性别差异与创业融资信号有效性：调节焦点、亚国家制度及政策周期的调节效应研究

"The signaling discount for female entrepreneur financing" is an important phenomenon in new venture financing market, which shows a possibility that a female has a disadvantage of effectively transferring signals of venture quality. However, related empirical research about underlying mechanisms is very rare. Therefore, our research project will be a first attempt to synthesize signaling theory and gender role theory to propose a novel explanation for this issue, and valuable data will be systematically collected and analyzed from three sources: bank credit financing, equity financing and Internet financing. Hence, this project goes beyond prior literatures that focus on economical explanation of demand/supply analysis or sociological explanation of network structure or anthropological culture explanation. The main research contents include: 1) how gender difference affects the relationship between various signals and external financing; 2) a detailed analysis of three moderating factors (investors' regulator focus, institutional/cultural difference, and policy cycle) to understand whether and why they may strengthen or weaken the gender impact; 3) comparative studies that highlight the contextual differences on 'female entrepreneur signaling discount problem' among three different channels (bank, equity or Internet financing) and related coping strategies. This study provides new clues that help to understand and predict female entrepreneur financing strategies under different scenarios and to overcome gender-based barriers of financing. This study shows the unique characteristics of poly-theory fusion, contextualization, and multiple data sources, with prominent practical significance and theoretical value.

“女性创业信号融资折价现象”是投融资市场的一种重要现象，反映出女性在传递创业品质信号时比男性有劣势，但相关机制研究很少见。为此，本项目融合信号理论和性别角色理论对此问题提出了一个新颖的解释，并系统搜集了来自银行信贷、股权融资、互联网金融渠道的数据进行实证分析，从而突破了以往大体从经济学供需机制、社会学网络结构和人类学文化视角分析女性融资困境的局限。主体内容包括：1）性别差异对各类信号与外部融资间关系产生影响的机理研究；2）三方面调节因素：投资者的调节焦点、创业所在地制度/文化、融资所在政策周期对女性创业信号融资折价效应的调节机制研究；3）三种渠道（信贷、股权、互联网金融）下女性创业信号融资折价现象水平的差异及有效应对策略分析。本研究为理解和预测各场景下女性创业融资信号策略有效性及克服性别融资壁垒提供了新的线索。研究呈现出多理论融合、权变化及多数据源的研究特征，具有突出的现实意义和理论价值。

项目背景依托“发展建设创新型国家”和“大众创业、万众创新”政策指引，融合信号理论和性别角色理论对融资决策问题提出了一个新颖独特的解释，并进行了系统的理论和实证研究，从而突破了以往研究大体从经济学供需机制、社会学网络结构视角或文化理论进行分析的局限。内容涵盖四大模块：（1）性别角色理论在融资信号领域中的应用，（2）区分对比促进聚焦和防御聚焦，将其引入到企业投资者的决策逻辑中去，（3）将制度理论特别是其子分支：亚国家制度观和制度多元化逻辑视角，引入到企业决策逻辑中去，形成情境刺激效应或调节交互效应。（4）将周期的视角，从原有的聚焦点（即企业生命周期论）拓展到更多情境，特别的是结合中国本土政治制度环境的动态演变特征，着重从两个角度（地方长官政治生涯周期和毛邓时代变化）将周期视角引入到决策整体分析框架内。研究结果已在12篇国际高水平期刊和4篇基金委指定高水平期刊发表，并有多项工作论文在研在审。研究结论亦有实务价值，已与多家机构提供联合服务。