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Understanding the Gender Gap in Small Business Success

Urban and Rural Comparisons

Iowa State University, sbird{at}iastate.edu

Stephen G. Sapp

Iowa State University

The authors explore how urban versus rural community location shapes the extent to which various individual, relational, and structural factors affect the gender gap in small business success. Building on previous research on gender and small business success, gender queuing theories, and gendered organization/institution theories, they develop a place-specific theory of the gender gap in small business success. The findings, based on small business data collected in urban and rural Iowa (1995 and 1997), support queuing arguments and raise questions about the effectiveness of crowded-sector explanations. They indicate that the gender gap in small business success operates such that men-owned businesses are more successful in both urban and rural settings but that men-owned businesses are even more successful than women-owned businesses in urban than rural communities. The authors discuss the causes and consequences of the gender gap in small business success in rural and urban places and identify key issues for further research.

Key Words: gender queuing • small business success • women-owned businesses • urban and rural communities

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