A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

Thomas Domboka
concerned. Bourdieu suggested that individuals possess four types of capital namely economic,
social, cultural and symbolic capital which Firkin (2003) collectively referred to as ‘entrepreneurial
capital’. Bourdieu is suggesting that different values are attached to each type of capital and this
further suggests that gender affects the way in which the different types of capital is valued. Carter
and Shaw (2006) posited that the different types of capital are valued differently depending on
whether they are in the hands of a male or female entrepreneur. According to Carter and Shaw, it
does not matter whether men and women possess the same amounts and types of capital. The value
attached to the capital is lower in the hands of female entrepreneurs and a higher value is attached to
the same capital in the hands of a male entrepreneur and this may explain the gendered nature of
businesses owned by men and women. They however did not explain why different values are
attached to entrepreneurial capital by men and women and the role played by society in deciding
these values including the perceptions held by society about women entrepreneurship. They also did
not explain whether the same values are attached by all men and women regardless of their
backgrounds.
2.1 Human capital
According to Gonzalez-Alvarez and Solis-Rodriguez (2011), formal education is an important
component of human capital as it enables entrepreneurs to accumulate knowledge and it equips them
with the necessary skills they need to start their own businesses. They added that the accumulation of
knowledge alone is not sufficient enough for business creation, but that the individual should have a
sense of self-efficacy and the perception one has of their abilities and the amount of skills they think
they have. Carter et al., (2002) equally posit that human capital is derived from education, training and
work experience and from an entrepreneurial standpoint, work experience has three important
dimensions namely industry, management and start-up (ibid).
Men do not only have more industrial experience, they also have more entrepreneurial experience
(Fischer et, al., (1993), and Gatewood et al., (2002) suggests that women lack entrepreneurial selfefficacy
compared to men and this made them have less confidence which affects their ability to
succeed when they become entrepreneurs. Gonzalez-Alvarez and Solis-Rodriguez (2011) found in
their study that more men (57%) were confident and they had the necessary skills to start their own
business while only 45% of women had positive perceptions about their skills. Gonzalez-Alvarez and
Solis-Rodriguez in their investigation of the influence of human and social capital and the existence of
gender differences in the discovery of business opportunities showed that greater amounts of human
capital increased the likelihood of discovering entrepreneurial opportunities. They concluded that the
greater the level of education of an individual, the better their perception or self-efficacy and
confidence in their knowledge and skills to start their own business and, the greater their likelihood to
start their own businesses. Gonzalez-Alvarez and Solis-Rodriguez also found that men were able to
discover more entrepreneurial opportunities than women and concluded that men had higher levels of
education and they had greater perception of the skills and knowledge they had to carry out
entrepreneurial activities and this supported their initial view of gender differences in the accumulation
of human capital. In their conclusion, they also found that gender differences existed in the amount of
human and social capital and in the discovery of business opportunities with men standing a better
chance than women. However, other studies have concluded that women had the same if not higher
qualifications to men.
2.2 Social capital
Social capital is one aspect of entrepreneurial capital that has been studied at length over a long
period of time. This form of capital is considered a significant component of an entrepreneur’s capital
and it takes the form of social networks which are thought to play an important part in the
development and success of small businesses. These social capital resources help individuals to get
connected to people who may provide vital support to the business in the form of information, advice
and practical help. These networks are considered particularly important to migrant and nascent
entrepreneurs. Boden and Nucci (2000) argues that women start their businesses with less social
capital because they have had fewer years of work experience and they lack managerial experience
due to lack of exposure in the labour market. Shaw et al, (2005) found that female entrepreneurs were
relatively younger and they did not have much work experience. They also found that there was a
close relationship between the amount of human capital one has and the amount of social capital that
they have and since men possess a greater amount of human capital (industry experience, age,
qualifications, etc.), they are more likely to also have better social networks which explains the better
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