The female role model tactic: Theorizing change in tech entrepreneurship
研究科技创业领域中的不同参与者如何将女性榜样用作推动性别多样性的变革策略，发现保守、革命和改良三种不同的领域观念，解释了为何女性创业榜样的效果证据不一。
In this paper, we examine how different actors within technology entrepreneurship use and theorize female role models as a change tactic to push for gender diversity. In an interview study of the field of technology entrepreneurship in Denmark, we found three different field conceptions of role models as a change tactic: the conservative, the revolutionary, and the reformist. Our research demonstrates that what appears as shared means (role models) and ends (gender diversity) differs. The role model tactic’s capacity for creating change is theorized differently—centering around the individual, the system, or the organized individuals—each cultivating a different pathway for change in the field. Our study contributes novel insights into why there is inconclusive evidence for the effects of female entrepreneurial role models. We discuss the implications of our findings, the institutionalization of the role model tactic across the field, and the significance of the three different conceptions and specifically their unintended consequences.