Do Women Earn Less Even as Social Entrepreneurs?

49 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2014

See all articles by Saul Estrin

Saul Estrin

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Ute Stephan

Aston University - Aston Business School

Suncica Vujic

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics

Abstract

Based upon unique survey data collected using respondent driven sampling methods, we investigate whether there is a gender pay gap among social entrepreneurs in the UK. We find that women as social entrepreneurs earn 29% less than their male colleagues, above the average UK gender pay gap of 19%. We estimate the adjusted pay gap to be about 23% after controlling for a range of demographic, human capital and job characteristics, as well as personal preferences and values. These differences are hard to explain by discrimination since these CEOs set their own pay. Income may not be the only aim in an entrepreneurial career, so we also look at job satisfaction to proxy for non-monetary returns. We find female social entrepreneurs to be more satisfied with their job as a CEO of a social enterprise than their male counterparts. This result holds even when we control for the salary generated through the social enterprise. Our results extend research in labour economics on the gender pay gap as well as entrepreneurship research on women's entrepreneurship to the novel context of social enterprise. It provides the first evidence for a "contented female social entrepreneur" paradox.

Keywords: social entrepreneur, gender pay gap, social enterprise, earnings, job satisfaction

JEL Classification: J28, J31, J71, L32

Suggested Citation

Estrin, Saul and Estrin, Saul and Stephan, Ute and Vujic, Suncica, Do Women Earn Less Even as Social Entrepreneurs?. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8650, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2534678 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2534678

Saul Estrin (Contact Author)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Ute Stephan

Aston University - Aston Business School ( email )

Aston Triangle
Birmingham, B47ET
United Kingdom

Suncica Vujic

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, School of Business and Economics ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
Amsterdam, 1081HV
Netherlands
+31(0)551 3555 (Fax)

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