Social Ventures, Impact Accelerators And Endorsement Signals: The Moderating Effect of Gender

The social impact accelerator (SIA) seeks to select and accelerate startups that demonstrate potential to not only generate lucrative financial returns but also impact society in meaningful ways. Through the lens of signaling theory we examine 1,257 social startups that applied to 47 SIAs globally in 2016 and find that while social and economic signals positively increase selection probability, the founder’s gender plays a critical moderating...