Entrepreneurs and motherhood: impacts on their children in South Africa and the United States.

Women are starting businesses at unprecedented rates (U.S. Census Bureau 2001). The majority of these entrepreneurs is married, and most have children. Yet little attention has been devoted to determining how these children are affected by their experiences with an entrepreneurial mother. Especially

important is the question of whether these children are more or less likely to themselves become entrepreneurs. Is the entrepreneurial mother laying a foundation for entrepreneurship in the child's formative years, or is a generation of busy women entrepreneurs spawning a generation that will avoid entrepreneurship? If the primary locus of entrepreneurial learning is rooted in the relationship between the mother and her children, there may be important implications for new venture creation.

The objectives of this study were to explore (1) the impact of woman-owned businesses on the childhood experiences, perceptions, and future plans of the children; and (2) the factors that most influenced the career intentions and behaviors among children who have grown up or are currently growing up with an entrepreneurial mother. The study also draws a comparison between the perspectives of the female entrepreneur and her children. Diverse insights are obtained by examining women entrepreneurs from two distinct countries, the United States, a developed nation, and South Africa, a developing nation.

Gender and Entrepreneurship: Patterns in Women-Owned Ventures

On an international scale, firms owned by women comprise 25-33 percent of businesses in the formal economy (NFWBO 2000). Despite the obstacles, growth in the number of companies started by women currently outpaces the growth of all businesses by nearly two to one. As of 1997, in the United States women owned 5.4 million firms, employed 7.1 million people, and generated $819 billion in revenues (U.S. Census Bureau 2001). Although growth (37 percent) in women-owned firms with employees is triple the growth (12 percent) for firms without employees, nearly 84 percent of women-owned businesses had no paid employees, and approximately 69 percent had receipts less than $25,000 in 1997.

Women-owned businesses tend to be smaller, with less capital, have lower revenues and fewer employees, and reside in lower profit industries (Bird 1989).

Women tend to be sole owners, have less managerial experience, and have ventures that grow less quickly than those owned by men (Hisrich and Brush 1984). Compared to males, female entrepreneurs tend to set lower business size thresholds beyond which they prefer not to expand (Cliff 1998).

Prominent reasons stated by both men and women for starting businesses include the need for achievement, autonomy, and flexibility (Bowen and Hisrich 1986). However, women entrepreneurs also value the ability to pursue career goals in tandem with family obligations. They attempt to maintain equilibrium between economic goals such as profit and growth and noneconomic goals such as personal fulfillment and helping others (Brush 1992). Previous research suggests that women and men share similar motivations in business ownership but that women have an additional motivation to find paid work that is more compatible with family responsibilities.

The Unique Challenges Confronted by Female Entrepreneurs

Some years ago, Hisrich and Brush (1983) characterized the American female entrepreneur as being the firstborn, from a middle-class background, married with children, and having a bachelor of arts degree and a supportive spouse who is in a professional or technical occupation. The current venture is her first, is in a traditionally female sector, and was started because of job frustration. She owns a young business with low revenues and maintains a controlling interest, but she lacks finance, marketing, and organizational planning skills. Since then, the number of studies on women entrepreneurs has increased steadily. Key issues addressed include educational and work background, psychological characteristics, motivation, perceptions of career efficacy, training and skill development, comparative earnings levels, management practices, external networking, desire to succeed, and obstacles encountered (Birley 1989; Dumas 2001; Brush 1992; Greene et al. 1999; Robinson 2001; Scherer, Brodzinski, and Wiebe 1990; S tevenson 1986). In addition, several studies have found that conflicts between home and family demands constrain business growth (Stoner, Hartman, and Arora 1990).

Women entrepreneurs increasingly have developed business networks that provide capital, know-how, and encouragement. Whereas the original focus of women's business centers was on training and education, they now offer micro-lending and link women to the larger banking community through the Small Business Administration's (SBA) loan programs. The first women-focused venture capital fund was founded in 1995. There is an emergence of a new girls network, helping women overcome exclusion from traditional business networks, lack of access to capital, discriminatory attitudes, gender stereotypes, and lack of confidence.

The Family and the Female-Owned Venture

What impact does the working mother have on her children? In the early 1980s, the dominant view was that a mother's absence from the home due to employment negatively affected the adolescent's vocational orientation. Later, it was acknowledged that the working mother impacts positively on the development of career ambitions insofar as the children admire and aspire to be like their mothers more than do children of nonemployed mothers. They seek independence and tend to be more autonomous, self reliant, and achievement oriented. Hoffman's (1999) work confirms that the mother's employment influences both male and female attitudes regarding gender roles and vocational choices.

As more women become economically empowered, the relationships they have with the rest of the world at a social, economic, and political level are being transformed. According to ecosystemic theorists, this change is not linear but is interactive and dynamic. Minuchin (1974) argues that demands for change in the family are sparked by biopsychosocial changes in one or more of its members and by various inputs from the social system in which the family is embedded. A change in a mother's gender roles impacts children, spouses, parents, and their own identities. The family is a matrix of identities within which the individual's identity is first defined based on interaction with parental and sibling subsystems. The attributes of healthy families that contribute to the individual's self-esteem and self-acceptance include clear boundaries, well-differentiated functions, flexibility; clear and honest communication, good adjustment to life-cycle transitions, and a strong parental coalition.

Despite the rate of new venture creation by women, gender asymmetry persists. Women are not usually relieved of household responsibilities when starting a venture but remain the primary parent, emotional nurturer, and housekeeper (Schein 1977; Unger and Crawford 1992). Depending on her stage of career progression, the female entrepreneur might have had to adopt several roles as a result of changes in her family, business, and personal life (Dyer 1994). The influence of an entrepreneurial mother on a child's career choices is tied to the ways in which the entrepreneur's roles change over time and to the dilemmas and conflicts encountered at different stages of her life. Children of entrepreneurial mothers might have different experiences based on whether the mother starts a business later in life when the children are grown or whether she experiences the stresses of entrepreneurship and motherhood simultaneously. Her skills, background, and psychological makeup at the time of startup are important (Dyer 1992). Further, the entrepreneur's financial status at startup would seem relevant, as the entrepreneur may be tempted to spend more money on her children while spending less time with them.

There are multiple points at which the business and family interact, often creating tensions and destabilizing family life. Both managerial and personal dilemmas arise as the business grows and evolves. One study found that variables most impacting on the extent to which women entrepreneurs experience work-home role conflict are fatigue, difficulty in relaxing, inability to pursue personal interests, and schedule conflicts/inflexibility (Stoner, Hartman, and Arora 1990).

Although men and women typically rank work second in importance to family, work demands usually take precedence over those of the family (Parasuraman, Purohit, and Godschalk 1996). Factors impacting both work-to-family and family-to-work conflict include autonomy, job involvement, gender, work-role overload, schedule inflexibility, parental demands, family involvement, instrumental support, and informational and emotional support (Parasuraman, Purohit, and Godschalk 1996). Female entrepreneurs develop different strategies to balance roles of parent and entrepreneur. The allocation of time and energy to competing role demands is based on rational models of decision-making, gender-role congruence, and the psychological importance of the two roles. The family either can be supportive by providing money, contacts, labor, and other resources or can be obstructive by withholding resources and social support (Dyer 1994).

Factors Impacting Career Choices

The family represents an early and overriding source of influence on career choice. It affects all other aspects of personal development, goal orientation, personality, and motivation while also influencing the levels of educational attainment and age before becoming an entrepreneur. Three factors from the family background of greatest relevance appear to be parental role models, family size, and learned values and aspirations. Bandura (1977) suggests that the most effective predictive cue for influencing behavior is the actions of others, particularly significant others. Expectations of self-efficacy are derived from personal experiences, vicarious experiences, emotional arousal, and verbal persuasion. It follows that the child of an entrepreneurial mother who perceives his or her role model as both positive and successful is likely to imitate that role model. According to social learning theory, individuals who experience the perceived success of the entrepreneurial parent express a greater preference for a n entrepreneurial career than those who have not had this kind of role model performance effect (Scherer et al. 1989). It would seem that the probability of someone becoming an entrepreneur can be increased by exposing the individual either vicariously or through formal learning experiences to the tasks associated with owning a business. This exposure can be accomplished through mentors or role models in the workplace or home, career guidance, internships, and cooperative education programs (Scherer, Brodzinski, and Wiebe 1990). Others have advocated various forms of government intervention, access to apprenticeships in the industry, education programs, and gender-based public policy programs.

In spite of the presence of relevant role models, many children of entrepreneurs choose not to pursue the entrepreneurial path (Brockhaus and Horwitz 1986). In addition, many individuals without parental role models choose to pursue entrepreneurial careers, suggesting that other environmental and social learning experiences impact career selection. Yet it has been noted that children of entrepreneurs often prefer having their own business over working for someone else (Dyer 1992; Shapero 1972). This tendency is impacted by family support for the entrepreneurial career and the extent to which there is discontent on the part of the spouse or children due to strains on family life resulting from time commitments or financial hardships during startup.

Social learning indicators that explain the differences in career selection preferences are also worth considering. Key indicators include a person's level of education and training, individual desires, career-entry expectations, and career self-efficacy (Scherer, Brodzinski, and Wiebe 1990); academic ability and peer aspirations (Scherer et al. 1989); socioeconomic background and ability to overcome cultural conditioning and learning experiences (Birley 1989); differences in orientations and motivations (Brush 1992); and race and culture.

Dyer (1994) identified four dimensions necessary to establish a theory of entrepreneurial careers: antecedents that influence career choice, career socialization, career orientation, and career progression from entry to exit. Key antecedents include early childhood experiences, ventures started at a young age, negative work experiences in a large company or positive ones in an entrepreneurial company, and specialized training (Brockhaus and Nord 1979). Stevenson (1986) found that woman business owners were greatly influenced by their husbands and families in making a career choice.

Researchers studying two generations of women business owners have noted that these women are influenced strongly by their differing gender role socialization. Consequently, these women show differing needs and aspirations for themselves (Moore and Buttner 1997), which has important implications for the sub-Sequent socialization of their children. Since many women today have rejected traditional gender role stereotypes, they are likely to provide significantly more assertive and independent occupational role models for their children. Moore and Buttner's research suggests that traditional female stereotypes are being eroded, and as a result of socialization, there is a growing likelihood that more women will begin to display entrepreneurial traits and behaviors.

The Study

Given the emphasis placed by female entrepreneurs on family and the need for balance in their lives, it is surprising that so little attention has been devoted to effects of the entrepreneurial lifestyle on their children. To address this shortcoming, a study was undertaken with samples of women entrepreneurs in the United States and South Africa.

The research model is built around six key constructs. Of primary interest are the family-related experiences of the children, and these are broken into general childhood experiences and experiences specifically related to having an entrepreneurial mother. The former is concerned with hobbies, income opportunities, school activities, sibling relationships, and related experiences. The latter is focused on issues such as how much the mother was available, the extent to which the business interfered with home life, and how the business affected relationships with the mother and other family members. Also pertinent are general descriptors of the mother and children such as their ages, education levels (if adult children), and number of years exposed to the business.

It is posited that these three variables are determinants of the perceptions children have of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, as well as their attitudes regarding entrepreneurship as a career choice. Entrepreneurial lifestyles can be perceived in many ways, but the concern here is with overall perceptions as well as the extent to which the lifestyle is associated with such factors as hard work, materialism, greed, failure, risk, freedom, personal fulfillment, and excitement. As a career choice, the interest is with both the attractiveness of entrepreneurship and the factors that make it more or less attractive. Finally, the model posits that attitudes and perceptions will influence behavioral intentions.

Initial insights regarding the appropriateness of the model and proposed relationships were obtained through two cross-sectional surveys directed at samples of women business owners and their children. The first sample consisted of United States entrepreneurs (based in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area), while the second included South African entrepreneurs (based in the Cape Town metro area). In both instances, participants had to be owners of a business that was at least five years old with annual revenues exceeding $250,000 per year. They had to be working in the business full time and had to have at least one child who experienced the mother in business while growing up (that is, before turning 18 years of age).

Nonprobability convenience samples were employed. For the United States sample, local associations were contacted, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Young Entrepreneurs Organization, and the Greater Cincinnati Women's Network. For the South African sample, contacts were made with the Chamber of Commerce and with a directory titled Women's Network Guide to Women in Business in the Western Cape. In addition, snowball sampling was undertaken, where each entrepreneur contacted was asked for names of other entrepreneurs that met the criteria. Women were initially contacted by telephone, and a screening questionnaire was used to qualify them. Information was collected on their company, products and services, age and gender of children, and willingness to have themselves and at least one child participate in a personal interview.

Mothers and teenage children were then interviewed in their home, while adult children were contacted by telephone and then were mailed or faxed the survey. The final South African sample included 10 families (entrepreneurs) with nine teenage and five adult children. The United States sample consisted of 13 families with five teenage and nine adult children. Three surveys were designed-one each for the mothers, teenage children, and adult children. The questionnaire for the entrepreneurs consisted of a series of multichotomous and open-ended questions. It included perceptual measures regarding the impact of the business on family life, the growing up experiences of the children, and the children's future outlook and career goals, as well as the impact of having children on the way in which the business was run. Questions were included on the entrepreneur's aspirations for their children, as well as personal descriptors of the entrepreneur. The questionnaire for teenage children consisted of multichotomous, di chotomous, and open-ended questions. Measures were included for each of the variables in the research model. Measures comparable to those asked of the mother were included in two areas: ways in which the family and the child were impacted by having a mother who owned a business; and career aspirations. The questionnaire for the adult children differed in two ways from the teenage children's survey. It included a set of eight bipolar adjectives used to characterize the respondents' perceptions of their childhood experiences and 12 items measuring perceptions of the entrepreneurial lifestyle set up as a five-point Likert-type scale.

Findings

Differences between the two samples were assessed by comparing responses to the items in the survey directed at mothers. For open-ended items, categories were created for most of the questions by content analyzing the responses, with three judges categorizing the responses. Few significant differences were identified, even at the .10 significance level. A key difference included the tendency for South African mothers to perceive the family to have been more disrupted by the business ([chi square] = 3.97, p = .10), although there were no differences in such related areas as the frequency of not being home for dinner or of coming home too tired for family activities. Other differences included a stronger tendency for South African mothers to want their children to be entrepreneurs ([chi square] = 2.94, p = .087) and to believe their children will follow the entrepreneurial route ([chi square] = 7.74, p = .10). The United States sample tended to be older ([chi square] = 11.7,p = .012) and to have a higher education level ([chi square] = 19.9, p = .001). Given few differences, the two samples were c ollapsed for purposes of further analysis.

Let us consider first the perspectives of the mothers, then the teenage children, and then the adult children. The mothers reported that owning a business disrupted family life but impacted the children positively (see Table 1). Key advantages afforded the children were financial benefits to the family, as well as giving the children a sense of independence and control over their own destinies. Disadvantages centered on an absent mother, stress, and financial constraints placed on the family. Most of the entrepreneurs (69 percent) saw themselves as role models for their children. Areas where the mothers felt they had most impacted their children's perceptions of the future included (1) the sense of what an ideal family is; (2) the appreciation for professional independence; (3), the understanding of the need for work and family life balance; (4) the ability to set goals and achieve them; and (5) the understanding of what it takes to be successful. Just under half of the entrepreneurs (48 percent) very definit ely or definitely want their children to follow the entrepreneurial route in their professional lives, while 30 percent very definitely or definitely think their children will do so. The respondents (86 percent) believed that having an entrepreneurial mother will definitely impact on their children's future success. Most mothers (83 percent) also reported that they approached the business differently because they had children, and 52 percent indicated the business grew more slowly as a result of family demands. Key lessons they would share with other entrepreneurial mothers included the need to make the family come first; to find balance in family, personal, and business lives; and to plan, make hard choices, and prioritize.

Turning to the children still at home, these respondents were less apt to feel that the business disrupted family life, although it was ever-present (see Table 1). Most claimed they knew a lot (50 percent) or a fair amount (36 percent) about the business. There was some perception that the mother was different from other mothers because she owned a business. The best aspects of having an entrepreneurial mother were her time flexibility, the financial benefits, and the child's ability to benefit from the mother's experiences. The worst aspects were her limited time and fatigue. Having a mother with a business led a number of them (21 percent) to get closer to some other family member. Of those with siblings (86 percent), most reported the relationship was supportive (42 percent), followed by independent (25 percent) and competitive (17 percent).

These children demonstrated a number of attitudes that are consistent with an entrepreneurial orientation, such as trying things others say cannot be done, but they also displayed some attitudes less consistent with entrepreneurship (see Table 2). In addition, many of them have engaged in income-earning activities as an adolescent. Table 2 also suggests that a significant minority has an interest in running their mother's business, and while entrepreneurship is not the career priority for most of these children, close to two-thirds would one day like to have their own business. Attractive aspects of entrepreneurship included freedom (43 percent), control (21 percent), and financial gain (21 percent).

The final group, adult children, recalled a greater level of family disruption than did the teenagers and were more apt to see negative aspects of this disruption, but they tended to see the overall experience as positive (see Table 1). They assessed their childhood as being relatively stable, secure, less normal, somewhat happy, somewhat adventurous, less lonely, somewhat fun, and no more difficult than most children experience. These respondents indicated the best aspects of having an entrepreneur for a mother included the pride they felt, time flexibility, and financial benefits to the family. The worse aspects were limited time available for the children, a tendency to bring the business home with them, and financial pressures. Most of them (85.7 percent) strongly agreed or agreed that they are a different person because their mothers ran a business. They reported moderate to low levels of sibling rivalry and recalled moderate levels of involvement in extracurricular school activities, high involvement i n sports, moderate involvement in music/dance/arts, and high involvement in hobbies.

As can be seen in Table 3, perceptions of entrepreneurship were somewhat favorable among this group. In a consistent vein, respondents ranked owning a business as a high career priority, and a sizeable subgroup definitely want to pursue the entrepreneurial path. The attraction aspects of entrepreneurship were freedom, the ability to have more control, the lifestyle it would make possible, and the sense of accomplishment it would produce. Key negatives were stress, time demands, and lack of stability.

An attempt also was made to determine if perceptions between the mother and children tended to be consistent; they were, with a few exceptions. For instance, mothers and both the adult and teenage children rated levels of family disruption in fairly similar ways, but there was a tendency for the mothers to rate the disruption as greater than did the children. Alternatively, the mothers reported they were home for dinner more regularly than did the children. Compared to the children's recollection, mothers also underrated the extent to which the business was a topic of conversation at home.

Finally, in spite of sample size limitations, initial evidence was produced regarding the linkages proposed in the research model, as summarized in Table 4. There is consistent evidence of a relationship between positive family experiences with the mother and her business and the tendencies to view entrepreneurship more favorably in general, to associate it with positive attributes, and to want to pursue it as a career choice. In addition, the set of items related to various ways the child could earn money as a youth were given values of 1 if the respondent had earned money in this manner and a value of zero otherwise. The values were then summed, and the resulting scale was positively associated with the belief that anyone can be a successful entrepreneur if they try hard enough and with the desire to own a business.

Conclusions and Implications

The findings suggest that mothers who are entrepreneurs clearly impact the childhoold experiences of their offspring and that the overall experience is positive. Consistent findings were produced for female entrepreneurs in both South Africa and the United States. Women-owned businesses are moderately disruptive of family life, but children generally do not resent the disruption. While children indicate the business does not affect closeness with their mother, they are generally close, see their mother as a little different from other mothers, and view her as a role model. Among other conclusions, this finding is a testimony to the ability of female entrepreneurs to achieve work-family balance. It is noteworthy that female entrepreneurs and their children do not differ significantly in their perceeptions regarding the impact of the business on the family. Where the disruption was perceived to be greater or more nominal, both mother and child shared those perceptions. However, the mother fairly consistently ra ted the disruption as somewhat greater than did the children. This tendency might either reflect feelings of guilt among the mothers or a tendency to rationalize on the part of the children. Nonetheless, both mother and child agreed on the net positive impact of the overall experience.

The childhood experiences of both teens and adults were perceived by them to be relatively normal. This finding is somewhat surprising, as female entrepreneurs were not commonplace during the formative years of the children in this study. However, professional women had become fairly commonplace, and from a child's perspective, whether the mother was working hard for someone else or working for themselves may not have mattered in terms of the perceived normalcy of their upbringing. Further, sibling rivalry does not appear to be a major factor in the family experiences of the children of female entrepreneurs. At the same time, these children tend to be relatively active both in extracurricular events and moneymaking efforts. While comparative data were not available for children in general, respondents reported high levels of participation in sports, clubs, hobbies, and other activities. High proportions also earned money from sources other than allowances, with most of them holding part-time jobs during their teenage years and about 30 percent of both teenage and adult children reporting that they made money as teenagers from their own ventures.

These children tended to view the entrepreneurial lifestyle in a moderately favorable light. They associated entrepreneurship with freedom, control, and achievement but also with hard work, limited time, and stress. In spite of their favorable perceptions and of the wishes of their mothers, most children do not want to be entrepreneurs, and even fewer of them want to take over their mother's business. The mothers and children shared similar views regarding the children's interest in entrepreneurship, yet a sizeable subgroup, perhaps as much as one-fourth of the children, would indeed like to one day have their own business. Additionally, those whose childhoods were most favorably impacted by their mothers' pursuits were most likely to desire the entrepreneurial path for themselves. This suggests that mothers, in exposing children to the business, might want to reinforce the flexibility, economic advantages, and ability to control one's destiny that come with entrepreneurship.

Table 1

Impact of an Entrepreneurial Mother on Home Life

Questions for All Three              Percent of Respondents
 Samples                                   that Agree

Mother's Business Disrupted       Mother              78
  Family Life                     Teenage Child       50
                                  Adult Child         71

Mother Came Home Too Tired        Mother              70
  for Family Activities           Teenage Child       79
                                  Adult Child         64

Mother Was Always Home for        Mother              57
  Dinner                          Teenage Child       93
                                  Adult Child         79

Mother's Business Was a Topic of  Mother              65
  Conversation at Home            Teenage Child       92
                                  Adult Child         86

Having an Entrepreneurial         Mother             100
  Mother Impacted the Children    Teenage Child       86
  Positively                      Adult Child        100

                                                   Teenage     Adult
                                                    Child      Child
Questions for Children                            (Percent)  (Percent)

Mother Cared More about the       Disagree           79         58
  Business than the Family        Agree Somewhat     21         21
                                  Strongly Agree      0         21

The child Felt Very Close to the  Disagree            0         14
  Mother                          Agree Somewhat     14         43
                                  Strongly Agree     86         43

Impact of Business on Child's     Less Close          7          7
  Relationship with the Mother    No Impact          86         79
                                  More Close          7         14

Children Felt Their Mother Was    Very Different     14          0
  Different than Other Mothers    Somewhat           36         57
                                  Different          50         43
                                  Not Different

Would Like To Run Own Business    Agree              64         72
  at Some Point in Future

Table 2

Attitudes, Perceptions, and Behaviors of Children Still At Home

Money-Making Activities                 Percentage

Receive an Allowance                        86
Make Money around the House                 57
Work Part-Time Jobs                         57
Work for Friends and Neighbors              50
Work in Mother's Business                   36
Have Venture of Their Own                   29

Outlook on Life

Try New Things that Seem Scary              86
Try Things Others Say Can't Be Done         93
Try to Be Different from Other People       86
Will Pursue New Activities to               86
Overcome Fears
Won't Go Alone to Movie                     50
They Want to See
Hesitant To Speak Out for                   50
Unpopular Cause
Need to Know Something Has                  43
Been Done before Trying It
Do not Like Trying Totally                  58
New Experiences

Professional Interests

Work in and Take over                  Definitely 14
Mother's Business                        Maybe 26
Would Like to One Day                       64
Have Own Business
Having Own Business Is                      29
Prime Career Goal

Table 3

Perceptions and Career Interests of Adult Children

Perceptions of Entrepreneurship *            Mean
Owning a Business

Is Personally Fulfilling                     1.38
Requires Hard Work                           2.77
Keeps One from Important Things in Life      4.57
Is Likely To Result in Success               3.23
Is Exciting                                  1.85
Has Fewer Career Benefits                    3.31
 than a Big Company
Requires that a Person Be Money-Driven       3.85
Entails Greater Levels of Freedom            2.39
 than Other Pursuits
Limits One's Career Options                  3.85
Is Something Most People Can Do              2.38
Poses Tougher Obstacles for                  2.23
 Women than for Men

Career Priorities                            Rank

Owning a Business                             1
Working for a Large Company/Organization      2
Taking over Mother's Business              3 (tie)
Working for Another Small Business         3 (tie)
Working in Mother's Business                  5
Not Working/Raising a Family                  6
Other                                         7

Desire to Own a Business                  Percentage

Definitely Want to Own a Business            28.5
Maybe Want to Own a Business                 43.0
Definitely Do not Want to Own a Business     28.5

* 5-point scale where lower scores indicate higher agreement.

Table 4

Identified Relationships within the Data

                                             Chi
Variable X Variable                          Square  p

Mother frequently came home fatigued (with)  11.2    .04
 the child rating working for a company
 greater than running one's own business

Child's view that their mother is            16.7    .03
 different (with) the belief that anyone
 can be a successful entrepreneur with
 hard work

Significant family disruption caused by      13.2    .04
 mother's business (with) the perception
 that women entrepreneurs have tougher
 time than their male counterparts

Small disruption from mother's               10.3    .10
 business (with) the child associates
 entrepreneurship with freedom

Small disruption from mother's               9.2     .05
 business (with) the child wishes to
 run their own business one day

Child felt that mother running her own       11.3    .05
 business was a positive experience
 (with) child has stronger desire to
 run their own business

Child felt close to their entrepreneur       13.3    .03
 mother (with) less likely to believe
 the odds are against a new business
 start-up

Child felt close to their mother (with)      7.8     .10
 less likely to believe that entrepreneurs
 are money driven

Child felt close to their mother (with)      13.6    .009
 the child is more likely to hope to own
 their own business

The belief that entrepreneurs have more      13.5    .03
 freedom than others (with) the desire to
 run one's own business one day

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