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The Act of the Pitch

Sheldrake, Tayla LU and Fleger, Jörn LU (2019) ENTN19 20191
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
The entrepreneurial pitch plays an integral role in attracting financial capital for a new venture. Notably, previous research has shown that (1) female entrepreneurs are often subjected to discriminatory practices when applying for external capital and (2) entrepreneurs’ communication skills and personal attributes influence investor decision making. Building on these findings, this study explores how business angels perceive (masculine and feminine) nonverbal communication cues in entrepreneurial pitches. This study thus makes use of a mixed method approach in which entrepreneurial pitches are firstly coded and analysed according to a number of stereotypically masculine and feminine nonverbal communication factors. Subsequently, the... (More)
The entrepreneurial pitch plays an integral role in attracting financial capital for a new venture. Notably, previous research has shown that (1) female entrepreneurs are often subjected to discriminatory practices when applying for external capital and (2) entrepreneurs’ communication skills and personal attributes influence investor decision making. Building on these findings, this study explores how business angels perceive (masculine and feminine) nonverbal communication cues in entrepreneurial pitches. This study thus makes use of a mixed method approach in which entrepreneurial pitches are firstly coded and analysed according to a number of stereotypically masculine and feminine nonverbal communication factors. Subsequently, the influence of these factors on business angels’ perceptions are tested during semi-structured interviews. Resultingly, this research reveals that the pitch content, structure and aim have the initial impact on a business angel’s perception. In addition, it finds that the manner in which an entrepreneur expresses their demeanour critically influences the overall pitch evaluation. This study concludes that confidence has the largest impact on the perception of nonverbal communication. Specifically, the findings suggest that a confident communication style is more likely to be evaluated as masculine and positive, whereas a lack of confidence is perceived more negatively and associated with femininity. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Sheldrake, Tayla LU and Fleger, Jörn LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Understanding the impact of gendered nonverbal communication in entrepreneurial pitches
course
ENTN19 20191
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Entrepreneurial pitch, business angels, investor decision making, gender bias, communication skills, nonverbal communication
language
English
id
8986583
date added to LUP
2019-07-04 16:19:28
date last changed
2019-07-04 16:19:28
@misc{8986583,
  abstract     = {{The entrepreneurial pitch plays an integral role in attracting financial capital for a new venture. Notably, previous research has shown that (1) female entrepreneurs are often subjected to discriminatory practices when applying for external capital and (2) entrepreneurs’ communication skills and personal attributes influence investor decision making. Building on these findings, this study explores how business angels perceive (masculine and feminine) nonverbal communication cues in entrepreneurial pitches. This study thus makes use of a mixed method approach in which entrepreneurial pitches are firstly coded and analysed according to a number of stereotypically masculine and feminine nonverbal communication factors. Subsequently, the influence of these factors on business angels’ perceptions are tested during semi-structured interviews. Resultingly, this research reveals that the pitch content, structure and aim have the initial impact on a business angel’s perception. In addition, it finds that the manner in which an entrepreneur expresses their demeanour critically influences the overall pitch evaluation. This study concludes that confidence has the largest impact on the perception of nonverbal communication. Specifically, the findings suggest that a confident communication style is more likely to be evaluated as masculine and positive, whereas a lack of confidence is perceived more negatively and associated with femininity.}},
  author       = {{Sheldrake, Tayla and Fleger, Jörn}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Act of the Pitch}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}