognitive Factors on the Entrepreneurial Intentions of Female Students in the STEM Field

📄 Published in: SAGE Open, April-June 2025
🔗 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251336645
✍️ Authors: Eva M. Sánchez-Teba, Guillermo Bermúdez-González and María-Dolores Benítez-Márquez

🔍 What problem did we address?

Women’s participation in entrepreneurship has increased significantly in recent decades. However, female entrepreneurship in technology-related fields remains comparatively limited.

This issue is particularly relevant in STEM, where entrepreneurial activity can generate innovation, high-value firms and stronger links between knowledge, technology and society.

Although there is extensive research on entrepreneurial intention among university students, fewer studies have focused specifically on female students in STEM fields.

👉 Our aim was to understand which cognitive and environmental factors influence the entrepreneurial intentions of female engineering students.

In other words:

What makes female STEM students more likely to consider entrepreneurship as a real professional option?

⚙️ What did we do?

The study focuses on female university students enrolled in an Industrial Design Engineering degree in Andalusia, Spain.

We analysed a sample of 118 female students, collected through a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2022.

The theoretical model combines two major frameworks:

1. Theory of Planned Behavior
   Used to analyse cognitive factors:
   1. Attitude toward entrepreneurship
   2. Perceived behavioral control
   3. Subjective norms
2. Social Cognitive Theory
   Used to analyse environmental factors:
   1. Closer valuation
   2. Social valuation

The model was estimated using PLS-SEM, following an explanatory-predictive approach.

We also tested whether previous work experience moderated the relationships in the model.

📊 Key findings

The results reveal a clear and nuanced pattern.

1. Attitude toward entrepreneurship is the strongest driver of entrepreneurial intention.
   Female engineering students are more likely to consider entrepreneurship when they perceive it as attractive, satisfying and personally meaningful.
2. Perceived behavioral control also matters.
   Students who believe they have the ability, resources and control needed to start a business show stronger entrepreneurial intentions.
3. Subjective norms do not directly influence entrepreneurial intention.
   This is especially interesting. Female STEM students do not appear to need direct approval from family, friends or peers in order to want to become entrepreneurs.
4. However, subjective norms do influence attitude and perceived behavioral control.
   Social approval does not directly create entrepreneurial intention, but it can shape how students evaluate entrepreneurship and how capable they feel.
5. Closer valuation has a positive impact.
   When family, friends and professional peers value entrepreneurship, students show stronger entrepreneurial predisposition, more positive attitudes and greater perceived control.
6. Social valuation has a more limited role.
   The broader social image of entrepreneurship does not directly influence entrepreneurial intention, nor does it significantly shape attitude or subjective norms. Its effect appears mainly through perceived behavioral control.
7. Previous work experience does not moderate the model.
   Having prior work experience did not significantly change the relationships between the cognitive and environmental factors and entrepreneurial intention.

👉 In short, the study shows that entrepreneurial intention among female STEM students depends less on general social approval and more on personal attitude, perceived capability and the support of close relational environments.

🧩 What does the study contribute?

From a theoretical perspective:

1. It integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Cognitive Theory in a single model.
2. It applies this combined framework to a specific and underexplored population: female STEM students.
3. It shows that not all social influences operate in the same way.
4. It distinguishes between:
   1. The influence of close circles, such as family, friends and peers
   2. The influence of broader social valuation of entrepreneurship
5. It provides evidence that subjective norms may not directly determine entrepreneurial intention among female engineering students, although they still influence attitude and perceived control.

From a practical perspective:

1. Universities should not only teach entrepreneurship as a technical subject.
2. Entrepreneurship education should work on students’ confidence, perceived feasibility and personal identification with entrepreneurship.
3. Female students need visible opportunities, role models and practical experiences that make entrepreneurship seem achievable.
4. The close environment matters: families, peers and academic communities can reinforce entrepreneurial confidence.
5. Broader policies should improve the social image of entrepreneurship, but this alone is not enough.

⚠️ A critical reading

One of the most relevant findings is that female engineering students do not seem to depend directly on the approval of others to develop entrepreneurial intentions.

This challenges a simplistic view of female entrepreneurship as mainly constrained by social permission.

The issue is more complex.

👉 The key is not simply whether others approve.

The key is whether students:

1. See entrepreneurship as desirable
2. Believe they are capable of doing it
3. Perceive that entrepreneurship is valued in their close environment
4. Have access to training, support and realistic entrepreneurial pathways

This means that entrepreneurship policies aimed at women in STEM should move beyond generic motivational campaigns.

They should focus on building real perceived capacity.

🚀 Implications

For universities:

1. Entrepreneurship should be integrated into STEM curricula in a practical and applied way.
2. Business incubators, mentoring schemes and entrepreneurship laboratories can strengthen perceived behavioral control.
3. Female entrepreneurial role models in engineering and technology should be made more visible.
4. Entrepreneurship training should address both opportunity recognition and confidence-building.

For policy makers:

1. Support measures should reduce bureaucratic, financial and institutional barriers.
2. Specific credit lines, mentoring networks and support ecosystems for female STEM entrepreneurs could be especially valuable.
3. Policies should also address work-family balance, including support for childcare and care responsibilities.
4. Improving the public image of entrepreneurship remains important, but it must be accompanied by concrete support mechanisms.

For researchers:

1. More longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether entrepreneurial intention later becomes entrepreneurial behavior.
2. Cross-cultural studies could help identify whether these results hold in other countries.
3. Future research should examine additional factors such as entrepreneurial education, role models, self-efficacy, fear of failure and perceived institutional support.
4. It would also be useful to compare female STEM students with male STEM students and with female students from non-STEM fields.

💬 Central idea of the article

The central message of the article is clear:

Female STEM entrepreneurship is not only a matter of intention. It is a matter of confidence, perceived feasibility and supportive environments.

If universities and institutions want more women to create technology-based ventures, they must do more than encourage entrepreneurship.

They must help female students believe that entrepreneurship is desirable, viable and compatible with their professional future.

Entrepreneurship in STEM begins before the firm is created.

It begins when students start to see themselves as capable of transforming knowledge into innovation.