This document discusses a study examining the effect of human capital and gender on opportunity identification in Mexico. It presents hypotheses that individuals with higher levels of general and specific human capital will identify more opportunities, and that opportunities identified will be more innovative. It also hypothesizes that men and women may differ in opportunities identified and innovativeness, given similar human capital levels. The study uses a survey of 174 MBA students in Mexico to analyze relationships between human capital, gender, opportunities identified, and innovativeness. It finds that specific human capital positively impacts opportunities identified and their innovativeness, but finds no significant gender differences in opportunities identified or innovativeness.

1. Gabriel Macías Godoy A01138871
Gender, human capital, and opportunity identification in Mexico
 The phenomenon of business creation cannot exist without the, who is responsible for
making decisions, managing resources such as information and raising capital in order to
create new ventures and generate profitability.
 Given the importance of the individual within the business creation process,this study
continues the conversation initiated by DeTienne and Chandler (2007) and Ucbasaran et al.
(2008), by explaining the effect of human capital and gender on opportunity identification
and the innovativeness of these opportunities within the Mexican context.
Theoretical background and hypotheses
 Opportunity identification is a process that is influenced by political, social, and economic
factors. However,the most important element within this process is the entrepreneur,the
individual who has the capacity to see and identify opportunities.
 Human capital is defined as a set of skills and competences that an individual has acquired
through formal education and experience, and allow him or her to act innovatively and
contribute to firm profitability
H1. Individuals with higher levels of general human capital are more likely to identify more
opportunities.
 General human capital refers to the knowledge and skills that individuals obtain through
formal education and work experience and that is applicable to more than one job or firm
 General human capital enables the individual to generate more business ideas and recognize
them as viable opportunities.
H2. The greater the specific human capital, the higher the number of opportunities identified.
 Specific human capital refers to the knowledge and skills acquired on the job that are not
easily used within other firms and industries
 Shane (2000) referred to prior knowledge as a specific human capital that individuals use to
identify opportunities within an industry. This prior knowledge could be of markets or
customer needs. Prior knowledge provides an individual with the ability to see more
opportunities and connect concepts quickly
 Entrepreneurial experience has also been considered specific human capital. Individuals
who have previously created a venture have developed valuable and specific competencies
such as the skills of managing resources (time, people, and money) and obtaining financing
for the new venture. This kind of experience may provide the entrepreneur with a higher
probability of generating successfuloutcomes, in this case,more opportunities.
H3.1. Given similar levels of general human capital, men and women will differ in the number of
opportunities that they identify.
H3.2. Given similar levels of specific human capital, men and women will differ in the number of
opportunities that they identify
 Women entrepreneurs are better educated than their male counterparts and are less likely to
shift in and out of self-employment.
 Men and women also exhibit different levels of experience at the time they start their
ventures.
 While experienced entrepreneurs may launch four or five new ventures, women are less
likely to change or open diverse ventures.
 Women are more likely than men to be concerned about the time that they spend on their
startup and the time required by their family

2.  Social feminist theory argues that men and women have different social experiences from
birth, which may result in a different view of the world
H4. The higher the level of human capital of the entrepreneur, the higher the level of innovativeness
in the opportunities identified.
 Creativity is the result of profound and relevant knowledge, which involves rich
information derived from education and experience, so they suggest that an individual with
more information will be able to generate better solutions.
 Creativity training leads to more ideas and, a greater probability of generating higher
quality solutions to a problem.
H5. Gender moderates the positive impact of human capital on the innovativeness of opportunities.
 Considering the social feminist perspective, we expect that men and women with similar
levels of human capital will generate different levels of innovation in the opportunities they
identify.
 Based on Becker’s (1993) proposition that “more is better”, the expectation is that men,
who have greater prior experience will provide solutions with higher levels of
innovativeness.
Research methodology
 Data for this study were collected via a survey of 174 MBA students at a private university
in Northeastern Mexico.
 37 percent of the surveys were answered by women and 63 percent by men.
 The final sample included 168 respondents.
Conclusions
 This study provides empirical evidence of a positive relation between human capital and
opportunity identification in Mexico
 This study has shown the significant effect of specific human capital: people with greater
prior knowledge of customer needs or problems may identify more opportunities; however,
the probability that an individual identifies opportunities with innovation will be increased
when individuals work in different industries or have already had the experience of
launching a new business.
 Differences between genders were not significant for either the number of opportunities
identified or the innovativeness of such opportunities.
 Our findings do not allow us to affirm that the different outcomes observed in
entrepreneurial activity by women and men are due to gender per se
 The poorer outcomes observed among women are due to lower levels of prior knowledge of
customer problems, prior entrepreneurial experience, or to less varied industry experience