Women's Organizational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-Reported Motivations and Correlates with Success

Women-owned businesses are a powerful force in today's American economy. Twenty-nine percent of all businesses are owned by women (Census Bureau 1991). Women employ over fifteen million American workers, over one-third more than all the Fortune 500 companies worldwide (National Foundation for Women Business Owners [NFWBO] and Dunn and Bradstreet Information Services 1995). Operating in all industries, female entrepreneurs have more than tripled in number from 2.5 million in 1980 to 7.7 million in 1994, representing a rate of increase which is double that of male-owned businesses (NFWBO 1995). The Committee on Small Business (1988) estimated that by the year 2000 about half of all businesses will be owned by women. Nearly 31 percent of these women have had previous executive/management or supervisory experience prior to starting their own businesses (Census Bureau 1991). Few researchers have examined this highly-trained group of women entrepreneurs who leave corporate environments to start businesses of their own. This study investigates four important issues: (1) What motivational influences affect former managerial or professional women's entrepreneurial decisions; (2) What role family concerns play in these former corporate women's entrepreneurial motivation; (3) How these female entrepreneurs measure success in their ventures; and (4) Whether the women's entrepreneurial motivation is related to the ways they measure success in their own businesses. The findings of this research are important for several reasons. Women's career motivation currently receives little research attention. Investigation of women's entrepreneurial motivation and success measures will provide needed insight into women's career development. Consultants to women considering entrepreneurship would better understand their clients' motivation and would be better able to help the women make informed career decisions. The results could also help women who seek greater self-awareness about their motivation and its influence on their personal and professional success. This awareness would help them integrate the work and personal dimensions of their lives. Past Research on Entrepreneurial Motivation and Success Measures While investigations into the reasons women start businesses have been sparse, over the past twenty years a number of studies have examined the reasons men initiate ventures (Birley and Westhead 1994; Cooper and Dunkelberg 1981; Denison and Alexander 1986; Dubini 1988; Scheinberg and MacMillan 1988; Shane, Kolvereid, and Westhead 1991; Shapero 1975). In general, researchers have found that men start their businesses primarily as a result of such "pull" factors as the opportunity to work independently, to have greater control over one's work, and to earn more money. There is a lesser influence from such "push" factors as limited advancement opportunities, job frustration, and avoiding an unreasonable boss or unsafe working conditions. With one exception, in none of these studies were women entrepreneurs addressed separately or did they constitute more than ten percent of the sample. The exception, Shane, Kolvereid, and Westhead (1991), studied non-U.S. entrepreneurs, including women, and reported that the male entrepreneurs were most motivated by the need to improve their positions in society for themselves and their families, while the female entrepreneurs were most motivated by the need for achievement. However, the authors cautioned that cultural differences across samples precluded generalizing findings to U.S. entrepreneurs. Research on Women's Entrepreneurial Motivation In one study of women's entrepreneurial motivation, Hisrich and Brush (1985) asked their women business-owner respondents for the reasons they started their businesses. Most frequently cited were "push" factors of frustration and boredom in their previous jobs, followed by interest in the business, with "pull" factors such as autonomy a distant third. …