A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

The Significance of the LGBT-Community for Homosexual
Entrepreneurs – Influencing Factors and Consequences
Thomas Köllen 1 , Regine Bendl 1 and Sabine Steinbacher 2
1
WU Vienna, Department Management, Gender and Diversity Management
Group, Vienna, Austria
2
Steinbacher Consulting, Vienna, Austria
thomas.koellen@wu.ac.at
regine.bendl@wu.ac.at
office@steinbacher-netzwerk.at
Abstract: Up until now, very little research has been done on gay and lesbian entrepreneurs, and no research at
all has been conducted to analyze the role of the so-called “LGBT-community” for their business models. For
some homosexual entrepreneurs the “LGBT-community” is a key element of different aspects of their businesses,
but for others it seems to be totally irrelevant. To contribute to a better understanding of reasons and
consequences of different degrees of commercial community relations, this paper analyzes data from a
quantitative survey that was conducted among gay and lesbian entrepreneurs in Austria in 2011. As crucial
parameters for explaining the entrepreneurs’ community relations, two constructs are identified. Firstly, the
degree in which discrimination experienced in one or more of the former jobs is the main-reason for the decision
to become self-employed; and, secondly, the individual’s assumptions about the economic consequences of
customers potentially finding out about the individual’s sexuality. Statistically both constructs are not correlated,
and therefore they are adequate starting points for the proposed explanatory model. Besides personal,
biographical and psychological factors, the latter construct is partially influenced by the general perceived climate
for gay and lesbian entrepreneurs and it predicts the probability of the individual entrepreneur perceiving the
LGBT community as a target market, as well as the degree of a general commercial and personal relatedness to
that community. Discrimination experienced in former jobs seems to be an important reason for choosing an area
of self-employment, in which it is assumed to be accepted to be gay or lesbian. Having chosen such an area of
self-employment, the LGBT community by trend gains an important relevance for all business areas and also for
the individual definition of business success. Furthermore, selecting an area of self-employment that is perceived
as being an “adequate” area of employment for gays or lesbians, is a predictor of the personal sensation, of
solidarity and belonging to that community, and it partially defines the way in which the gay or lesbian
entrepreneur economically supports the community. The different forms of community relatedness and the
implication of the analyzed causalities for future research and for business practice will be discussed in the
paper.
Keywords: entrepreneurship, homosexuality, gay, lesbian, LGBT community
1. Introduction
Issues related to employees’ homosexuality have already been addressed in several organizational
studies (e.g. Barreto et al 2006, Gregory 2011, Köllen 2010, Köllen 2012, Hofmann/Steinbacher 2011,
Roberts 2011, Waldo 1999, Wright 2011). Research results show that dealing openly with
homosexuality has positive consequences for the individual capability of value performance, and
supports the usage of all personal resources and qualifications. However, so far, homosexuality has
not been an issue in entrepreneurship research. To our knowledge, only two papers have been
published on homosexual entrepreneurs (Schindehutte et al 2005 and Galloway 2007), which
highlight the importance and relevance of sexual orientation for entrepreneurial ventures. According to
Schindehutte et al (2005), gay and lesbian entrepreneurs face different obstacles to heterosexual
entrepreneurs: as far as customer and supplier opportunities and retention, acquisition and admission
of licenses, marketing and advertisement, employee selection and retention, and acquiring bank loans
are concerned, LGBT (i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) entrepreneurs face obstacles
based on homophobia. These research results also show that harassment and discrimination at the
former workplace do not represent push factors for the foundation of an enterprise by a LGBT person.
Furthermore the results show that sexual orientation and the LGBT community, as well as the location
of the enterprise near to the LGBT community, only have marginal influence on the entrepreneurial
success.
In this paper, we intend to explore these issues further and to go deeper into the importance of
perceived and anticipated harassment and discrimination. In addition to this, we will deal with
community relatedness; for some homosexual entrepreneurs the LGBT community represents a key
element of different aspects of their businesses, and for others it seems to be totally irrelevant. The
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