The influence of the fear of failure on women pursuing entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom

Boosting women’s entrepreneurship is a key issue in improving the economies of countries worldwide, and while there is no objective reason why women’s ventures should perform less well than men’s, considerable barriers have been reported. Using qualitative interviews of nascent women entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom, we found that there are both internal and external contributory factors affecting fear of failure that we classified into five main areas. Many of these issues are related to gender, as interviewees felt the entrepreneurial ecosystem was male dominated, and also that women entrepreneurs had a habit of “hedging” by working on a plan B in case their venture failed, diluting their efforts. While generally seen as negative, fear of failure did encourage the women entrepreneurs to work harder and be more determined to succeed. We conclude by suggesting what can be done to overcome these barriers at different stages of the entrepreneurship process.