Gender, family and business: An empirical study of incorporated self-employed individuals in the US

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the relationship between family responsibilities and family support, on the one hand, and decisions by men and women concerning owning a business, as well as how many hours they work in that business.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used data collected by the US Current Population Survey between 1989 and 2011 and had a starting sample of 1,258,430 individuals, and a final sample of 27,147.

Findings

The authors found that both women and men are more inclined to own a business when they are married, have children or receive financial support from their spouse. They also found widespread gender differences in these analyses. The influence of family-related issues on owning a business is stronger for women than for men.

Originality/value

The findings indicate that male business owners work longer hours if they have young children. In contrast, female business owners reduce their work hours if they are married, have young children and receive support from their spouse. Implications are discussed.

Citation

Guo, X. and Werner, J.M. (2016), "Gender, family and business: An empirical study of incorporated self-employed individuals in the US", International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 373-401. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-12-2015-0046