Purpose This paper aims to explore the entrepreneurial journey of select women entrepreneurs from South India to provide qualitative insights into the factors influencing their career choice (to become and continue as an entrepreneur) and to identify the drivers of their growth and well-being. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data from 35 women entrepreneurs in the micro, small and medium enterprises sectors of Tamil Nadu, India. Data were content analyzed using NVivo 12. Findings Qualitative content analysis identified three broad themes and several sub-themes to suggest a conceptual framework reflecting the possible relationships among them. Women entrepreneurs’ career choice, the growth of their ventures and their well-being were found to be significantly driven by a blend of personal attributes, strong family support and institutional support. Practical implications The findings will help the government to provide appropriate institutional support with customized initiatives and incentives to encourage women-owned tiny and small businesses to grow faster. Appropriate personality development programs and skills training will aid their growth. Originality/value This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by providing real-life insights from women entrepreneurs from an emerging economy context, especially from Tamil Nadu, which has the highest number of women entrepreneurs in India.
Purpose This paper aims to provide relevant knowledge about entrepreneurship and women’s leadership in the Indian context. More specifically, it unleashes the veiled challenges as well as success stories of select women entrepreneurs of a developing country to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship theory and practice. It aims to provide directions to the policymakers, educationists, society and families in creating a conducive environment that is essential for the success of women entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach With a qualitative case study approach, data were collected from Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state which has a maximum number of women entrepreneurs. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the supportive as well as challenging dimensions of their entrepreneurial journey. Findings Content analysis of the interview transcripts indicated that successful entrepreneurs are opportunity-driven and they focus on innovation, service, generation of wealth and employment. Support from family, especially from fathers or husbands, is as important as the entrepreneurial drive, skills and abilities of an entrepreneur. Success for them is being happy, thriving work, having a happy family, having a great work-life balance and the satisfaction to have served society apart from being independent (economically/ financially). Among India’s societal and cultural realities, women have to conquer many hurdles (both implicit and explicit) in their way concerning the societal attitudes toward women stepping out of the home boundaries and traditional gender role expectations. The silver line is societal attitudes are changing, especially in urban India. There are enough support and encouragement from the family, which helps these women pursue their passion and eventually become a successful leader. Social implications The success stories of women will bring a wave of positive developmental change in India by fostering respect for women in a male-dominated society and flashing the importance of women’s entrepreneurship. Originality/value This paper provides a new examination of women entrepreneurs that significantly further the debate about the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles, especially in entrepreneurship in an emerging economy context like India. Apart from the deterrents, it aims to highlight the enablers and motivations to choose this unconventional profession.
PurposeThis research aims to study employees' pandemic-induced work–home boundary violations using the work–home boundary model. Boundary theory and social theories provide the theoretical underpinnings for this study. The authors study the role of gender, gender role ideology, and fear of COVID-19 in explaining the relationship between work–home boundary violations, work–family conflict (WFC), and subjective well-being (SWB) among working professionals.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered using an online survey on married and working individuals (N = 354) and analyzed using the multi-group analysis technique in structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsResults show that men faced higher WFC due to job insecurity, while women reported higher WFC due to traditional gender role ideology. Surprisingly, men reported lower subjective well-being due to WFC compared to women, when fear of COVID-19 was low. One promising finding is the potential in using problem-focused coping strategy (PCS) as a boundary-work tactic for both men and women to ensure boundary control (BC) to reduce WFC and improve SWB during the new normal.Practical implicationsThis study contributes to boundary theory, social role theory, and social support resource theory, along with practical implications for employees, organizations, and policymakers.Originality/valueThis study dissects the primary role of problem-focused coping as a valid coping mechanism for managing the issues arising from the pandemic-induced unfavorable working conditions.
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