IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/entthe/v47y2023i4p1169-1199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Timeout: The Role of Family-Friendly Policies in Business Start-Up Among Mothers

Author

Listed:
  • Magdalena Markowska
  • Helene Ahl
  • Lucia Naldi

Abstract

This article explores why an increasing number of Swedish mothers are becoming entrepreneurs; this choice appears counterintuitive given the prevailing social welfare system prioritizes the rights of employed women. Using an interpretative stance, we analyzed the life stories of 18 Swedish mothers who created new ventures while caring for young children. The value of the time afforded by parental leave policies was identified as vital to the business creation process. Hence, we argue that time is a critical entrepreneurship-relevant resource; this is illustrated by the positive effect of the Swedish welfare system upon entrepreneurship entry and the timing of this decision.

Suggested Citation

  • Magdalena Markowska & Helene Ahl & Lucia Naldi, 2023. "Timeout: The Role of Family-Friendly Policies in Business Start-Up Among Mothers," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1169-1199, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:47:y:2023:i:4:p:1169-1199
    DOI: 10.1177/10422587221126493
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10422587221126493
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/10422587221126493?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jenkins, Anna S. & Wiklund, Johan & Brundin, Ethel, 2014. "Individual responses to firm failure: Appraisals, grief, and the influence of prior failure experience," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 17-33.
    2. Leon Schjoedt & Kelly G. Shaver, 2007. "Deciding on an Entrepreneurial Career: A Test of the Pull and Push Hypotheses Using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics Data1," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(5), pages 733-752, September.
    3. Saul Estrin & Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2011. "Institutions and female entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 397-415, November.
    4. Alina Sorgner & Michael Fritsch, 2018. "Entrepreneurial career paths: occupational context and the propensity to become self-employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 129-152, June.
    5. Livia Sz. Oláh & Eva Bernhardt, 2008. "Sweden: Combining childbearing and gender equality," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 19(28), pages 1105-1144.
    6. Guzman, Jorge & Kacperczyk, Aleksandra (Olenka), 2019. "Gender gap in entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1666-1680.
    7. Ahu Tatli & Joana Vassilopoulou & Mustafa Özbilgin & Cynthia Forson & Natasha Slutskaya, 2014. "A Bourdieuan Relational Perspective for Entrepreneurship Research," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(4), pages 615-632, October.
    8. Katia Richomme-Huet & Virginie Vial & Aude D'Andria, 2013. "Mumpreneurship: a new concept for an old phenomenon?," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 19(2), pages 251-275.
    9. Vera Rocha & Mirjam van Praag, 2020. "Mind the gap: The role of gender in entrepreneurial career choice and social influence by founders," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 841-866, May.
    10. Welter, Friederike & Brush, Candida & De Bruin, Anne, 2014. "The gendering of entrepreneurship context," Working Papers 01/14, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    11. Farzana Chowdhury & David B. Audretsch & Maksim Belitski, 2019. "Institutions and Entrepreneurship Quality," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 51-81, January.
    12. Lucia Naldi & Massimo Baù & Helene Ahl & Magdalena Markowska, 2021. "Gender (in)equality within the household and business start-up among mothers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 903-918, February.
    13. Amy E. Davis & Kelly G. Shaver, 2012. "Understanding Gendered Variations in Business Growth Intentions across the Life Course," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 495-512, May.
    14. Friederike Welter & David Smallbone, 2011. "Institutional Perspectives on Entrepreneurial Behavior in Challenging Environments," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(1), pages 107-125, January.
    15. Janna Besamusca, 2020. "The short or long end of the stick? Mothers’ social position and self‐employment status from a comparative perspective," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1285-1307, November.
    16. Pernilla Andersson Joona, 2017. "Are mothers of young children more likely to be self-employed? The case of Sweden," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 307-333, March.
    17. Katia Richomme-Huet & Virginie Vial & Aude d'Andria, 2013. "Mumpreneurship: a new concept for an old phenomenon?," Post-Print hal-01369514, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lucia Naldi & Massimo Baù & Helene Ahl & Magdalena Markowska, 2021. "Gender (in)equality within the household and business start-up among mothers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 903-918, February.
    2. Pourya Darnihamedani & Siri Terjesen, 2022. "Male and female entrepreneurs’ employment growth ambitions: the contingent role of regulatory efficiency," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 185-204, January.
    3. Welter, Friederike & Brush, Candida & De Bruin, Anne, 2014. "The gendering of entrepreneurship context," Working Papers 01/14, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    4. Welter, Friederike, 2020. "Contexts and gender: Looking back and thinking forward," Working Papers 01/20, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    5. Gerards, Ruud & Theunissen, Pomme, 2018. "Becoming a mompreneur: Parental leave policies and mothers' propensity for self-employment," Research Memorandum 025, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    6. Cyrine Ben-Hafaïedh & Mirela Xheneti & Pekka Stenholm & Robert Blackburn & Friederike Welter & David Urbano, 2024. "The interplay of context and entrepreneurship: the new frontier for contextualisation research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 571-582, February.
    7. Zandberg, Jonathan, 2021. "Family comes first: Reproductive health and the gender gap in entrepreneurship," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(3), pages 838-864.
    8. Anasuya K. Lingappa & Lewlyn L.R. Rodrigues, 2023. "Synthesis of Necessity and Opportunity Motivation Factors in Women Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    9. Tha�s Garc�a-Pereiro & Ivano Dileo, 2019. "Female national-level entrepreneurship and the gendered dimension of the cultural environment," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 73(3), pages 77-88, July-Sept.
    10. Robyn Mayes & Penelope Williams & Paula McDonald, 2020. "Mums with cameras: Technological change, entrepreneurship and motherhood," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1468-1484, November.
    11. Daniela Giménez & Andrea Calabrò, 2018. "The salient role of institutions in Women’s entrepreneurship: a critical review and agenda for future research," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 857-882, December.
    12. Kevin Boudreau & Nilam Kaushik, 2020. "The Gender Gap in Tech & Competitive Work Environments? Field Experimental Evidence from an Internet-of-Things Product Development Platform," NBER Working Papers 27154, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Jianhong Zhang & Désirée Gorp & Henk Kievit, 2023. "Digital technology and national entrepreneurship: An ecosystem perspective," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1077-1105, June.
    14. Maribel Guerrero & Jorge Espinoza-Benavides, 2021. "Do emerging ecosystems and individual capitals matter in entrepreneurial re-entry’ quality and speed?," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1131-1158, September.
    15. Ludovico Bullini Orlandi, 2017. "Am I an Entrepreneur? Identity Struggle in the Contemporary Women Entrepreneurship Discourse," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 11(4), December.
    16. Benjamin S. Selznick & Matthew J. Mayhew & Lini Zhang & Eric T. McChesney, 2022. "Building Women’s Innovation Capacities Through Undergraduate Experiences," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(4), pages 567-588, June.
    17. Dutta, Nabamita & Kar, Saibal & Ray, Shaswata, 2022. "Human Capital and Self-Employment in India: An Empirical Analysis for Different Cohorts," IZA Discussion Papers 15825, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Candida Brush & Linda F. Edelman & Tatiana Manolova & Friederike Welter, 2019. "A gendered look at entrepreneurship ecosystems," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 393-408, August.
    19. Maung, Min, 2024. "The bright side of social trust and entrepreneurial finance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 778-795.
    20. Avnimelech, Gil & Rechter, Eyal, 2023. "How and why accelerators enhance female entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:entthe:v:47:y:2023:i:4:p:1169-1199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.