Entrepreneurs' attractiveness to the opposite sex

Name: N.T.T. Pham l Student number VU-2090392 & UvA-11425660

Entrepreneurs’ Attractiveness

To The Opposite sex

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 1 This document is written by student Ngoc Thuy Trang Pham who declares to take full

responsibility for the contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 2 Abstract

Background: In the last few years different studies have been conducted on the extent to which being an entrepreneur has an effect on attractiveness to the opposite sex. In this research, a similar study is conducted in Vietnam to find out whether the results differ in a culture in which more women than men are running their own business (GEM, 2017). This study investigates the impact on being an entrepreneur on one’s attractiveness in general, both as a short-term and as a long-term partner. In addition, it makes a distinction between two types of entrepreneurs. Not all entrepreneurs have to be registered in Vietnam, so this study investigates both formal [registered] and informal [not registered] entrepreneurs.

Methods: Experiment has been conducted to test six hypotheses. The goal is to answer the research question ‘What is the effect of entrepreneurial status on the attractiveness to the opposite sex in Vietnam?’ Respondents were asked to rate six pictures of models of the sex they have indicated to be attracted to. Those pictures were accompanied by six possible employment statuses: Formal entrepreneur, informal entrepreneur, starting formal

entrepreneur, starting informal entrepreneur, employee, and labour situation unknown. In total, 195 participants provided usable ratings of the models on general attractiveness, attractiveness for a date, and attractiveness for a relationship.

Findings and implications: This research found that male formal entrepreneurs are significant rated to be more attractive than males with unknown labour situation, but not significantly rated to be more attractive than male employees and male informal

entrepreneurs. Hypotheses about male formal entrepreneurs are not supported. An explanation for this is the negative images about male formal entrepreneurs Vietnamese women might have gotten from women's magazines. This does not apply the other way around. The

employment status of female in Vietnam does not affect their attractiveness in men's opinion. These findings about attractiveness is valid for general attractiveness, short-term

attractiveness, and also long-term attractiveness. The hypothesis which stated that female formal entrepreneurs are less attractive for a relationship than female informal entrepreneurs and employees is also not supported. This might be due to the Vietnamese subcultures.

Keywords: Vietnam, employees, formal entrepreneur, informal entrepreneur, attractiveness, general attractiveness, relationship, dating.

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 3 Table of contents 1. Introduction 5 1.1. Background 5 1.2 Problem statement 5 1.3 Research question 6 1.4 Relevance 7 1.4.1 Scientific relevance 7 1.4.2 Social relevance 8 1.5 Outline thesis 8

2. Theories and Hypotheses Development 9

2.1 Theories 10

2.1.1 Human sex, mating, and attractiveness 10 2.1.1.1 Women, long-term and short-term 12 2.1.1.2 Men, long-term and short-term 13

2.1.1.3 Mate preferences 13

2.2 Entrepreneurs and Employees 16

2.2.1 Entrepreneurs 16

2.2.2 Employees 19

2.3 Vietnam and the Netherlands 19

2.3.1 Entrepreneurship in Vietnam 19

2.3.2 Employees in Vietnam 23

2.3.3 Vietnamese culture and society 24

2.3.3.1 Women in Vietnam 24

2.4 Hypotheses development 27

3. Methods 30

3.1 Research design 30

3.2 Sampling and data collection 30

3.3 Measures 32

3.3.1 Dependent variables 32

3.3.2 Independent variable/conditions 33

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 4

3.3.4. Exploratory measures 36

3.4 Data analysis 36

4. Results 37

4.1 Women’s ratings of male models 37

4.2 Men’s ratings of female models 39

4.3 Explanatory variables 40 5. Discussion 42 5.1. Implications 44 5.1.1 Theoretical implications 44 5.1.2 Practical implications 45 5.2. Limitations 46

5.3. Recommendations for future research 47

5.4 Conclusion 48

References 50

Appendix 57

Appendix 1: Data sets men 57

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 5 1 Introduction

1.1 Background

Entrepreneurship is an essential part of our economy. Several studies have shown that it creates jobs and is good for economic development and innovations (Van Praag & Versloot, 2007). It is therefore important that people want to become entrepreneurs. What are

entrepreneurs exactly? Different studies have defined it in different ways. In this study, entrepreneurs have been defined as individuals who own and run a business.

Besides financial reasons, there are also non-pecuniary reasons for becoming an entrepreneur (Astebro et al., 2014). One of those might be the influence it has on the opposite sex. Since previous research in the Netherlands has shown that women think that men who are

entrepreneurs are more attractive than men who are employees, it can be assumed that attractiveness to the opposite sex can be a non-pecuniary reason for men to become

entrepreneurs. This does not apply vice versa (Wazir, 2016 and Borst, 2016). This might be an explanation for the fact that more men than women are entrepreneurs around the world. The researches of Wazir (2016) and Borst (2016) show that women in the Netherlands think that men who are entrepreneurs are more attractive than men who are employees. These studies have been replicated in Croatia last year, where similar results have not been found (Saljic, 2017). Saljic (2017) explained this result by pointing out that in Croatia, those in public sector employment have the highest social status. Thus, it seems that the attractiveness of

entrepreneur status is country dependent.

1.2 Problem statement

Would the findings of Wazir and Borst hold in a country where more women than men run businesses? Vietnam is such an exception to the general pattern: more women are inclined to start their own business than men in this country. There are only five such countries. In Vietnam, the ratio of women to men business ownership is one-third higher (GEM, 2017). Would this be due to Vietnamese culture and society? Or is it just because not all companies in Vietnam have to be registered? Research by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry [VCCI] (2007) shows that the ratio of registered female-led companies is lower than that of male-run companies (Council, 2007). This research will not only examine the attractiveness of entrepreneurs for the opposite sex, but also distinguish between formal entrepreneurs

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 6 [registered] and informal entrepreneurs [non-registered]. It is possible that these two types of entrepreneurs are valued differently by Vietnamese. Vietnamese use two different terms for this, namely buôn bán and kinh doanh. The first term is translated as trade / sale. The second term is translated into English as to carry on business. In the Vietnamese-Vietnamese

dictionary this is tổ chức buôn bán để thu lời lãi, which is literally translated as "organizing trade for profit", which can actually be seen as an organized [formal] trade / enterprise. (VDict, 2018)

So, the goal of this research is not only to replicate previous studies of Wazir (2016) and Borst (2016) in the Netherlands on whether general attractiveness, attractiveness as a short-term partner, and attractiveness as a long-short-term partner are influenced by entrepreneurial status. The goal of this research is also to find out whether different entrepreneurial status, like informal entrepreneur and formal entrepreneur, has a different influence on an

individual’s attractiveness or not. If it does; how? Thus, we compare labour situation

unknown, employee, formal entrepreneur, informal entrepreneur, formal starting entrepreneur and informal starting entrepreneur.

This research will be guided by evolutionary psychological theories, which focus on how evolution has shaped the mind and behaviour, including mate preferences and sexual strategies. More about this will be explained in chapter 2.

1.3 Research Question

This research will investigate what the effect of being an entrepreneur is on a person’s attractiveness to the opposite sex in Vietnam. The goal of this research is to answer the following research question:

What is the effect of entrepreneurial status on the attractiveness to the opposite sex in Vietnam?

As an individual’s attractiveness is rated depending on the duration of the relationship, merely investigating general attractiveness is not enough. Therefore, this research also investigates individuals’ attractiveness in comparison with short-term and long-term.

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 7 Since this research is also a replication of previous researches at a different location, namely in a different country, this research will only investigate the attractiveness to the opposite sex. Attractiveness to the same sex is thus beyond the scope of this research. The results of this research will be mainly discussed concerning to the findings in the Netherlands, since it was the first and original research about this topic.

As this study is replicated in Vietnam, a sub question therefore of this thesis is the question which adaptations need to be made to the design used by Borst (2016) and Wazir (2016), in order to incorporate specific conditions pertaining to the Vietnamese context.

1.4 Relevance

1.4.1 Scientific relevance

As mentioned in the previous chapter, entrepreneurship is an essential part of our economy. Several studies have shown that it creates jobs and is good for economic development and innovations (Van Praag & Versloot, 2007). Because of this, it is important to know more about the reasons why people would like to become an entrepreneur. Much research has been done about attractiveness of entrepreneurs before this current research. Fewer researches have been done that link non-physical factors to attractiveness, especially to attractiveness of entrepreneurs. One of those latter researches is the research of Borst (2016). In the same year, Wazir (2016) has also done a similar research. These two researches of the Netherlands have been replicated by Saljic (2017) in Croatia one year after. Since the results found in Croatia differ from those of the Netherlands, it is interesting to replicate the research of the

Netherlands once more in another country. In this research, previous research of the

Netherlands will be replicated once more in Vietnam, a country where more women than men run businesses.

Replication studies are important because they build a cumulative body of knowledge. Social science has come under increased pressure to show the contextual nature of its findings (Miller & Bamberger, 2016). The power of replication is widely discussed in the book of Davidsson (2005). Replications are used to confirm or question findings from other researches. Replications increase external validity. When comparing the results of the Netherlands to those of Vietnam, previous findings can be strengthened or raise doubts.

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 8 1.4.2 Social relevance

Since this research is about employment status and most adults in the world are working a job, it can be relevant to society in general. Every person who has a job can be an employee, an entrepreneur, a business owner, and so on. Whatever the labour situation of an individual might be, it can be of great value to know how the employment status affects an individual’s attractiveness in the eyes other people, especially in the eyes of sex that the individual feels attracted to. Once knowing how employment status affects attractiveness, an individual can change or try to get a more favoured employment status to influence the way other people rate his/her attractiveness. This can make an individual be seen as more attractive. Moreover, entrepreneurs may not realise that their behaviour and decision making are driven by sexual motives. Once aware, they might make more conscious decisions.

Our study might also carry relevance for policy makers who want to close the “gender gap” (GEM, 2017) in entrepreneurship. Such efforts might remain futile as long as men are sexually rewarded for entrepreneurial activities whereas women are not.

From personal experience, the author of this research experienced that social status is

important and it has several influences on how people think about others in Vietnam. Whether this is true for the Vietnamese population at large or not, and whether it is significant or not, can be confirmed by this research. This research is of social relevance, because it enlightens on how social status influences people’s opinion about attractiveness and can answer how entrepreneurial status influences attractiveness.

1.5 Outline thesis

This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter presented the introduction of the thesis. The second chapter presents theoretical framework, where relevant theories concerning the topic will be presented. Those theories are evolutionary theory, evolutionary psychology, and human sex and mating. In this chapter, information about Vietnamese culture and society is also presented. Also in this chapter, the hypotheses are stated. The third chapter describes the methodology used for testing the hypotheses. The fourth chapter presents the analysis and the results of the research. In the fifth chapter implications and limitations of this research will be discussed. Also, recommendations for future research can be found in this chapter. At the end, this chapter consists the conclusion.

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 9 2 Theories and Hypotheses Development

To answer the research question, several theories will be discussed in this chapter. Attractiveness comprises not only physical traits, but also non-physical traits, and

attractiveness also depends on the duration of the relationship (Little et al., 2008). Because of this, this chapter will not only consist of theories on what make an individual attractive to the opposite sex, but also about an individual’s status. Especially, an entrepreneurial status. Figure 1 shows the theoretical model, that will lead us through this chapter.

Figure 1 Theoretical Model

First, several theories and research on attractiveness will be discussed in chapter 2.1. In this chapter, we will discuss about the characteristics of human beings that influences human attractiveness. Those characteristics consist both physical traits and non-physical traits. Think about body and face, personality and social status. Aside from this, the difference between general attractiveness, attractiveness as a short-term partner, and attractiveness as a long-term partner will be discussed. Then, entrepreneurship and the qualities ascribed to entrepreneurs will be discussed in chapter 2.2. Also in this chapter, the qualities of entrepreneurs and the

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 10 qualities we find attractive will be linked to each other and discussed. Also, studies by Borst (2016), Wazir (2016), and Saljic (2017) will be taken into account in this chapter. Then, in chapter 2.3, we will explore the context of this research, Vietnam, to find out whether results found in previous research are hold in Vietnam. Last, in chapter 2.4, the hypotheses will be developed.

2.1 Theories

As mentioned before, several theories and research on attractiveness will be discussed in this chapter. The reason for this is giving some background on things that influence our way of thinking about attractiveness and how we, as human beings, use different strategies when finding a mate. This is important for the development of hypotheses as well as finding an answer for the research question.

In this chapter, we first talk shortly about Darwin’s evolutio nary theory. Then, we go deeper into evolutionary psychology and focus on human sex and mating. Mating preferences of both men and women will be mentioned later in this chapter. Also, diverse strategies, both long-term and short-long-term, that can be use by men and women can be found here.

2.1.1 Human sex, mating, and attractiveness

Before going in detail about human sex, mating, and attractiveness, we first need to talk about several other theories, which explains processes of interpersonal attraction. Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which stated that individuals who have the characteristics best fit to survive reproduce in their current environment have the most reproductive success, is well known. Darwin has also introduced the theory of sexual selection. This theory focused on adaptions that arose as a consequence of successful mating. One of the essential elements that allow this theory to operate is inter-sexual competition. Hereby, the characteristics that are most valued by the opposite sex are selected for as this allows easier mating and reproduction (Buss, 2015).

Both theory of natural selection and theory of sexual selection play important roles in

evolution theory, but they are not the only players. Buss (2015) addresses that behaviour can be influenced. When individuals have knowledge that a certain adaptation exist, they are able to act on this and change their behaviour (Buss, 2015).

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 11 Evolutionary psychology, which has roots in evolutionary theory, focuses on how evolution has shaped the mind and behaviour. This is a theoretical approach to psychology, that attempts to explain useful mental and psychological traits as adaptations. In other words, mental and psychological traits can be seen as the functional products of natural selection (Science Daily, 2017). Human sex and mating is one of the topics which evolutionary

psychology deals with. Through these the psychological adaptations humans have evolved in the context of mating are investigated. Since this topic within evolutionary psychology is particular interest in answering the research question of this study, more about human sex and mating will be discussed next.

According to Trivers (1972), the most important variable affecting sexual selection is the relative parental investment. This is part of parental investment theory, which is the basis for many ideas about sex and mating. This theory of differences between the sexes is the core theory of this research, because it explains why and how men and women feel attracted to different characteristics. This is why the parental investment theory is a good theory to use when studying differences in sexual attractiveness of male and female entrepreneurs.

According to Trivers (1972), the sex that invests the most in children will be more selective in their choice for a partner to avoid unnecessary costs. Meanwhile, others will compete between each other in order to mate with the selective sex. There are two main categories in parental investment, namely mating investment and rearing investment. Mating investment consist of the sexual act and the sex cells invested. The rearing investment is the time and energy expended to raise the offspring after conception. Women's parental investment substantially surpasses that of the men (Trivers, 1972).

Based on the parental investment theory of Trivers (1972), Buss and Schmitt (1993) propose sexual strategies theory. In this theory, individuals use different strategies when it comes to mating. The strategies used are highly dependent on context. Since men and women have faced different reproductive problems in their ancestral environment, they evolved distinct psychological mechanisms that direct the choice for long-term or short-term strategies.

Next to the parental investment theory, there is the strategic pluralism theory developed by Gangestad and Simpson (2000). This theory is an idea that multiple behavioural strategies might be adaptive in certain environments and would therefore be maintained through natural

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 12 selection. Since this theory proposes that mating strategies will vary according to

environmental conditions, it strengthens our idea that the effect of entrepreneurial status on the attractiveness to the opposite sex in Vietnam may differ from that of other countries.

Since mating strategies will vary according to environmental conditions, both men and

women can choose between different strategies in different situations. More about this will be mentioned in the next chapters in terms of long-term and short-term.

2.1.1.1 Women, long-term and short-term

Women can use long-term strategy as well as short-time strategy. By using a long-term strategy, a woman can get continuous access to a male’s parental investment and his resources. Because of this, they prefer males that are able to invest resources and are also willing to invest resources. To evaluate this, women use cues such as income, status, ambition, and industry (Buss and Schmitt, 1993).

By using a short-term strategy, a woman can immediately get resources, possibly better genes, evaluate long-term possibilities, and protection from abuse by other males. Therefore, they prefer males who spend money on them early on, and who are physically strong. Women prefer physically strong men for both strategies, but it is more important for the short-term (Buss and Schmitt, 1993).

According to good genes theory, which Li et al. (2006) support, women find symmetrical men to be attractive, and this is especially true around the time of ovulation. Symmetry is

correlated with other testosterone mediated secondary sexual characteristics, like masculinity and muscularity. Women prefer greater than average muscularity, and male muscularity is correlated with male short-term mating success. Women also prefer masculine features. Thus, women’s specifications of muscular features and masculine in the present study are consistent with the good-genes account of strategic pluralism theory that women may be seeking genetic fitness in short-term partners (Gangestad & Simpson, 2000).

Women are much less inclined to use short-term strategies than males. They keep up higher standards, require more time before intercourse, and desire a smaller number of potential partners (Buss and Schmitt, 1993). On the other hand, they may increase their options for long-term mates by being open to short-term relationship (Li et al., 2006).

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 13

2.1.1.2 Men, long-term and short-term

By using a short-term strategy, a man can have more sex and inseminate a larger number of fertile women. This can lead to problems like the reproductive problems of inseminating a large number of females, selecting sexually accessible females, selecting fertile females, and minimizing commitment. In order to solve the numbers problem, they relax their standards for mate quality, want sexual intercourse within a short time span, and have a desire for a large number of sexual partners. Due to smaller initial parental investment, they have a bigger orientation towards a short-term strategy than females. For this strategy, they prefer women that are sexually experienced, promiscuous, and have a high sex drive. When pursuing short-term strategies males avoid women that require prolonged commitment (Buss and Schmitt, 1993).

A man can monopolize a woman’s lifetime reproductive capacity by using a long-term strategy. Thus, men face the reproductive problem of finding women with high reproductive value and the problem of paternity uncertainty. Therefore, as long-term mate they prefer young and physically attractive women. This indicates reproductive value, and sexually loyal and likely to be faithful women which increases paternity certainty (Buss and Schmitt, 1993).

2.1.1.3 Mate preferences

In this chapter, mate preferences of both sexes will be discussed. Although there are clear differences in mate preferences, Buss and Schmitt (1993) note there are also shared mate preferences and problems in selecting mate. Both sexes prefer a partner that is committed, a partner they can easily have good cooperation with, and a partner that has good parenting skills.

Clues suggested for the parenting skills are responsibility, intelligence, stability of

personality, and kind and understanding. These characteristics are valued for both long-term and short-term relationships, but are most valued for long-term relationships. The same counts for earnings capacity, status, and higher age (Buss and Schmitt, 1993). Shared preferences found in another study that are somewhat related to the suggested latter clues are pleasant disposition, kindness, and love (Khallad, 2005).

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 14 However, there are also differences between the sexes in terms of preferred characteristics and qualities. According to Buss (1990), effects of culture and sex on mate preferences have been researched in more than 37 cultures and countries over the world, but not in Vietnam. Some varieties and similarities have been found. For both sexes, the most varied mate characteristic in cultures was found to be chastity. Some similarities among cultures were intelligence, education, and refinement. Effects of sex on mate preferences were small compared to the effects of culture (Buss et al., 1990). The most relevant characteristics in mate selection are considered to be resource provision for women, and reproductive value for men. Women also preferred mates who were higher in intellige nce, education, income, and social status than themselves (Buunk et al., 2002). In other words, women were found to value the financial capacity and resource acquisition more than men do. Men were found to value the signals of reproductive capacity, physical attractiveness and relative youth in potential mates (Buss, 1989). Drawing attention to physique produces overall enhancement of attractiveness of women when considering a mate as a sexual partner, but decreases for a marital partner (Hill et al., 1987). Women display greater preferences for attributes, like commitment and resources, while being less concerned with physical appearance. Despite the fact women today are more educated and more independent than they were, they still tend to prefer men with resources and high social status (Dunn & Hill, 2014; Dunn & Searle 2010).

The attraction of women to the higher status than physique would be predicted in social systems where women depend upon men for material and financial security. Women value earnings capacity, which is part of financial security, more than men do (Buss, 1989). This is supported by replicating research (Khallad, 2005). It is also in line with research showing that women have much higher requirements for the earnings capacity of a partner (Kenrick et al., 1990). Qualities that are indicators of earnings capacity, like industriousness and ambition, where also valued more by women than men (Buss, 1989).

Status has also been mentioned previously. Socio-economic status is defined as the composite of earning power / financial resources, education, and occupational prestige (Townsend, 1989). Social status is highly dependent on socio-economic status, but is more about an individual’s place in the hierarchy. It is about being on top of the mountain and therefore being able to accrue resources (Buss, 2007). As mentioned before, women are more selective in general, but especially on status-linked variables (Kenrick et al., 1990). Some indicators of having high status, that has influence on attractiveness, were found. Luxury apartment

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 15 ownership as well as prestige car ownership, compared to neutral apartment and neutral car ownership, increases men’s attractiveness to women. On the other hand, women are

considered equally attractive irrespective of luxury versus neutral ownership (Dunn & Searle, 2010; Dunn & Hill, 2014).

Table 1 Mate preferences

Men Women Both men and women

Short-term High physical appearance Women in their reproductive years: Women that are sexually experienced,

promiscuous, and have a high sex drive.

Long-term Reproductive value A mate that has lower age, sometimes above the age of maximum fertility. Both

short-term and long-term

Physical attractiveness Resource provision: income / financial security, (high) social status, ambition, and industry.

Good parenting skills: responsibility,

intelligence, stability of personality, and kind and understanding. Youth Physical protection Good cooperation

A mate that has higher age

Commitment

Next to earning capacity and status, age also plays a role in mate preferences. Women prefer mate that has higher age, about three and a half years older than they are (Buss and Schmitt, 1993). It is argued that this preference helps women select men with more resources as older men have accrued more resources on average (Buss, 2007). Men on the other hand prefer younger women, but in their younger years this effect is weak or non-existent. For long-term, men also prefer younger females, sometimes above the age of maximum fertility (Buunk et

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 16 al., 2001). Since it is important for short-term strategies as well as long-term strategies the women are fertile and have high reproductive value, physical attractiveness, and youth are valued by males for both strategies (Buss, 2007).

An overview of the findings about mate preferences of both sexes are shown in Table 1. As shown in this table, both men and women has some same preferences in their mate choice for both short-term and long-term. In the next section, I will analyse how the factors listed in Table 1 relate to the perceived characteristics of entrepreneurs.

2.2 Entrepreneurs and Employees

2.2.1 Entrepreneurs

In the last quarter of the previous century, entrepreneurship was increasingly considered a force of innovative thinking and reorganizing the established companies (Steyaert & Katz, 2004). It has been the engine propelling much of the growth of the business sector and is also a driving force behind the rapid expansion of the social sector (Austin et al, 2006). So, entrepreneurship, and therefore also the entrepreneur, is seen as a positive force in society.

Entrepreneurship, as well as entrepreneur, has many definitions. According to Richard Cantillon (1680-1734), a French-Irish economist, an entrepreneur is someone who is willing to buy at a certain price and sell at an uncertain price (Blaug, 2000). Around two centuries later, Max Weber (1864 – 1920) defined entrepreneurship as the taking over and organizing of some part of an economy in which people’s needs are satisfied through exchange for the sake of making a profit and at one’s own economic risk (Swedberg, 2000). Then, Joseph

Schumpeter (1883 -1950) suggested that entrepreneurship occurs under five conditions of newness. These conditions are new goods, new production methods, new markets, new resources of materials, or new organizations (Schumpeter, 1934).

The above-mentioned definitions are just a few examples of the definitions of entrepreneurship and entrepreneur. In this research, an entrepreneur is defined as an

individual who owns and runs a business. This might be someone who has created a business or part of a business of any kind, or someone who has inherited a family business or part of a family business of any kind.

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 17 In the context of this study, it is not only important to know who entrepreneurs are but also to know how they are seen by others. Knowing more about other people's perceptions about entrepreneurs helps us to understand the effect of entrepreneurial status on the attractiveness better. Autonomy, need for achievement, risk-taking, self-efficacy, and innovativeness are characteristics which are associated with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship (Frese et al., 2014). These characteristics also feature in the perception of entrepreneurs by the general public. In the study of Baron (2009) about perceptions of women and men as entrepreneurs has found that when images of the same female models were portrayed as entrepreneurs rather than as managers, these women were rated higher in terms of decisiveness, assertiveness, and masculinity. Entrepreneurs are repeatedly perceived as dominant, achievers, risk-takers, and confident (Baron et al., 2001). Gupta and colleagues have done several studies in this field. They have found that there are differences in characteristics associated with entrepreneurs across borders. In their study in US, India and Turkey, characteristics associated with

entrepreneurs were mentioned. Some of those are curious, ambitious, generous, sympathetic, helpful, steady, sociable and well informed (Gupta et al 2009; Gupta & Fernandez, 2009). The unique presence of entrepreneurs in society is shaped by cultural norms and expectations (Anderson et al., 2011).

An important factor, especially in the context of this research, is people’s perception of entrepreneurs that have relatively many resources or few. Research have showed that entrepreneurs earn less than employees. The median entrepreneur earns 35% less (Hamilton, 2000), and on average entrepreneurs earns 9% to 11% less compared to employees (Hartog et al., 2010). This might not be consistent with the perceptions people have about the earnings of entrepreneurs. Since people mostly see the most successful and visible entrepreneurs in the media and not the ones that fail, it is plausible that people think entrepreneurs on average earn more than employees do.

The incorrect perceptions of people about the earnings of entrepreneurs is one of the factors that makes entrepreneurs attractive. Since most people think that entrepreneurs’ income of is higher than those of employees, they believe that entrepreneurs are more able to provide financial security. Thus, entrepreneurs have good resources provision.

As second factor, entrepreneurship was increasingly considered a force of innovative thinking and reorganizing the established. One of the reasons for individuals to enter entrepreneurship

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 18 and thus becoming an entrepreneur is having more control. They are responsible for their own life, and are stable enough to control their destiny. They are also intelligent enough to work productively to achieve their goals. These perceptions about entrepreneurs exist because people mostly see successful and visible entrepreneurs in the media and not the ones that fail. Responsibility, stability of personality, and intelligence are parts of good parenting skills.

As third factor, there is strong evidence that people associate entrepreneurship with masculine characteristics. This increases the attractiveness of male entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are also perceived as ambitious, sympathetic, helpful, steady, sociable and well informed. This might lead to good cooperation and commitment in life.

Most of the above-mentioned characteristics and perceptions of entrepreneurs are in line with the female mate preferences shown in Table 1. This is not the case for men, who emphasize beauty, and physical attractiveness is not associated with entrepreneurship. But they are not in line with all of them. Since there is a match for women with most of the non-physical

preferences, up until this moment of the research we can assume that to women, entrepreneurs are attractive as partners. However, since the environment does have influences on an

individual’s perception about attractiveness, the assumption we have at this moment might not be valid in the context of Vietnam. To get closer to the answer of our research question, we need to know more about the context of this research first. Thus, chapter 2.3 will provide more information about Vietnam.

Since this study is a replication, results from previous studies in the Netherlands and Croatia are included. Borst (2016) has found that entrepreneurial status positively effects the

attractiveness of male and not female. Wazir (2016) has also found that entrepreneurial status positively effects the attractiveness of male, but only on the long-term attractiveness of female. Saljic (2017) has found that entrepreneurial status does not have a positive influence on both genders in Croatia. This is in line with Buss (2015), who stated that behaviour is based on a constant interaction between individuals and its environment. So, the Vietnam-environment might have influence on Vietnamese perception about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 19 2.2.2 Employees

The previous chapter focussed on entrepreneurs, and differs characteristics and qualities ascribed to entrepreneurs. This chapter focuses on employees, but no research on the characteristics and qualities of employees were found. However, information about

employees related to Vietnam has been found. More about the change in Vietnamese public perception about employees, and the current situation of employees in Vietnam will be mentioned in chapter 2.3.2.

2.3 Vietnam and the Netherlands

There are two reasons why this research is performed in Vietnam. First, as mentioned before in the introduction, Vietnam is an exception to the fact that in most countries there are more male than female entrepreneurs. In Vietnam, more women are inclined to start their own business than men. This tendency is one-third higher. As stated, Vietnam is one of the few countries with more female entrepreneurs than male entrepreneurs (GEM, 2017). Second, the author of this thesis is from Vietnam, so she is able to communicate in Vietnamese and investigate whether the relation between entrepreneurship and attractiveness is different or similar in Vietnam compared to other countries.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the relation between entrepreneurship and

attractiveness concerning to Vietnam compared to other countries will be investigated. Before doing this, we need to know more about employment in Vietnam, and the Vietnamese culture and society. Both of this will be made clear in this chapter. Information about employment in Vietnam is shown in two parts. Information on entrepreneurship in Vietnam are shown in chapter 2.3.1 and information on employees in Vietnam are shown in chapter 2.3.2. In chapter 2.3.3, information about Vietnamese culture and society are shown. This chapter includes information on women in Vietnam. Knowing more about Vietnam and its situation, and comparing the findings on Vietnam with previous studies, brings us closer to the answer to what the effect of entrepreneurial status on the attractiveness to the opposite sex in Vietnam is.

2.3.1 Entrepreneurship in Vietnam

Despite the fact that there are more female entrepreneurs than male entrepreneurs, the ratio of registered female-led companies is lower than that of male-run companies. This was found in

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 20 a study by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (2007). So, there is a distinction between formal entrepreneurs [registered] and informal entrepreneurs [non-registered] in Vietnam. There are two different terms for this in Vietnam, namely buôn bán and kinh doanh. The first term is translated as trade / sale. The second term is translated into English as to carry on business. In the Vietnamese-Vietnamese dictionary this is tổ chức buôn bán để thu

lời lãi, which is literally translated as "organizing trade for profit", which can actually be seen

as an organized [formal] trade / enterprise. (VDict, 2018)

In order to understand how entrepreneurs are perceived in Vietnam, section 2.4.1 will go deeper into the Vietnam entrepreneurial culture in particular. Chapter 2.4.2 will go deeper into the Vietnamese culture and society in general. The first section will give insight into what qualities and characteristics are associated with entrepreneurship; the second section will explain whether and how these qualities are valued.

In 1986, Vietnam adopted the đổi mới [renovation] policy, including liberalizing domestic trade and opening doors to the world economy. Think hereby about diversifying ownership and entrepreneurial development, reforming state-owned enterprises, reforming Vietnam’s financial system with an orientation to a market based system, and attracting foreign investment as essential to foster the country’s economic growth. The Vietnamese economy has moved from a centrally planned system to a market-oriented system. Because of this, Vietnam has made impressive economic progress as demonstrated by the consecutively positive record of the growth of gross domestic products [GDP] during the decade around the millennium change (Phuong, 2003).

For the first time Vietnam adopted its Company Law [CL] and Law on Private Enterprise [LoPE] in 1990. These laws were a first step in the creation of a new environment for entrepreneurship. For eight years after the implementation of these laws, more than 35,000 enterprises were established, 61% during the period of economic boom in the years 1993, 1994 and 1995. After the year 1997, Vietnamese regional financial crisis affected this

country’s economy and this resulted in a declining growth rate for start-up enterprises. Next to this, calls from the Vietnam’s government for equal treatment of state-owned,

foreign-invested, private and collective enterprises resulted in the need to revise the Company Law and Law on Private Enterprise. In 1999, the two earlier mentioned laws have been replaced by the New Enterprise Law [NEL]. This law took effect on the 1st of January 2000. The NEL

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 21 firmly fosters entrepreneurial spirit in the country. This law revoked unnecessary business license restrictions in 145 industries, trades and services, and eased private entry in the market. This law also created new channels for private investment funds instead of the unique source of public investment capital financed by the state budget. The NEL has resulted in the birth of a new entrepreneur class named doanh nhân. This class is taking the lead in doing business that contributes to the economic growth of the nation (Phuong, 2003). The term

doanh nhân use by Phuong (2003) is a more formal word for người làm nghề kinh doanh

(Tratu, 2018). Người means people / individual, làm nghề means carry out a job, and kinh

doanh have been mentioned before in previous chapters as entrepreneur. So, the term doanh nhân use by Phuong (2003) is just another word for formal entrepreneur.

New regulations on the Business Register that ease the establishment of enterprises have been implemented. For two years after the NEL’s implementation, in 2000 and 2001, the number of new enterprises grew to 35,447. So, the NEL produced in two years’ time more new

enterprises than were generated by the former CL and LoPE in eight years. Rapid growth of entrepreneurial activity will be key to reaching the target rate of total investment proposed in Vietnam’s “Ten Year Socio-Economic Development Strategy for 2001-2010”. Private

enterprises in Vietnam have played an increasingly important role in investment structure, job creation, export and contribution to state budget and GDP in the decade around the

millennium change. Because of this, the attitudes of Vietnamese citizens and governmental officials toward private enterprise creation have become positive and supportive (Phuong, 2003).

The positive attitudes of Vietnamese citizens and governmental officials toward private enterprise creation are still sensible nowadays. This is in line with what Nguyen and Phan (2014) have found in their research about entrepreneurial traits and motivations of the youth in Ho-Chi-Minh-City. According to them, 70% of Vietnamese young people between 18-35 years old have a desire to start their own business. They also concluded that Vietnamese youth now are more materialistic, but also possess traits of very high responsibility in their work and life (Nguyen & Phan, 2014). Next to this, the results of the Amway study (2015) about entrepreneurship in 44 countries, including Vietnam, also shown that Vietnamese people are positive toward entrepreneurship. The Amway study specifically investigate the public perception of the desirability of a career as an entrepreneur. According to the Amway Entrepreneurial Spirit Index [AESI] (2015), 88% of respondents in Vietnam had a positive

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 22 attitude towards entrepreneurship. This percentage is higher than both the Netherlands [84%] and over the globe [75%]. Next to this, the percentage of entrepreneurship potential, which is measured as the portion of respondents who can imagine starting a business, in Vietnam is 71%. This number is much higher than in the Netherlands [40%] and globally [43%]. When going deeper, the AESI builds on three established motivational factors. This index consists of the respondents’ perception of: desirability, stability against social pressure, and feasibility. Results show that 89% of the respondents in Vietnam have the desire to start a business, 75% think starting a business is feasible, and 67% would not let their social environment, such as family and friends, dissuade them from starting a business. These percentages are higher than in the Netherlands and also higher than over the globe (Amway, 2015). So, Vietnam is an entrepreneurship-friendly country. This is in line with the results from AESI on how

entrepreneurship-friendly the society in Vietnam in general is. Vietnam scores 73%, while the Netherlands 68% and global scores of 50%.

Vietnam’s entrepreneurship-friendliness goes further than what is known on paper. Not all enterprises in Vietnam are registered and have business licenses. In Vietnam, registration is only compulsory above a certain threshold of size and/or activity (Demenet, 2016). According to the study by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry [VCCI] (2007), among the interviewees 64% of female and 70% of male entrepreneurs said they have registered

according to the Enterprise Law. The ratio of registered women-led enterprises is lower than that of men-led enterprises. Given explanations for this are, among other things, the limited awareness of female entrepreneurs about the registration process, and it may be that women plan to keep their business small. Around three-quarters of the respondents, 78% of the men and 72% of the women, mentioned during the research of the VCCI (2007) that they needed legal advice, and information on financial and taxation issues for their business. Only about 26% of male and 30% of female interviewees had ever received such advice. Mostly, they received it from the government and from NGOs (Council, 2007). When walking on the streets in Vietnam, people can find many small businesses, which are not registered and so are run by informal entrepreneurs. Most of them are in the food-industry. According to the

Vietnamese TV-channel Finance Business News Corporation [FBNC], those small business are perceived by Vietnamese as flowers which flourish in the morning and wilt in the evening. In other words, those informal business are perceived as businesses with an instable future. Both customers and business owners are agreed with this. The reason for the informal entrepreneurs to go on and keep earning with their business is because it is very easy to start

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 23 and start over again due to the small sizes. When their products are no longer popular to customers, they just easily change the whole production line to something new (FBNC, 2016). Since they are informal entrepreneurs, no paper works or issues concerning to law has been done before the changing of the core of their business. So, to Vietnamese people, informal entrepreneurs are seen as less attractiveness than formal entrepreneurs. Vietnamese people's different perception on formal and informal entrepreneurs is the reason for adaptions to the design used by Borst (2016) and Wazir (2016) in the Netherlands.

2.3.2 Employees in Vietnam

The programme of economic restructuring known as đổi mới [renovation] mentioned in the chapter 2.4.1 is an attempt to transform the centralized economic system of Vietnam to a market-oriented economy. This has been done by implementing an open-door policy and a series of structural reforms. The objective of this is reversing decades of economic stagnation. Before đổi mới, employment in socialist Vietnam was closely related to the concept of biên

chế [the number of people who officially work in an organization, or a state-owned enterprise,

in accordance with the state's regulations]. In reality, this term refers to employment by the state. Since state subsidy made up for losses, state employers did not have to worry about employees not being competent or productive. Therefore, employees did not have to worry about the threat of getting fired. So, employment in biên chế was essentially perceived as an assigned lifetime position. The process of đổi mới has brought a transformation in Vietnamese youth's perceptions of employment. In contrast to their elders' generations, who lived and worked within the framework of a fully subsidized and centrally planned system, young Vietnamese today no longer associate employment with a lifetime position assigned by the state and serving the state. They adopt a more flexible perception of employment to include any job that brings in an income, whether in the state sector, in the private sector or in foreign firms. Next to this, they also subscribe to a wide range of new ideas of employment, such as better income, matching abilities and skills to jobs, and work that is challenging. This transformation in the perception of employment is true for youth in general, and it is confirmed by the results of the national survey (Nguyen, 2002). In the study by Nguyen (2002) on employment in the đổi mới era, Nguyen mentioned that today's notion of

employment has come to comprise a whole new range of new elements, like matching jobs to abilities and skills, challenging work, career development, and prospects for promotion and higher income. According to Nguyen, greater earning capacity is the main factor driving graduates to seek out alternative employment opportunities (Nguyen, 2002).

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 24 As mentioned in the previous paragraph, greater earning capacity is the main factor driving graduates to seek out alternative employment opportunities. Thus, getting an income is important. This makes working as employees less attractive nowadays. Since 2017, more and more employees in Vietnam have lost their job because of robots. According to the report on the fourth industrial revolution [IR 4.0], when robots are to replace men in various fields, Vietnam is strongly influenced by the IR 4.0 (Tran, 2017). The report predicts that 74% of the employees in Vietnam's manufacturing sector will have a high level of risk and be easily replaced by automation (Anh, 2018). Not only low educated employees, but also average educated employees are at risk losing their jobs since robots are capable of replacing humans in complex operating areas (Tran, 2017). According to the International Labour Organization [ILO], 86% of Vietnamese employees in textile- and footwear industry and 75% of employees in the electronics industry can face high unemployment due to automation. In 2017, 90% employees from different firms in Binh-Duong-City have been fired and replaced by robots. In the same year, Vinamilk, the largest dairy company in Vietnam, invested 2.400 billion VND in automation. According to the current exchange-rate, one euro is around 27.000 VND. This investment enhances the risk of losing their jobs for employees (Le, 2017). So, to

Vietnamese people, employees are seen as less attractiveness than entrepreneurs.

2.3.3 Vietnamese culture and society

2.3.3.1 Women in Vietnam

Vietnam has undergone a long history of foreign invasion and wars. In such times, in the absence of men, women played an important role in sustaining family life and maintaining the nation’s economy. Vietnamese women even participated in the war. In recognition of

women’s contributions, golden words described Vietnamese women during wartime as heroic, undaunted, upright and kind-hearted, and responsible. Next to this, it should be noted that the influence of Confucianism on Vietnamese women’s status is less powerful than in most of other Asian countries. This is possibly due to Vietnam’s special political and social situation (Phuong, 2003).

In Vietnam, women play a very important role in the economic development of the country. They are involved in business activities at all levels and making important contributions to economic growth (Council, 2007). According to a survey in 1999, women account for 51% of total population and 48% of total workforce of Vietnam. Employed women comprise 45% in

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 25 urban areas and 48% of total employment in rural areas (Phuong, 2003). According to

“Vietnam Gender Statistics in the Early Years of the 21st _{century”, the percentage of}

economically active women was lower than that of men. The percentage is 69% as compared to 76% for men. Next to this, the official unemployment rate of women is higher than of men. Nowadays, Vietnamese women are increasingly active in parts of the economy that were previously considered male domain. Female entrepreneurs also create jobs. By December 2005, it was estimated that 24% of the 113,352 incorporated enterprises were owned by women (Council, 2007). Many women successfully perform their duties as general director, director and manager of large, leading companies such as Phong Phu Textile Company, Vinamilk Company, Co-op Mark, Hoa Binh Tourist Company, and Thuong Dinh Footwear Company (Phuong, 2003).

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry [VCCI] and the International Labour Organization [ILO] together have committed themselves to the promotion of women's economic empowerment and entrepreneurship (Council, 2007). Next to Thailand and

Indonesia, the established business ownership rates among women in Vietnam are higher than the Total Entrepreneurial Activity [TEA] rates. Next to this, the number of established

business owners among women is greater than that of men (GEM, 2017).

In the Vietnamese society, gender discrimination in the acceptance of work has not been allowed by laws and also not in practice. Despite of this, gender discrimination in payment for work has occurred in practice (Phuong, 2003). On average in 2004, a woman earned 85% of a man's wage in rural area and 83% in urban areas in Vietnam (Council, 2007).

As previously mentioned, the influence of Confucianism on Vietnamese women’s status is less powerful than in most of other Asian countries. But this does not mean that the influence is not there. One of the things that is used to rate a Vietnamese woman’s attractiveness for marriage is tứ đức [four feminine virtues] of Confucianism (Anh, 2013). These four are ngôn [female words], and hạnh [female virtues], công [female work], dung [female appearances]. Female words included not to talk behind people’s back and not to stir up enmity. Female virtues include that a woman should be submissive to her in-laws. Female work means that a woman is able to manage the home affairs, including looking after the family members, cleaning the house, and treating guests well. This denotes that women are evaluated based on their identity as a wife or mother instead of themselves. This is in line with the findings of

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 26 previous research about work-life balance of female entrepreneurs in Vietnam, which has shown that high-growth oriented female owners of SMEs in Vietnam experience major conflict, both work-to-family and family-to-work. Sharing their child-caring responsibilities with their partners does not work well, since the husbands have their own careers and they believe that women should do household chores and take care of the children (Hoang, 2009). Female appearances mean that a woman just needs to be clean, neat and average-looking. She shouldn’t pay much attention to her appearance (Jiahui, 2015). This seems quite different to previous findings, which have found time and time again that men judge women’s

attractiveness on the basis of their physical characteristics, but it is not. Beauty, and so physical characteristics, is a construct that varies from culture to culture and changes over time (Frith et al., 2005). The research of Cunningham et al. (1995) about cross-cultural perception of female physical attractiveness have found both consistency and variability between Asians' and other cultures' attractiveness ratings of women. For instance, Asians tend to give high ratings to women with expressive high eyebrows and mature prominent

cheekbones in comparison to other cultures. They also found that Asians were less influenced by some sexual maturity and expressive features (Cunningham et al., 1995). The research of Cunningham et al. (1995) is a cross-cultural research, wherein Asians are seen as one

sampling-group. Different Asian countries might have different perception of female physical attractiveness. Next to this, according to Buss (2007), men prefer young and physically attractive females because this indicates reproductive value. Physically attractive is not the same as beautiful- looking. A average-looking woman, who is neat and clean, may being seen as physically attractive too. So, Vietnamese men do judge women’s attractiveness on the basis of their physical characteristics, but their perception of physical characteristics may differ from other cultures like Western. Since the attractiveness of women are judged on the basis of their physical characteristics, attractiveness ratings will not depend on the entrepreneurial status of women.

Based on the four above mentioned feminine virtues, two Chinese folk sayings, with also applied in Vietnam, are; phụ nữ không có tài, chính là đức [a woman without talents is virtuous], and a good woman does not need any special talents (Jiahui, 2015). The second saying is known in Vietnam in multiple forms. For instance, phụ nữ không cần biết nhiều [women do not need to know much], phụ nữ không cần giỏi quá [women do not need to be too talented], and phụ nữ không cần học cao quá [women do not need to be too high

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 27 Chapter 2.1 had mentioned that when rating someone's attractiveness, men find women more attractive when their physical appearance is high, and that this opinion is stronger when considering a mate as a sexual partner than as a marital partner. As chapter 2.1 has made clear, women as well as men prefer a partner that is committed, a partner they can easily have good cooperation with, and a partner that has good parenting skills. Those standards are in line with the Confucian four feminine virtues, mentioned in the previous paragraphs.

Also mentioned in chapter 2.1, despite the fact women today are more educated and more independent, they still tend to prefer men with resources and high social status. Next to this, women prefer men who are older than they are. This is in line with the article published in the Vietnamese newspaper Đời Sống & Pháp Luật [Life & Law] (2014). This article is about what make married men attractive to women. Despite the fact that the article is talking about married men, it mainly talks about men around 30 years old. Those men mostly are married in Vietnam. The very first thing mentioned in this article is that those men have more

experiences in life since they are older, therefore women feel more protected by them than by younger men. So, the variable age is applicable here. Next to this, they mostly have a stable labour situation. They have more success in their work and a higher social status then men who are younger. Money and social status are two main subjects when talking about men who are around 30 years old (DSPL, 2014).

2.4 Hypotheses development

As shown in Table 1, men and women have both similar and different mate preferences. Next to this, chapter 2.3 has zoomed in the different in mate preferences of Vietnamese men and women. Therefore, none of the following hypotheses are about both genders. Hypotheses will only regard men and women separately.

Women have a preference for men with high social status. Next to this, women also have preferences for men who are be able to provide them physical and financial security. Since formal entrepreneurs are taking the lead in doing business that contributes to the economic growth of Vietnam, and so doing positive things for society, they have relatively high social status and are also financial secured. This does not apply to informal entrepreneurs, since their businesses are seen as businesses with an unstable future by Vietnamese. Also, being

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 28 employees is unstable since more and more employees in Vietnam have lost their job because of robots. So, both informal entrepreneurs and employees are in financial insecurity and do not have a high social status in Vietnam. Because the characteristics that are preferred by women, the hypothesis that male formal entrepreneurs will be rated more attractive by women than informal entrepreneurs and employees have been formed.

H1: “In terms of generic, male formal entrepreneurs are more attractive than informal

entrepreneurs and employees.”

Since how an individual’s attractiveness has been rated is depended on the duration of the relationship, investigate only general attractiveness is not sufficient. Therefore, two

hypotheses which state that male formal entrepreneurs will be rated more attractive by women than informal entrepreneurs and employees in term of short-term and long-term have been formed.

H2: “In terms of short-term attractiveness, male formal entrepreneurs are more attractive

than informal entrepreneurs and employees.”

H3: “In terms of long-term attractiveness, male formal entrepreneurs are more attractive than

informal entrepreneurs and employees.”

Men have a preference for females that are youthful and physically attractive, as indicators for reproductive value. Since people in society do not associate physical characteristics with entrepreneurs, the hypothesis which states that female formal entrepreneurs will not be rated more attractive by men than informal entrepreneurs and employees have been formed.

H4: “In terms of generic attractiveness, female formal entrepreneurs are equally attractive as

informal entrepreneurs and employees.”

Next to physical attractiveness, men prefer a partner that is committed, a partner they can easily have good cooperation with, and a partner that has good parenting skills. Those are included in the four feminine virtues of Confucianism, which are used to rate women's attractiveness for marriage in Vietnam. But the four feminine virtues are much more. Công [female work] denotes that women are evaluated based on their identity as a wife or mother

Master Thesis, N.T.T. Pham – Joint Master Entrepreneurship 29 instead of themselves. This is in line with Hoang's research (2009) about work-life balance of female entrepreneurs in Vietnam. Hoang have made use of the contact details from the

Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to contact respondents, so the respondents are formal entrepreneurs who are registered. Thus, the hypothesis that female formal

entrepreneurs will be rated as less attractive by men than informal entrepreneurs and

employees in term of long-term have been formed. In term of short-term, the hypothesis that female formal entrepreneurs will be rated as equally attractive as informal entrepreneurs and employees by men have been formed. This is because both the four feminine virtues and Hoang's research are based on marriage.

H5: “In terms of short-term attractiveness, female formal entrepreneurs are equally attractive

as informal entrepreneurs and employees.”

H6: “In terms of long-term attractiveness, female formal entrepreneurs are less attractive