The Impact Of Changing Age And Gender Norms On Entrepreneurship: A Cohort Study

Social norms regarding age- and gender-appropriate behaviors exert a strong influence on how entrepreneurs organize their lives. We examine the implications of socio-historical changes in age and gender norms for entrepreneurship by elucidating how the typical life stage at the time of entrepreneurial entry has shifted across socio-historical cohorts of entrepreneurs, as well as how the performance consequences of being married or having children at the time of entrepreneurial entry have changed over time. Based on cohort analyses of US self-employment data from the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we find that individuals today are less likely to be married and to have children when they enter entrepreneurship compared to entrepreneurs in the past. In addition, gender differences in the effect of being married and having children on entrepreneurial performance have decreased over time.