Family-Centered Motivation’s Effect on Entrepreneurial Risk

• In Event: 161 - Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 23. Research on Work

Abstract

Entrepreneurs are especially exposed to the competing demands of work and family, and their relatively high levels of autonomy in the workplace allow for family considerations, rather than just those of work, to come into play when making decisions in both realms. Systems theory points to the family as central to understanding the actions and attitudes of individual family members. This premise allows for an empirical examination of entrepreneurial risk and entrepreneurs’ motivations for starting a business. Past literature on risk among entrepreneurs is examined at the business or firm level rather than at the individual level and finds that family firms generally take fewer risks than nonfamily firms. Using the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II, I examine the relationship between family-motivation and both risk-orientation and risk-taking behaviors among 1040 entrepreneurs. Results show that family-motivated entrepreneurs do not differ in their levels of risk-orientation from self-motivated entrepreneurs and that neither family- nor self-motivation for starting a business is associated with risk-taking behaviors. Future research should look to family structure as an additional variable in determining entrepreneurs’ risk-orientation and risk-taking behavior.

Author

• Rachel Elizabeth Skaggs, Vanderbilt University