Is independence really an opportunity? The experience of entrepreneur-mothers
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
ISSN: 1462-6004
Article publication date: 22 February 2018
Issue publication date: 26 March 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneur-mothers experience independence in the transition to entrepreneurship, and whether they perceive independence as an agentic, opportunity-maximisation motive or a constrained, necessity-driven response.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a qualitative and interpretive approach, the authors analysed interviews with 60 entrepreneur-mothers to refine conceptual understanding of independence.
Findings
The authors find that entrepreneur-mothers experience independence not as an opportunity, but as a functional necessity in managing the temporal and perceived moral demands of motherhood. The authors assert that there is a fundamental difference between wanting independence to pursue a more autonomous lifestyle, and needing independence to attend to family obligations, a difference that is not adequately captured in the existing conceptualisation of independence. Consequently, the authors propose the classification of “family-driven entrepreneurship” to capture the social and institutional factors that may disproportionately push women with caregiving responsibilities towards self-employment.
Practical implications
This paper proposes that a new category of entrepreneurial motivation be recognised to better account for the social and institutional factors affecting women’s entrepreneurship, enabling policymakers to more accurately position and support entrepreneur-mothers.
Social implications
The authors challenge the existing framing of independence as an agentic opportunity-seeking motive, and seek to incorporate family dynamics into existing entrepreneurial models.
Originality/value
This paper delivers much-needed conceptual refinement of independence as a motivator to entrepreneurship by examining the experiences of entrepreneur-mothers, and proposes a new motivational classification, that of family-driven entrepreneurship to capture the elements of agency and constraint embedded in this transition.
Keywords
Citation
Foley, M., Baird, M., Cooper, R. and Williamson, S. (2018), "Is independence really an opportunity? The experience of entrepreneur-mothers", Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 25 No. 2, pp. 313-329. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSBED-10-2017-0306
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited