Gender Specifics in Entrepreneurs’ Human and Social Capital

Many scholars ask—either implicitly or explicitly—why anyone should study entrepreneurship. Data are difficult to obtain, theory is underdeveloped, and many findings to date are the same as those obtained in other areas of business, although differences in legitimacy and value as well as in the practical and theoretical importance of studying entrepreneurship exist. However, since the publication of the Bolton Report in 1971, the contribution of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) to economic growth, job creation, innovation, and promotion of enterprises has been widely recognized (Jones & Tilley, 2003, p. 1). Perhaps the largest obstacle to creating a conceptual framework for entrepreneurship as a discipline has been its definition. To date, most researchers