Investigating the Role of Gender Differences in the Online Social Networks of Entrepreneurs

The present study builds on the view that social capital is a social relational artefact by exploring how entrepreneurs cultivate and interact with their audience in the increasingly prevalent digital context of social network sites (SNS). More specifically, this paper examines the role of gender in these relationships, emphasizing the influence of social norms that govern the behavior of entrepreneurs in the shared online space, or community, of Twitter. The hypotheses are tested utilizing a gender-balanced dataset of 821 unique Boston-area entrepreneur digital social network profiles from Twitter. Results suggest that by self-presenting in ways that cater to one’s audience (i.e., are gender-role congruent), entrepreneurial networking on Twitter is shaped by gendered social norms and etiquette. Notably, on Twitter, women entrepreneurs had fewer followers, held less popular network positions, had less audience reach, and tweeted about more stereotypically feminine, as well as, entrepreneurial topics compared to men entrepreneurs.