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The entrepreneurship literature has provided mixed evidence as to whether various resource-providers --such as actual investors or hypothetical providers of financial capital, technology office licensers, consumers, as well as potential employees-- discriminate against female-led innovative start-up ventures in their resource-commitment decisions in terms of the likelihood and terms of resource provision. While some studies revealed evidence indicative of negative discrimination against female entrepreneurs, others have provided evidence of positive discrimination. Yet, another set of studies suggested that entrepreneurial resource-providers are "gender-blind" in their evaluations after accounting for differentials in individual, organizational, and industry characteristics of female- and male-led ventures. These divergent findings point to the need for a more nuanced and integrative approach to studying gender biases in entrepreneurial resource provision, with greater attention paid to both moderating contingency factors and mediating mechanisms. We develop a conceptual model and empirically-testable propositions discussing when, how, and why entrepreneurial resource-providers are likely to undervalue, equivalue, and overvalue female-led innovative ventures. Our model discusses the importance of a key contingency that is likely to influence evaluations of female- and male-led innovative ventures by resource providers: the gender-typing of the entrepreneur's product or service offering. We further discuss the mediating channels through which gender stereotyping is likely to influence the valuation of female- versus male-led ventures. Our model develops a systematic framework and empirically-testable propositions for assessing the occurrence of gender biases in entrepreneurial evaluations and the ensuing resource provision to innovative start-up ventures. We conclude with implications for future entrepreneurship research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses a highly relevant yet under-investigated topic within research at the nexus of gender, entrepreneurship and innovation: potential gender bias by prospective employees of innovative start-ups in male-typed industries. Drawing upon gender stereotype content theory, we suggest that potential recruits are likely to form less favorable impressions of a female (versus male) founder-CEO's perceived agency, warmth, and competence, which will spillover to reduce impressions of a female-led (versus male-led) venture's employer attractiveness, with both sets of perceptions ultimately resulting in a lower willingness to commit human capital to innovative start-ups headed by women. Findings from a randomized online experiment completed by 654 job-seekers reveal a 'double-female punishment' versus 'double-male reward' when the gender composition of other TMT members is also taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]