Shaping the desire to become an entrepreneur: Parent and gender influences

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effects of one socialization factor, parent role model performance, and gender on a multidimensional measure of preference for entrepreneurship. Results confirmed the existence of gender differences in preference for an entrepreneurial career defined in terms of self-efficacy, career entry expectations, and education and training aspirations. However, when gender was held constant, parent role model performance also affected entrepreneurial preference. Individuals with a parent entrepreneur perceived to be a high performer were different from those individuals with a low performing parent and those without a parent entrepreneur. Two dimensions of entrepreneurial career preference were identified for the parent effect and labeled career entry expectations and career preparedness. For the gender effect, a general career preference dimension was present. A conclusion is drawn that both gender and parent role model performance are important factors in influencing the entrepreneurial career decision. Participation in the workforce by women has risen steadily since World War II. Bowen and Hisrich observed that women comprise over fifty percent of the workers in the United States (6). As this trend of increasing representation of women in the general workforce is expected to continue, it is important to note that there has been a sixty-nine percent increase in the number of women entrepreneurs during the 1980s (25). This figure is striking when compared to the thirteen percent increase in entrepreneurship for men during the same time period. While women appear to be making progress in successfully starting and managing new ventures, this employment track is still dominated by males. Currently only 29.6 percent of sole proprietorships in the United States are owned by women (29). Thus, entrepreneurship for women may still be labeled as a non-traditional career. Given that entrepreneurship accounts for much of the growth in the American economy, the importance of encouraging women to explore the possibilities for venture creation is problematic (24). Understanding how women and men decide to seek entrepreneurship as a viable career enables public policy makers to encourage women to pursue this option. The purpose of this research is to identify factors that account for differences in the numbers of men and women selecting an entrepreneurial career. SOCIAL LEARNING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Generally, differences in male and female preferences for non-traditional careers have been attributed to early socialization and learning experiences (2, 8, 22). The underlying rationale for these differences is that women enter traditionally male dominated fields less often than men for such reasons as lack of appropriate role models among other environmental variables (11). Birley points out that cultural conditioning serves to channel womens' aspirations into traditional career fields (4). While there are economic barriers, such as acquiring new venture funding, the lack of a positive reference group has a primary impact in either encouraging or discouraging the consideration of an entrepreneurial career. Recently, Scherer, Adams, and Weibe have proposed a social learning explanation for the decision to select an entrepreneurial career (27). Building on the work of Krumboltz, Mitchell, and Jones, it has been proposed that entrepreneurial parents have a vicarious effect on the child, shaping self-efficacy (feelings of task competency), education and training aspirations, and expectations of actually starting a business (19). These writers suggest that observation of a parent entrepreneur can lead to cognitive evaluations of the parent role model's performance which either enhance or decrease the likelihood that the observer offspring will decide to engage in entrepreneurship. Numerous descriptive studies aimed at explaining why some individuals choose to start their own business, rather than pursue careers with already established organizations, underscore the importance of having a parent entrepreneurial role model. …

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