How entrepreneur’s leadership behavior and demographics shape applicant attraction to new ventures: the role of stereotypes
基于角色一致性理论，通过实验发现企业家展现创业领导力能通过感知真实性提升组织吸引力，且该效应在年轻企业家中更强，但性别无显著调节作用。
Given the challenges of new ventures to attract applicants, this paper focuses on the influence of applicants’ perceptions of entrepreneurs for new venture recruitment. Based on role congruity theory, we propose that organizational attractiveness increases when entrepreneurs show entrepreneurial leadership, which fits the new venture context, and that this effect is mediated by perceived authenticity. Moreover, we propose this effect is particularly pertinent when entrepreneurs are young and male and thus fit the prevailing demographic stereotype of entrepreneurs. In our experiment (n = 503), we found the positive effect of showing entrepreneurial leadership on organizational attractiveness via authenticity perceptions, and this effect was stronger if the entrepreneur was young – the entrepreneur’s gender did not moderate the relationship. We discuss the implications of our study for research and practice in recruitment and entrepreneurship.