Bachelor Thesis, Master Thesis, IDP
📌 Key facts
Contents
- 💡 Background
- 🦾Who We Are
- 🎯 Goals
- 🧠Topics of Interest
- 🎓 Profile
- 📚 Further Reading
- 📄 Requirements to any Work
- 📬 How to Apply
💡 Background
Media representations of entrepreneurs have a powerful influence on entrepreneurial aspirations (e.g. Levie, 2010; Radu and Redien-Collot, 2008; Hindle and Klyver, 2007). Media representations of female entrepreneurs shape perceptions of society and the business world about the characteristics of a typical female entrepreneur as well as about their business acumen (Achtenhagen and Welter, 2007, p. 205; cf. Smith and Anderson, 2007; Bruni et al., 2004; Langowitz and Morgan, 2003; Pietiläinen, 2001).
- Media representations influence whether women perceive business ownership as a desirable and attainable form of economic activity – and if so, what type of business ownership they aspire to. They thus shape the strength and direction of women’s entrepreneurial aspirations (see Radu and Redien-Collot, 2008 for media influences on entrepreneurial aspirations in general).
- Media representations influence expectations and perceptions of women entrepreneurs held by investors, clients, business partners and other individuals whose actions and decisions directly impact an entrepreneur’s business success (Bruni et al., 2004).
In newspaper articles female entrepreneurship tends to be discussed as a deviation from ‘normal’, male entrepreneurship (Ahl 2004, 2007). It is depicted as less purposeful, professional and successful (Achtenhagen and Welter, 2007; Bruni et al., 2004) and as driven by women’s personal concerns – with the latter generally perceived as less valuable to society than business motivations (Bruni et al., 2004).
🦾Who We Are
The Chair for Strategy and Organization is focused on research with impact. This means we do not want to repeat old ideas and base our research solely on the research people did 10 years ago. Instead, we currently research topics that will shape the future. Topics such as Agile Organizations and Digital Disruption, Blockchain Technology, Creativity and Innovation, Digital Transformation and Business Model Innovation, Diversity, Education: Education Technology and Performance Management, HRTech, Leadership, and Teams. We are always early in noticing trends, technologies, strategies, and organizations that shape the future, which has its ups and downs.
🎯 Goals
- Explore the state-of-the-art of the representation of female entrepreneurs
- Investigate the following questions:
- Do gender differences exist in the representation of entrepreneurs?
- What are the key topics in the portrayal of female vs. male entrepreneurs?
- What are consequences of the (biased) portrayal of female entrepreneurs (e.g., on entrepreneurial aspirations of girls and young women)?
- Are female entrepreneurs punished more harshly for unethical behaviour than male entrepreneurs (e.g., receive stronger medial backlash)?
- How can media outlets de-bias their representation of entrepreneurship?
- Make your results visible
The scope of your thesis will be determined based on your background, type of thesis, and personal interests.
🧠Topics of Interest
- (Gender) Stereotypes & Biases
- Entrepreneurship
- Female Leaders & Entrepreneurs
- Social Norms
- Media
- Language
🎓 Profile
- Reliable and self-driven
- Enthusiasm for DEI & Entrepreneurship
- Ability to do sophisticated internet and desk research, and connect with practitioners
- Passionate to learn more about the future and do research with impact
📚 Further Reading
📄 Requirements to any Work
We do not want your research to gather dust in some corner of bookshelf but make it accessible to the world. Thus, we warmly encourage you to create some or all of the following:
- Infograph - visually represent some of your work (find examples here)
- Slide Deck - summarise your research and possibly present it
- Extract most important sequences from podcasts, videos, and other media
- 3-4 Tweets about the most important findings and summarizing the topic
- optional: Medium Article - let people outside the university know about your research and start your personal brand
📬 How to Apply
If you are interested, please contact Nadja Born (e-mail below) by submitting your CV and grade report. Please also briefly outline your tentative research idea (research question, data and methods, possible outcomes with a tentative outline all in word as *.docx)
We're greatly looking forward to hearing more about you!
👉 nadja.born@tum.de