ABSTRACT
Entrepreneurship is widely perceived by national governments as an appropriate vehicle for increasing economic and societal value. This chapter examines how gender influences the dynamics of role modelling in entrepreneurship. Role models are defined as "individuals who provide an example of the kind of success that one might achieve, and often also provide a template, of the behaviours that are needed to achieve success". A social learning theoretical approach emphasises learning and suggests that individuals refer to models because they can be helpful in acquiring new tasks, skills and norms. Role models can be cognitively evaluated as positive or negative. Emotional arousal implies positive or negative judgements about one's own personal psychological state when confronting a situation. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) is a construct that measures a person's belief in his or her ability to successfully launch an entrepreneurial venture and is considered a particularly important antecedent to new venture intentions.
