Ecuadorian adolescents and entrepreneurship: race, parental role models, and gender

This study, using a national data set, considers the impact race/ethnicity, gender, parental role models and gender-congruent role models have on adolescents’ perceptions of entrepreneurship in a developing country: Ecuador. Most existing work focuses on entrepreneurial intentions among university students in developed nations. However, in developing nations, significantly fewer young people pursue higher education. Studying adolescents is therefore more informative in understanding young people’s perceptions of entrepreneurship. Additionally, the formative nature of adolescence in terms of career-related characteristics makes this population especially relevant. Findings demonstrate that entrepreneurial perceptions among Ecuadorian adolescents are shaped primarily by social positioning and family entrepreneurial exposure, rather than by gender alone. This suggests that entrepreneurial perceptions are not evenly distributed among adolescents but are structured by both social inequalities and family embeddedness, which are particularly salient in developing economy contexts. Implications for research as well as governmental and institutional efforts to boost entrepreneurial activity are discussed.