Managing work and family in small “copreneurial” business: an Australian study

Abstract

The UN-designated International Year of the Family 1994 highlighted the need for legislative and employer initiatives in response to the delicate balancing act experienced by workers with family responsibilities, and especially women (Smith and Pike, 1994). Despite subsequent organizational initiatives to bring about a more``family-friendly'' working environment, many employees remain dissatisfied with corporate life, and are seeking a better balance between their career and home responsibilities (Marshall, 1995;Stroh et al., 1996;Greenhaus et al., 1997). This disenchantment is prompting growing numbers of employees to consider small business as an alternative livelihood.Small business creation has been encouraged by governments worldwide as a catalyst for economic growth. Studies in Australia, the UK, New Zealand, Norway and the USA have consistently shown that, for a third of people starting a small business venture, the primary reason is to achieve greater control over their lives, with their control preferences influencing every aspect of business management (Holmes, 1999). However, Gerber (1986) contends that most novice small business owners end up enslaved rather than liberated by the move to career independence.Women have increasingly been attracted to entrepreneurship, not merely for selffulfilment but also as a vehicle for greater flexibility in managing family responsibilities (Still and Chia, 1995). Many are establishing small enterprises with their spouses or life partners. Such enterprising couples who work in and share ownership of, commitment to, and responsibility for their business, have been termed``copreneurs'' (Barnett and Barnett, 1989). While Australian statistics are available on small business and women in small business (Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business, 1998), it is difficult to estimate the number of`c opreneurial'' business partnerships. Nevertheless, they are believed to represent a rapidly growing segment of the business population. Due to comparable economic and social forces, the Australian trend is likely to mirror that of the USA, where it has been estimated that the number of businesses run by husbands and wives working together full

Women and power: a theoretical approach using the example of copreneurial businesses

“…Not only would this benefit from changing attitudes and recognition of the role of women in the labour market (Maas and Diederichs, 2007;Stewart-Gross and Gross, 2007), it would also encourage gender equality/ the role of women by helping to reconcile work and family life. In practice, the copreneurship is thought to offer a rare degree of organizational freedom (Smith, 2000;StewartGross and Gross, 2007;Brannon et al, 2013;Dahl et al, 2014) that makes it possible to achieve the sought-after balance between individual, family and career aspirations (Jaffe, 1990;Smith, 2000;Charles, 2006;Maas and Diederichs, 2007;Millman and Martin, 2007;Harris et al, 2010). It offers a level of flexibility that is impossible to achieve in any other form of entrepreneurial organization (Brannon et al, 2013).…”

Copreneurship in rural tourism: exploring women's experiences

“…This will be discussed in the subsequent chapter, where it is suggested, for example, that there exists a number of motives for self-employment (in a copreneurial environment) with males surveyed being motivated by achievement and the need to be answerable to no one else, whereas women surveyed were motivated by autonomy and flexible work hours and workload to accommodate family (Smith, 2000). The following section discusses women in SMEs.…”

“…Dyer, Gibb and Handler, 1994;Fitzgerald and Muske, 2002;Marshack, 1994). The majority of this work is based largely on anecdotal evidence and is based on very small samples (Smith, 2000).…”

Modes of entry to male immigrant entrepreneurship in a rural context: Start-up stories from Northern Norway

“…This equal engagement was found in the cases of Paul, Ahmed, Jürgen and Erik, who can be termed copreneurs owning and running the businesses together with their partners. For a discussion of the copreneur concept, see (Smith, 2000). Ahmed is an interesting example here.…”