Perceptions and attitudes towards entrepreneurship. An analysis of gender among university students

The present article analyzes the existence of gender differences in the perceptions and attitudes of university students towards entrepreneurship. It measures perceptions of the public image of the entrepreneur, along with the desirability, viability and intentionality of students towards creating their own business. The empirical data for this research comes from a sample of university students who have attended a Business Creation program run by the venture capital association known as Fostering Entrepreneurs hip in Extremadura, Spain. Data analysis using bivariate and multivariate techniques reveal significant results, indicating that gender plays a significant role in how the figure of the entrepreneur is perceived and on the intention to generate new business.     

We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem

Consumers are adopting increasingly active roles in co-creating marketing content with companies and their respective brands. In turn, companies and organizations are looking to online social marketing programs and campaigns in an effort to reach consumers where they ‘live’ online. However, the challenge facing many companies is that although they recognize the need to be active in social media, they do not truly understand how to do it effectively, what performance indicators they should be measuring, and how they should measure them. Further, as companies develop social media strategies, platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are too often treated as stand-alone elements rather than part of an integrated system. This article offers a systematic way of understanding and conceptualizing online social media, as an ecosystem of related elements involving both digital and traditional media. We highlight a best-practice case study of an organization's successful efforts to leverage social media in reaching an important audience of young consumers. Then, we conclude with several insights and lessons related to the strategic integration of social media into a firm's marketing communications strategy.