IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ssb/dispap/727.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The family - a barrier or motivation for female entrepreneurship?

Author

Listed:

Abstract

The underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship is consistent over cultures and countries, and is even higher in Norway than in most other industrialised societies. In spite of a growing literature, the reasons for this pattern are still not well understood. In this paper I explore an area that has been little researched so far, the family and household situation. I study the presence of children and their ages, the role of the partner's characteristics and the household's financial resources. The results show that women are more likely to choose self-employment over wage-work when the children are small, indicating that children are no barrier to entrepreneurship, at least not when defined as self-employment as in this paper. The self-employment propensity of both women and men are negatively related to their partner's working hours and positively related to him (or her) being self-employed himself (herself). The causal direction of these relationships cannot be established in the present analysis and needs to be investigated closer in future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Marit Rønsen, 2012. "The family - a barrier or motivation for female entrepreneurship?," Discussion Papers 727, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:ssb:dispap:727
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.ssb.no/a/publikasjoner/pdf/DP/dp727.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Du Rietz, Anita & Henrekson, Magnus, 2000. "Testing the Female Underperformance Hypothesis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, February.
    2. Janet A. Seiz, 1995. "Bargaining Models, Feminism, and Institutionalism," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 609-618, June.
    3. Joachim Wagner, 2007. "What a Difference a Y makes-Female and Male Nascent Entrepreneurs in Germany," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Matthias Benz & Bruno S. Frey, 2008. "Being Independent is a Great Thing: Subjective Evaluations of Self‐Employment and Hierarchy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(298), pages 362-383, May.
    5. Berglann, Helge & Moen, Espen R. & Røed, Knut & Skogstrøm, Jens Fredrik, 2011. "Entrepreneurship: Origins and returns," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 180-193, April.
    6. Wellington, Alison J., 2006. "Self-employment: the new solution for balancing family and career?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 357-386, June.
    7. Cowling, Marc & Taylor, Mark, 2001. "Entrepreneurial Women and Men: Two Different Species?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 167-175, May.
    8. Furdas, Marina & Kohn, Karsten, 2010. "What's the Difference?! Gender, Personality, and the Propensity to Start a Business," IZA Discussion Papers 4778, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Simon C. Parker & Mirjam Van Praag, 2010. "Group Status and Entrepreneurship," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 919-945, December.
    10. Shane, Scott & Kolvereid, Lars & Westhead, Paul, 1991. "An exploratory examination of the reasons leading to new firm formation across country and gender," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 431-446, November.
    11. Rachel Croson & Uri Gneezy, 2009. "Gender Differences in Preferences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 448-474, June.
    12. BodenJR., Richard J. & Nucci, Alfred R., 2000. "On the survival prospects of men's and women's new business ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 347-362, July.
    13. Barton H. Hamilton, 2000. "Does Entrepreneurship Pay? An Empirical Analysis of the Returns to Self-Employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 604-631, June.
    14. Kolvereid, Lars, 1992. "Growth aspirations among Norwegian entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 209-222, May.
    15. Rolf Golombek & Arvid Raknerud, 2012. "Exit dynamics of start-up firms. Does profit matter?," Discussion Papers 706, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    16. Schumpeter, Joseph A., 1947. "The Creative Response in Economic History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 149-159, November.
    17. Gry Agnete Alsos & Elisabet Ljunggren, 1998. "Does The Business Start-Up Process Differ By Gender? - A Longitudinal Study Of Nascent Entrepreneurs," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(04), pages 347-367.
    18. Rachel Connelly, 1992. "Self-employment and providing child care," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 29(1), pages 17-29, February.
    19. Verheul, Ingrid & Thurik, Roy & Grilo, Isabel & van der Zwan, Peter, 2012. "Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 325-341.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Entrepreneurship-paper of the day
      by UDADISI in UDADISI on 2013-01-12 03:30:00

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Natalia VINOGRADOVA & Elena ACULAI & Vladislav BOLDURAT, 2022. "Women's entrepreneurship in the Republic of Moldova: special needs and policy priorities," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 13, pages 77-98, December.

    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. Werner Bönte & Monika Piegeler, 2013. "Gender gap in latent and nascent entrepreneurship: driven by competitiveness," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 961-987, December.
    2. Arvid Raknerud & Marit Rønsen, 2014. "Why are there so few female entrepreneurs? An examination of gender differences in entrepreneurship using Norwegian registry data," Discussion Papers 790, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    3. Lo, Kuang-Ta & Pan, Jiun-Nan & Peng, Shi-Shu, 2020. "The role of gender and its potential channels to affect self-employment in Taiwan," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 601-610.
    4. Matthijs J H M van der Loos & Cornelius A Rietveld & Niina Eklund & Philipp D Koellinger & Fernando Rivadeneira & Gonçalo R Abecasis & Georgina A Ankra-Badu & Sebastian E Baumeister & Daniel J Benjami, 2013. "The Molecular Genetic Architecture of Self-Employment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(4), pages 1-15, April.
    5. Werner Boente & Monika Jarosch, 2011. "Gender Differences in Competitiveness, Risk Tolerance, and other Personality Traits: Do they contribute to the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship?," Schumpeter Discussion Papers sdp11012, Universitätsbibliothek Wuppertal, University Library.
    6. Bengtsson, Ola & Sanandaji, Tino & Johannesson, Magnus, 2012. "The Psychology of the Entrepreneur and the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship," Working Paper Series 944, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 30 Oct 2013.
    7. Marit RØNSEN, 2014. "Children and family: A barrier or an incentive to female self-employment in Norway?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(2), pages 337-349, June.
    8. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.
    9. Conen, Wieteke & Schippers, Johannes Jan & Schulze Buschoff, Karin, 2016. "Self-employed without personnel between freedom and insecurity," WSI Studies 05, The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI), Hans Böckler Foundation.
    10. Helene Ahl, 2006. "Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 595-621, September.
    11. Raquel Justo & Emilio Congregado & Concepción Román, 2021. "Becoming self-employed from inactivity: an in-depth analysis of satisfaction," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 145-187, January.
    12. Fatma El-Hamidi, 2011. "How Do Women Entrepreneurs Perform? Empirical Evidence from Egypt," Working Papers 621, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 Jan 2011.
    13. Marcén, Miriam, 2013. "The effect of culture on self-employment," MPRA Paper 47338, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Maryia Akulava, 2012. "Choice of Becoming Self-Employed in Belarus: Impact of Monetary Gains," BEROC Working Paper Series 18, Belarusian Economic Research and Outreach Center (BEROC).
    15. Karen Maguire & John V. Winters, 0. "Satisfaction and Self-employment: Do Men or Women Benefit More from Being Their Own Boss?," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 0, pages 1-27.
    16. Alina Sorgner & Michael Fritsch, 2013. "Occupational Choice and Self-Employment: Are They Related?," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 533, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    17. Jörn H. Block & Andreas Landgraf, 2016. "Transition from part-time entrepreneurship to full-time entrepreneurship: the role of financial and non-financial motives," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 259-282, March.
    18. Lin Xiu & Morley Gunderson, 2021. "Does an Entrepreneurial Career Pay for Women in China?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 167-190, March.
    19. van Praag, Mirjam C. & Raknerud, Arvid, 2017. "The Returns to Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Matched Person-Firm Data," IZA Discussion Papers 11018, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Backes-Gellner, Uschi & Moog, Petra, 2013. "The disposition to become an entrepreneur and the jacks-of-all-trades in social and human capital," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 55-72.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; self-employment; gender; work and family; partner's characteristics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ssb:dispap:727. 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: L Maasø (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ssbgvno.html .

    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.