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A Study of Entrepreneurship: Female and Male Motivations

By Susannah Legge 242481

Word Count: 9,730

April 2016

AbstractThis study looked into seeing whether there are differences in motivations between male and female entrepreneurs. The objectives of the study aimed to find: similarities and differences in motivations, factors related to motivation, the most common motivations among entrepreneurs and new insights. Burton et al. (2016) states that research into entrepreneurs starting a venture is an important and fruitful area of research. According to Ndinguri et al. (2014) there is a lack of research in regards to the impact of gender on entrepreneurial emotions. Shane et al. (2003) also states that there should be more research conducted into the differences of entrepreneurs. There is a range of academic sources stating why research such as this is important.

This study interviewed 16 entrepreneurs and asked them about their motivations to start their venture or ventures. 9 of the participants were males and 7 were females. These participants were asked questions in regards to their motivations of starting a business, most important motivation and various other questions such as how successful they deemed their business. There were 18 questions asked in total, some asked due to interest of the interviewer and some because of findings in the literature.

The results found that there may be a difference between male and female entrepreneurs in that 4 males identified entrepreneurship as a motivation. This aligned with literature which found a similar result and was conducted with a similar methodology and in the same country. Money and independence are seen to be the main motivators among entrepreneurs both in results found and from literature. A new insight in regards to why an entrepreneur was demotivated to carry on with her business was found. Also it was found that just over 87% of the participants believed their business to be successful.

Further research should be conducted with a larger sample in order to see if there are more noticeable differences. It could also help to see if the theme of children is a motivator identified by only females. This study found children among female participants a theme but there was not enough to suggest it would definitely be a difference.

Keywords: Motivation, Entrepreneurs, Differences in male and female motivations, Male entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs

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Contents Table: Abstract..........................................................................................................................................1

Contents Table:..............................................................................................................................2

1.0 Introduction.......................................................................................................................3

1.2 Research Question and Objectives...............................................................................................42.0 Literature Review.....................................................................................................................5

2.1 Entrepreneurship Defined............................................................................................................52.2 Motivation among Entrepreneurs defined...................................................................................52.3 Differences in motivation among male and female Entrepreneurs..............................................62.4 Factors related to motivation.......................................................................................................72.5 The most common motivations among entrepreneurs................................................................82.6 Conclusion of the literature review..............................................................................................9

3.0 Method...................................................................................................................................10

3.1 Collection method......................................................................................................................103.2 Ethical Issues..............................................................................................................................103.3 Participants................................................................................................................................113.4 Procedures.................................................................................................................................113.5 Conclusion..................................................................................................................................12

4.0 Results....................................................................................................................................13

4.1 Differences in male and female Entrepreneurial motivations....................................................134.2 Related factors to motivations...................................................................................................144.3 The most common motivations for starting a business.............................................................154.4 New insights...............................................................................................................................154.6 Limitations of data.....................................................................................................................164.7 Conclusions of the results..........................................................................................................16

5.0 Discussion and Conclusions....................................................................................................17

5.1 Interpretation of the results.......................................................................................................175.2 Results discussed in relation to the literature review................................................................17

5.2.1 Entrepreneurship.................................................................................................................175.2.2 Motivations among entrepreneurs......................................................................................185.2.3 Differences in male and female entrepreneurs...................................................................185.2.4 Factors related to motivation..............................................................................................195.2.5 The most common motivations...........................................................................................205.2.6 Potential New Insights.........................................................................................................20

5.3 The importance of this study.....................................................................................................215.4 Limitations and suggested improvements for this study............................................................215.5 Future research directions.........................................................................................................21

6.0 Reference List.........................................................................................................................22

7.0 Appendices.............................................................................................................................24

7.1 Appendix 1: Interview question sheet........................................................................................247.2 Appendix 2: Record of meetings................................................................................................25

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1.0 IntroductionThis research project is going to study the motivations of male and female entrepreneurs to start a business. The differences in motivations, if any and any similarities of male and female motivations will be discussed in detail. The study will interview a number of entrepreneurs using semi structured interviews. I feel this is worth studying as I have always wanted to start my own business and want to know why people decide to start one. I would find studying this area of interest valuable to me in terms of future career decisions as well. I personally want to discover whether males and females have different motivations to start a venture.

Ndinguri et al. (2014) explains that there is a lack in research regarding the impact of gender on entrepreneurial emotions and cognitions. As there is a lack of research in this area it could be valuable for other academics to see the results of the study in regards to the gender of entrepreneurs and their motivations. Barringer and Duane Ireland (2016) discusses how Joseph Schumpter, 1934 explained that entrepreneurs are important as they develop new technologies and products which over time make old technologies and products obsolete. Shane et al. (2003) argues that there is much research around the environmental factors that influence entrepreneurship and a consideration of motivations of entrepreneurs will build on the development of entrepreneurship theory. Academics give a variety of reasons as to why studying into entrepreneurship is important and motivation among entrepreneurs seems to be an important aspect. Barba-Sanchez (2012) explains how new enterprises increase the progress of economies and provide employment. This creates an interest in terms of research. Entrepreneurs also innovate and create new opportunities for society. This means that trying to understand what motivates entrepreneurs could help others understand the entrepreneurial process. Shane et al. (2003) also discusses how there are theories of entrepreneurship which do not consider the differences in motivations of different entrepreneurs. Burton et al. (2016) discusses that focusing on how entrepreneurs start a venture is a fruitful and important area of research. There is clearly a gap for this study to further research into the findings of motivation among entrepreneurs, especially as it is looking at the differences between males and females.

There are a number of things I personally want to find out in this study. I would like to know in what circumstances in terms of current commitments and life events people decide to become an entrepreneur and what helped them build their business. Any problems that occurred whilst trying to set up a business will be addressed as well in the study. Questions in regards to whether entrepreneurs think their business is successful will be asked and how much of a risk taker they consider themselves. I would like to find out why entrepreneurs do not like working for other people in terms of having an average 9 until 5 job. Finding out if entrepreneurs generally have previous related work experience and/or qualifications prior to starting up their particular type of business would be interesting to find. There are many different questions I will be asking participants and some answers may not be relevant for discussion or displayed in the results. These questions could end up being useful in explaining some of the entrepreneur’s motivations in some areas. Some questions I have chosen to ask due to reviewing the literature and seeing whether I could link up my results to find reliability in previous studies.

This study will provide valuable information for people who are interested in starting a venture to see what motivates male and female entrepreneurs. Others could relate to some of the other entrepreneur’s answers in terms of motivations. The study will find out about entrepreneur’s personal opinions on what they believe to be different in terms of female and male entrepreneur motivations. This should be seen as opinions and views of individuals and not as definite data of whether there are actually differences or not. It will be interesting to see whether the views participants express will portray what the study actually finds in terms of whether there are differences in motivations or not. The most common motivation among all entrepreneurs in the study will be identified as this could be valuable to contrast with other studies results.

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There are limitations to be recognised before the study is outlined. This is the first time I have conducted a set of interviews so there may be a degree of interviewer bias which might distort the results of the study. Although I have studied how to conduct interviews correctly, this may not have been enough to completely gauge honest answers from the participants. So it should be noted that the answers given in interviews may not be reliable answers. The participants of the study either currently own a business (or multiple) or have owned a business in the past. Participants that have owned a business in the past or set up their business a while ago may not remember their exact experiences at the time which may affect the results of the study. Another limitation for this study is that there may have been confusion or misunderstandings of questions by participants. In order to try and defuse this issue a friends of mine will asked the questions I create in order to ensure questions asked are understood clearly. Participants will be briefed as to what the study is looking at but also deceived as to the exact aim for the study. This could be a limit of the study due to deception being used.

A literature review will be written outlining the appropriate research that has already been conducted in terms of entrepreneurship defined, motivation among entrepreneurs defined, male and female entrepreneur differences, factors related to motivations and the most common entrepreneurial motivations mentioned in previous studies. The methods section will describe how the research was conducted. The results of the study will be outlined in terms of the research objectives identified below. Finally, there will be a discussion and a conclusion of the results and their relation to the literature review.

1.2 Research Question and Objectives The question to be asked is “What are the differences between male and females entrepreneurs in terms of their motivations to start a business?”.

The objectives of the research project are as follows:

- To find out what differences and similarities in motivations male and female entrepreneurs have- To identify any related factors that cause the motivations of entrepreneurs- To identify the most common motivation among all entrepreneurs - To identify interesting new insights from entrepreneurs, if any

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2.0 Literature ReviewThis literature review will identify relevant literature in regards to entrepreneurship defined, motivation among entrepreneurs defined and differences and similarities in male and female entrepreneurial motivations. Literature about factors related to entrepreneurial motivation and the most common entrepreneurial motivations will also be reviewed.

2.1 Entrepreneurship DefinedEntrepreneurship is defined by Shane and Venkataraman (2000) as ‘opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered, evaluated, and exploited’. The definition explains that entrepreneurs do not necessarily have to be founders of organisations as people who discover new opportunities or create new products can be viewed as entrepreneurial. This definition discusses how entrepreneurs engage in creative activities and the degree of creativity involved varies across the types of resource recombination that occurs. It will be useful to see if any entrepreneurs in the study identify themselves as being creative in interviews. This source used has been cited by other academics 8755 times, so even though it is outdated it has credibility. It should be recognised that this definition was cited in a recent journal used for this literature review by Ep Chedli (2016) as well. Clearly work by these academics have made a significant contribution to the research of entrepreneurship.

McKenzie et al. (2007) looks at various definitions of entrepreneurship to try to conclude what the true definition is. This work identifies that most definitions of entrepreneurship focus on organisation-based definitions. In contrast, McKenzie et al. (2007) states that a definition should be centred on the actions of an individual. The definition proposed is that entrepreneurship involves groups and individuals exploiting and seeking economic opportunity. This definition is showing that entrepreneurship is a process which is influenced by environmental opportunities. The academics of this study have looked over a range of other credible sources to find a different perspective on the matter. It is similar to Shane and Venkataraman’s (2000) definition in that it discusses opportunity and exploitation. In comparison to these academics, the definition focuses on economic opportunity rather than mentioning other attributes in the entrepreneurial process, such as creativity.

It is useful to define entrepreneurship and recognise the debate among academics of whom is considered an entrepreneur. When conducting the research, some participants may not consider themselves to be entrepreneurs due to the debates on the issue of definition. In the instance of this study, people who have started a business at any time of their life or if they have taken over a business (pursued an opportunity) will be considered an entrepreneur.

2.2 Motivation among Entrepreneurs definedAccording to Estay et al. (2013), motivation among entrepreneurs is based upon an individual’s intentions, values, desires and goals. Motivation should be seen as an expression of an attitude which has resulted from an individual’s needs and self-image. In comparison, it is argued that motivation among entrepreneurs is motivation towards an entrepreneurial goal which identifies and capitalises on business opportunities (Grigore, 2012). These two definitions are similar to one another as they mention that entrepreneur’s motivations are based on goals.

It is useful to look into the variations of motivation among entrepreneurs’ definitions as this study is specifically looking into motivations of male and female entrepreneurs. These definitions could be contrasted with results in whether the motivations explained by participants, align with what motivation among entrepreneurs is perceived to be by academics.

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2.3 Differences in motivation among male and female EntrepreneursBelwal et al. (2014) found that female entrepreneurs mainly start a business due to the need of accomplishment, independence, wanting to gain higher social status and to give others a job. A main economic reason among women was to make money. This research could be criticised for being gender bias as it only focuses on female entrepreneurs, however this is irrelevant as this research is looking into whether there are differences in male and female motivations. Similarly, to this academic research by Alina (2010) found that about 74% of female entrepreneur’s main motivator was the desire to be one’s own boss. It was also found that about 71% of females explained their motivations were the prospect of making more money. Alina’s (2010) study analysed a range of data from the EU and Romania and so it has covered a range of different cultures, so it could be generalised to the population as a whole. Alina is relevant to this study as the journal is looking specifically into whether women are driven by different motivators in comparison to men. This will be useful to compare with the results in the discussion.

Research by Alina (2010), also found similarities among male and female entrepreneurs. For example, about 67% of EU females and just over 68% of EU males both were motivated by the desire for new challenges. Other similarities include about 35% of males and just over 32% of females wanted to get away from an unsatisfactory work situation. Even though there are similarities in the data, Alina (2010) found there are differences in motivation among entrepreneurs. One includes that 49% of women wanted to combine work and their private life whereas only 40% of males explained this as a motivation. ‘The children were big enough’ was a motivation identified by just over 22% of females and only 11% of males stated this. This was one of the main differences identified among the female and male entrepreneurs.

Research by Cromie (1987) was conducted and his team interviewed 35 males and 24 female entrepreneurs in regards to their motivations. Although his research is outdated it is cited 330 times by other academics. Cromie’s (1987) work has similar findings to Belwal et al. (2014) and Alina (2010) in terms of the majority of entrepreneurs wanting to have autonomy. Table 1 shows the results of Cromie’s (1987) research. In terms of differing with Alina’s (2010) research, Cromie’s (1987) found that money as a motivation was lower in terms of the most frequent motivation given.

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Table 1: The most frequent motivations among men and women (Cromie, 1987)

His work differs again in comparison to Alina (2010), as the need for new challenges in not stated in the motivation list (table 1) whatsoever. This is an important motivation that occurred the second most frequently in Alina’s (2010) study. Perhaps this is because Cromie’s (1987) work identified 14 categorisations for motivations and did not find enough participants responding looking for new challenges, this may be under the ‘others’ section in table 1. Similarly, to Alina’s (2010) work, Cromie (1987) has identified the difference of child rearing, 13 females in his study explained this as a motivation whereas only 1 male identified this. This is a particularly interesting aspect that could be contrasted in the discussion and could come up in the results section of the study.

Another difference in motivation, Cromie (1987) outlines is that 6 males started their business due to entrepreneurship whereas 0 females stated this motivation. Career dissatisfaction is another difference shown, six males compared to 20 females explained this as a motivation. Career dissatisfaction statistics differ in Cromie’s (1987) study in comparison to Alina’s (2010) work who found a similar amount of males and females stated this as a motivation. Perhaps this is because Cromie’s work was conducted twenty years beforehand. There is a varying amount of missing motivations from Cromie’s work. On the other hand, his perceptions of categorisation could be the reason why some motivations have not shown in his frequency table. Job dissatisfaction is shown as a top motivator, so what is the difference between job and career dissatisfaction here, surely they could be classed as the same category in his work? It is essential to describe the differences and similarities so that these can be contrasted with this study’s results.

McGowan et al. (2012) proposes that women entrepreneurs have similar motivational factors, such as independence and financial gains, to male entrepreneurs. This statement aligns with the literature outlined so far, in that both male and females both mention autonomy and money. However, it is also stated how there are a small number of female entrepreneurs who choose to start a venture so that they can balance earning potential and work responsibilities with domestic or family commitments. Essentially that flexibility and childcare are the main motivation for this small amount of women (McGowan et al., 2012). This is an important article to include in the literature review as it is identifying a main difference in motivations among genders. It is similar to the works of Cromie (1987) and Alina (2010) by mentioning that of children as a motivation. Work by Belwal et al. (2014) does not identify this as a major motivation for females. This presents a question for the interview process of the study, where participants will be asked of their current commitments upon starting their venture(s).

This area of entrepreneurship in terms of research into the motivations of male and females is lacking as there are only a few relevant studies that have identified the motivators gender specifically. This is why this study should be conducted as there is a gap to further the research and current literature is outdated. There is a main focus on female entrepreneurs in terms of literature and not so much of males and this study will be looking into both genders.

2.4 Factors related to motivationResearch by Estay et al. (2013) states that having the characteristics of creativity, risk taking, control and accomplishment lead to motivation among entrepreneurs. A need for independence and development exist before motivation occurs in entrepreneurs as well. The study collected 235 responses from questionnaires so could be generalised to the population as a whole due to its large sample. In contrast, Haifend and Sibin (2014) found from their research that motivation occurs when entrepreneurs have organisational goals which then leads to entrepreneurial action. These organisational goals differ among entrepreneurs and leads to different forms of ventures. This study had 230 useable responses meaning it has a large sample as well. These factors leading to motivation can be compared to the results of the study to see if what the academics have stated have reliability. Entrepreneurs in this study will be asked a few questions in terms of the risks they take and asked whether they had help starting their business to see how independent they are.

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In comparison, Shane et al. (2003) argues that external factors play a role in entrepreneurship such as the status of the economy, availability of venture capital, competitors and government regulation alongside human action (motivation). Shane’s work is cited 1184 times so could have reliability. Participants in this study will be asked about external factors such as problems they encountered when establishing their business. Ep Chedli (2016) supports Shane et al. (2003), as it is mentioned in his study that entrepreneur’s motivations are based upon the external or internal environment surrounding them. Another factor related to motivation, identified by Shane et al. (2003) is that opportunities play an important role in the entrepreneurial process. It is proposed the process begins with the recognition of an entrepreneurial opportunity and is then followed by an idea of how to pursue the opportunity. It is mentioned that people’s willingness to pursue such opportunities depend upon their financial situation and career experience. This statement contrasts with Estay et al. (2013) and Haifend and Sibin (2014) in that Shane et al. (2003) is suggesting there is not just a characteristic trait of entrepreneurs that leads to a venture creation. Participants will be asked in the interviews about their career experience in relation to starting their particular type of venture. Also about their relevant qualifications.

Similarly, to Shane et al. (2003), Ep Chedli (2016) cites work by Benjamin and Levine, 1986 which describes push and pull factors in motivation. Pull factors are motivations in positive situations which facilitate the person to launch a business, such as a large inheritance or a detection of opportunity. Whereas push motivations are those which are considered as negative events such as unemployment or career dissatisfaction. These descriptions of motivational factors can be used in the study. Participants will be asked about life events or triggers which caused them to start a business, as these motivational factors can be considered life events. But it should be recognised these are essentially motivations as well.

2.5 The most common motivations among entrepreneursResearch by Sloka et al. (2014) proposes that the main motivations identified for starting ventures were to make own decisions, to increase income and maintain personal freedom. This study looked at data of entrepreneurs in USA, Canada, Mexico and Latvia so it has studied a range of different populations and could be generalised. The study surveyed 195 participants from these countries and so it has a large sample size. Sloka et al.’s (2014) results describe how motivation factors are generally alike in different countries, however Latvia entrepreneurs focus on independence motivations. This means that the study could not be generalised to the population as a whole.

Alina (2010) identifies the top three most frequent motivations to be the prospect of making more money, desire for new challenges and the desire to be one’s own boss. These are for both male and female entrepreneurs. Similarly, to Sloka et al. (2014), Alina (2010) outlines money and independence as main motivators. In contrast, Alina (2010) outlines new challenges as a most frequent motivator. This research is based in the EU and Romania and Sloka et al.’s (2014) research is based on other countries so perhaps this is why there is a difference.

Research by Cromie (1987) identifies that autonomy, achievement and job dissatisfaction to be the most frequently mentioned motivations among entrepreneurs. This work differs from the previous academics as money as a motivation is not mentioned as frequently, whereas the other two studies identify it. Similarly, to the other academics results, autonomy is mentioned as a top motivator (independence) but job dissatisfaction is a different motivation found from the results. Independence is clearly a main motivator identified throughout the years by academics but other main motivations are difficult to identify due to contrasting results. Cromie’s (1987) results are based on UK participants whereas the other academics results are based on other countries. This could be the reasoning behind differing results due to cultural differences or it could be because Cromie’s (1987) work is severely outdated. For the purpose of this study, his work shall be used as it is the most similar in terms of its method of the study and that of the same country.

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From the research outlined, entrepreneurs do not seem to identify the most important motivation and are rather asked what their motivations were. Participants in this study will be asked to identify their most important motivation- perhaps this could be different to the motivations they outline in the plural.

2.6 Conclusion of the literature reviewThere is a varying amount of views on what entrepreneurship can be defined as, for this study it shall be open to anyone who has owned a business, owns a business or multiple. Creativity is a common theme identified throughout the literature and perhaps some participants will deem themselves creative in the study. One main difference found between male and female entrepreneur’s motivations is that of children commitments among women. The literature currently available about differences in entrepreneurs is limited and outdated, so furthering this research would be valuable. There are many similarities among both genders of entrepreneurs. There are a range of factors related to motivation, that of having specific traits, organisational goals, external factors and opportunities that arise. The most common motivation among entrepreneurs throughout literature is that of autonomy (independence).

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3.0 MethodThis section of the project explains how the study was conducted in terms of the collection method, ethical issues, participants and procedures. It will also outline limitations that occurred thus affecting the study in terms of reliability and validity.

3.1 Collection method For this study interviews were used to collect data about entrepreneurs. The study is descriptive in that it is trying to accurately describe persons, these being entrepreneurs (Saunders and Lewis, 2012). These interviews collected qualitative data which will be displayed in the results and discussion of the project. Saunders et al. (2003) state that interviews can help to gather valid and reliable data that are relevant to the study’s research question and objectives. Semi structured interviews is where the researcher will have a list of themes and questions to be covered and the interview will usually be recorded (See Appendix 1). Kotler et al. (2013) suggests that personal interviews can give an excellent quantity of data and flexibility in answers. Matthews and Ross (2010) argue that using semi structured interviews can be advantageous as the data is in participants own words and the researcher is in direct contact with the participant. However, there are disadvantages of conducting interviews being that it is time consuming and the interviewer needs to develop interviewing skills. In comparison, Clarke and Dawson (1999) argue that there is no correct way of conducting an interview as there are no set of guidelines that are sure to achieve successful interviews.

Saunders et al. (2003) explain that semi structured interviews provide opportunity to probe answers from participants in terms of explaining their answers broadly. It is also advantageous to use interviews as it can be significant to establish personal contact with people and they are more likely to agree to it especially if they are interested in the topic. Interviews are the most advantageous approach in terms of if the questions are open ended or complex and where there a large number of questions to complete. Ghauri and Gronhaug (2005) discuss how practicing interviews, before conducting them, with friends can help to ensure that questions are understood. For this study, a friend was used in order to ensure this, they also suggested other questions which were added in order to make the data collected richer as it was noted the questions were too short.

3.2 Ethical IssuesIn order to complete this project appropriately, a number of ethical issues needed to be addressed. It is stated that gaining consent from participants is important in the design of research, participants should be free from coercion and should not be pressured into taking part (Saunders and Lewis, 2012). Saunders et al. (2003) explain that it is important for participants to be promised confidentiality and anonymity and this helps gain access to individuals or organisations. Other identified ethical issues include that of participants being able to withdraw from the study at any time or refuse to answer any questions asked. Each participant was made aware that they would be recorded during the interview, could refuse to answer questions and could withdraw from the study at any time. The participants were also told their information would be confidential and all answers they would give would be anonymous (See Appendix 1).

As seen in Appendix 1, participants were unaware of what the main aim of the study was to be. It is suggested by Saunders et al. (2003) that deception can help to remedy participants acting in a certain way which affects the reliability and validity of results. Participants should be informed of the deception using debriefing at the end of the study, which the participants of this study were. Debriefing can yield more trustworthy data from participants depending upon the interviewer’s relationships with participants or the time to develop trust amongst them. Majority of the participants of this study (10) were known to the interviewer.

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3.3 ParticipantsThere were 16 participants for this study, 7 females and 9 males. According to Saunders et al. (2012) there should be a minimum sample size of 5- 25 participants for a semi structured interview. The characteristics of participants were that they had to either own a business (or multiple) or have owned a business. Letters were sent to 16 potential participants, 1 replied refusing to participant and 5 replied accepting. The letter informed of how long the interview would take, where it could take place, what the interview was generally about and who I was. Participants were interviewed in a place of comfort such as their homes or workplace as it was suggested by Saunders et al. (2003).

Snowball sampling was used in order to find participants. Matthews and Ross (2010) explain that snowball sampling is a technique where members of an initial sample are asked to identify other members with the same characteristics. I already knew 10 people that were entrepreneurs who were employers, friends or relatives and these people were able to identify others to interview with ease. Saunders et al. (2003) discusses how the likelihood of a snowball sample being representative of the general population as a whole will be low but the cases will have the desired characteristics. Snowball sampling can be good when there are difficulties identifying cases and the cost is reasonable. The control over the sample contents can also be quite low.

3.4 Procedures Interviewer bias may have been present during interviews as they have never been conducted before although it was studied to see how to perform interviews correctly. Kotler et al. (2013) states that the interviewer can affect answers given therefore affecting the reliability of the study. Saunders et al. (2003) proposes there are a number of measures that can overcome interviewer bias being; preparation for interviews, providing participants with relevant information beforehand, appearance at the interview, ability to demonstrate listening in interviews and the interviewer’s behaviour. As shown in appendix 1, participants were given a list of themes for the briefing of the interview. I also dressed formally for interviews. It was imperative that during my interviews I demonstrated good communication and listening skills. As mentioned previously, participants were slightly deceived as to what exactly the interview was trying to find so this may have affected the bias of the interview.

Interviews varied in length, some being 5 minutes long and others up to 22 minutes. This seemed to depend on how much a person wanted to talk about their business in terms of the type it was. Two interviews were conducted through Skype and these participants were in their homes. Skype or telephone interviews are seen in some cases to be less intrusive for people and can still provide in depth results for a study (Hammond and Wellington, 2013). 14 participants were interviewed either in their place of work or at home. The interviews were conducted from January 2016 until April 2016.

As mentioned by Hammond and Wellington (2013) a study is valid if it is addressing the research question. This study has high validity as it should be able to identify whether there are differences in male and female motivations once the results are analysed. On the other hand, participants of this study may have had difficulties remembering the exact events or motivations at the start of setting up this business. Cromie (1987) suggests that interviewing entrepreneurs who have just started a business or are about to start a business helps to avoid recall and rationalisation problems. This study was not able to find many entrepreneurs who had just started a business so this is a limitation which affects the validity of the study as it is using historical views of participants (Saunders and Lewis, 2012). This limitation may not be relevant in that the results are similar to literature.

Reliability is concerned with that of consistency and if the repetition of the study was conducted, could it gain consistent results (Hammond and Wellington, 2013). If this study was to be conducted again it would be difficult to get the same results so the reliability of the study is low. This is because even if the study was repeated with different entrepreneurs, these entrepreneurs would have different motivations, life events and more in comparison to the ones used for this study. The participants in this study are 11 | P a g e

expressing their own experiences in life and their own opinions, of which would be completely different for other people. The reliability is also affected by that of interviewer bias and deception.

3.5 ConclusionAlthough there are limitations to conducting interviews, it is difficult to know exactly how to conduct them correctly. There are also ways in which to avoid bias in interviews which were attempted in suggestion of Saunders et al. (2003). The sample size is appropriate to the study for semi structured interviews. Ethical issues were dealt with in terms of confidentiality, anonymity, briefing and debriefing participants and consent. Although deception occurred, this was minor and appropriate as relationships with majority of the sample were already formed (Saunders et al., 2003). Snowball sampling proved useful in finding a reasonable amount of participants. The study should be considered medium to high in validity but low in reliability.

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4.0 ResultsThe results from the study will be presented in this section, explained in order of the research objectives. Any reference to answers to questions, the questions are presented in Appendix 1.

4.1 Differences in male and female Entrepreneurial motivationsAn interpretation of Cromie’s (1987) table will be used to show the differences and similarities in motivations among male and female entrepreneurs. It will show the most frequently mentioned motivations. These motivations have ben quantified into percentages as well to show the weighting of motivations clearly.

A theme that occurred among the female participants in the data was that of children. The life event of participant 14 was: ‘My children are getting older so therefore it was my time to do something I wanted to do.’ This participant also opinionated why female entrepreneurs may start a business:

Lots of my friends, as their children grow up they almost, not get their life back but they start to focus on them and what they want to do with the rest of their life.

Participant 1 answered to question 15, about what deterred them from an average job; ‘no childcare’ and participant 4 stated ‘I couldn’t fit it around the children, I had no childcare available.’ All of these participants are females.

Entrepreneurship and independence were two motivations identified by a large amount of males which are different to female responses. 3 female participants identified finding an opportunity as a motivation and 0 males identified this. There are some differences outlined from the frequency table between male and female entrepreneurs.

In answer to questions 17 and 18, these have been combined as most participants were asked if there were any differences between males and females (the answers to these questions are the same for each). Just over 56% of the participants believed there are no differences between male and female entrepreneurial motivations. Just over 18% were unsure how to answer these questions and finally 25% thought there were differences.

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An example answer, to believing there are no differences, comes from participant 9:

I’m not sexist at all, I think females are more than capable then males I’ve had in my business, it’s proven that females can basically do anything a man can do. I don’t think they [females] should have any different motivations than the males.

4.2 Related factors to motivationsOverall, 75% of all participants answered to question 8 either ‘yes’ or ‘sometimes’ to taking risks often (6 participants said ‘yes’ and 6 said ‘sometimes’). 75% of participants considered themselves either moderately, moderately to high or a high risk taker in terms of measurement. 25% considered themselves a low or low to none risk taker.

Of all participants just over 93% considered themselves to have relevant work experience before starting their business. Just over 68% of participants said they had no related training or qualifications to their business.

Independence was a theme that occurred from the interviews both in motivations and from other questions. It should be recognised that those who mentioned ‘to be one’s own boss’ or ‘control’ were defined as wanting independence for motivations. 50% of the participants stated they had no help starting their business. Participant 5 stated, in answer to question 15 of what deters them from working for someone else:

I worked for 22 years for myself. I would find it very difficult being an employee to someone else because I’m used to doing what needs to be done without being asked or told and I’m a self-starter and I like rowing my own boat.

Creativity was another theme picked out for related factors, it was also mentioned by two participants as a motivation (table 2). Participant 7 answered question 15 with ‘I can be creative without any restriction.’ Participant 10 answered similarly to this question:

Just being your own boss really and being creative because you can’t be creative when you’re working for someone else.

Opportunities are a theme that are shown in the motivations section (table 2) and the most frequent in the life events mentioned (table 3).

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A theme in the results were the issues of trying to start businesses, ones that are popular are mentioned below. 100% of participants explained a ‘hurdle’ they encountered when starting their business, in answer to question 14. A particular theme in this respect was of money. Participant 13 explained: ‘It was getting enough money to get tools together’. Participant 16 stated ‘financial at the start’. Another problem was that of finding appropriate premises, participant 14 said: ‘finding premises’ and participant 8 stated ‘first of all was finding premises’. Another issue that arose a few times was of clients. Participant 8 said ‘developing enough clients to make it profitable’ and participant 1 stated ‘finding customers’.

4.3 The most common motivations for starting a businessThe most common motivations to start a business in order, were: money, independence and entrepreneurship (from table 2). Table 4 has been made to show the most important motivations among entrepreneurs in order to show the differences and most common motivations more effectively. This table shows, in order, the common motivations to be: money, success and independence. This differs from table 2 results, as some participants seemed to prioritise completely different motivations.

4.4

New insightsAn interesting quote came about in the semi structured interview. Participant 10, a female identified why she gave up her business:

I got to the stage where my Mum died and I couldn’t, I couldn’t work in, I had a work room in my Mum’s house and I had to sell the house. So, therefore it demotivated me to not work, you know.

Participants were asked about whether they deemed their business successful and in what ways they measured this (questions 5 and 6). Just over 87% of participants deemed their business successful. Meaning that 12.5% did not believe their business to be successful. These participants measured their success in one or more ways, overall there were 26 measurements mentioned. 46% of these participants measured success through financial gains, 26% measured these in demand of their business, 11 % by the amount of employees they had and finally 15% mentioned other measurements. These included growth of the business, good feedback and genuinely not satisfied about the business.

4.6 Limitations of dataThe motivations or life events that have been categorised have been interpreted to be a specific motivation, so it is in the interviewer’s view that these motivations are categorised in such ways. Perhaps if some motivations such as independence were to be less general in categorisation then the results would

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be different. Life events and motivations are one of the same in the study and so it is difficult to interpret the results. Some participants seemed to assume that the questions about male and female entrepreneurs could be seen as sexist, so some answers may not have been honest in this part of the study (for questions 16 and 17). In terms of using a frequency table to help show the differences between male and females, it is difficult to see huge differences. This may be because the sample size is not big enough. This study has validity in that it is measuring entrepreneur’s motivations broadly but the reliability is low as the study may not provide consistent results if repeated.

4.7 Conclusions of the resultsDifferences in table 2 show that entrepreneurship and independence are mentioned mostly by males. Three females mention that of finding an opportunity to be a motivation and 0 males. These are the biggest differences from the study. However, in table 3, mostly males mention opportunity as a life event to starting their business. There are contradictory results with regards to motivations and life events. Children is a recurrent theme among females in regards to motivations, opinions of others and factors related to motivations.

The majority of entrepreneurs in this study had either work experience or a qualification related to the business they owned prior to starting it. There were factors related to motivation such as risk taking, creativity, independence, opportunity and external problems which were found as themes throughout the study. Money and independence are the most common motivations shown in this study from table 2 and table 4.

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5.0 Discussion and ConclusionsThis chapter will look into the results and literature review and try to answer the research question that was presented. The findings from this study suggest that there may be differences between male and female entrepreneurial motivations.

5.1 Interpretation of the resultsThe results showed entrepreneurship was a much bigger motivator for males then females. Another difference is 6 males and only 2 females stating independence as a motivation. Also that of 3 females and 0 males mentioned opportunity to be a motivation. These results are shown in table 2. It should be recognised that in table 3, when participants were asked of their life event, 3 males and 1 female mentioned opportunity to be the life event. So the results of females differing in motivations with regards to opportunity may not be a difference as males identify opportunity as a life event. As outlined in the results, 56% of participants believed there to be no differences in motivations between male and females which is interesting when the results show that there is a possible difference.

The results of the study are difficult to examine. For example, table 2 shows that 2 males stated success as a motivation and 0 females. Whereas in table 4, when asked about the most important motivation, 2 females stated success and only 1 male stated this. This perhaps shows that when participants are firstly asked about their motivations to start the business, they are not stating all of the possible motivations. Some participants are mentioning completely different motivations for the most important rather than that of the ones they have previously mentioned. This is not the only difficulty found from this study, life events align to motivations in that people will mention opportunity to be a motivation and that of a life event. Similarly, career dissatisfaction a motivation and a life event. Motivations and life events are one of the same.

The most important motivations table (table 4) does not give enough data to recognise differences between the genders as everyone has only mentioned one motivation for this section. Although it does provide reliability that money is the most common motivation in this study as it aligns with the most frequent motivation of table 2.

5.2 Results discussed in relation to the literature review5.2.1 EntrepreneurshipAs discussed by Shane and Venkataraman (2000) entrepreneurship is about opportunities to create future services and goods which are evaluated, exploited and discovered. People who discover new opportunities or create new products are considered entrepreneurial and pursue creative activities.

Participant 2 quoted:

He knew [participant’s employer at the time] by setting me that task I’d probably go away, learn about that, and realise there was a market for it.

This participant is talking about finding an opportunity and goes on to say ‘We are one of the only people, businesses in the country to do that.’ Here this participant has discovered an opportunity and created something that not many people in the country have created. This gives Shane and Vankaratarman’s (2000) definition of entrepreneurship some reliability in terms of what entrepreneurship is defined as.

A similar but slightly different definition was outlined. McKenzie et al. (2007) defined entrepreneurship as involving a group or individual whom exploits and seeks economic opportunity, the two definitions both mention that of opportunity. This was a recurrent theme found in the results, table 2-4 mentioned it. Opportunities were identified by participants in regards to motivations and life events. In both table 2 and table 4 it shows money is the most frequent motivation for starting a business between males and

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females. This means that this definition is reasonable in describing entrepreneurs as seeking economic opportunity.

5.2.2 Motivations among entrepreneursEstay et al. (2013) explains that motivation among entrepreneurs is based upon someone’s values, intentions and goals, it is an expression of attitude. In this study, 4 male participants identified entrepreneurship as a motivation, this is the motivation of always wanting a business. These participants always intended on having a business themselves as they feel it is something good to have. For example, participant 8 stated ‘I didn’t want to reach old age and wish I’d started my own business and regret it.’

Grigore (2012) describes motivations among entrepreneurs to be that of motivation towards an entrepreneurial goal which identifies and capitalises on business opportunities. Participants in this study capitalised on various business opportunities. As shown in the results in all three tables, opportunities are mentioned in each. This therefore shows that this academic is accurate in describing entrepreneurs to exploit business opportunities.

5.2.3 Differences in male and female entrepreneursAs stated by Belwal et al. (2014), females start a business due to independence, accomplishment, higher social status and a main economic reason being money. Similarly, Alina (2010) found from her results that females wanted to mainly be their own boss and were motivated by that of money. McGowan et al. (2007) found similarly that females identified money and independence as main motivators. As shown in the results of this study, money is a main motivator among women. However, independence is not mentioned as frequently by women, this perhaps being that there are only 7 females in comparison to 9 males in this study.

Literature by McGowan et al. (2007), Cromie (1987) and Alina (2010) all showed that the motivation of children to be a difference among male and females. In this study, only 2 females identified this as a motivation in table 2 and it was mentioned by 1 female in the life events section. If this study were to have more female participants perhaps it could be concluded that this is a difference between male and females. It is mentioned by opinions of entrepreneurs that children could be a difference as well as shown in the results. This study cannot conclude that the literature and the findings align appropriately in that females differ in this motivational area to males.

Alina (2010) identified, similarly to the females, males’ main motivations were to be one’s own boss, the desire to make money and challenges. In this study it shows that the main motivations for males were money, independence and entrepreneurship (taken from results in table 2 and 4). Independence and money are the same for some of Alina’s results so gives this literature some reliability. However, the desire for new challenges in this study (identified as to do something different in tables) was not mentioned frequently by either males or females. Research by Cromie (1987) stated the main motivators for men and women to be that of autonmy, achievement and job dissatisfaction. Again, independence is mentioned, this study gives reliability of literature that independence or autonomy is a main motivator among both male and female entrepreneurs.

Cromie (1987) identifies that 6 males and zero females identified entrepreneurship to be a difference in motivations. This study aligns with this literature, as shown 4 males identified entrepreneurship and this gives the literature some reliability as there is consistency in that area of results even though Cromie’s (1987) study is severely outdated. It should be recognised that no other literature mentioned entrepreneurship, perhaps because the literature is from other countries. 56% of the participants believed there are no differences between male and female motivations and 25% believed there is. It is interesting that the majority of participants believed there are no differences as to some extent they are right and wrong in their opinions. There are some differences identified but mostly, in the results and in literature, female and male entrepreneurs do have similar motivations.

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5.2.4 Factors related to motivationEstay et al. (2013) stated that entrepreneurs usually have the characteristics of creativity, risk taking, control and accomplishment which leads to motivation. Also a need for independence and development exists before motivation occurs. As shown in the results, 75% of participants considered themselves to either sometimes or often take risks on a daily basis. 75% of participants measured themselves to be moderately to high risk takers. These results give literature by Estay et al. (2013) reliability in that it states motivation occurs when there is a trait of risk taking.

A theme of creativity was shown in the results. As shown in table 2, 2 participants mentioned creativity as a motivation. When participants were asked about what deters them from an average job, there were some which answered about being able to be creative as an entrepreneur. Table 4 shows that success was the second most frequent motivator among entrepreneurs, this could align with Estay et al.’s (2013) view of accomplishment. Independence has been shown in the results with regards to the tables presented and 50% of participants stating they had no help with setting up their venture. Previous literature has presented independence also, so this is clearly a key factor in terms of motivations among entrepreneurs and a factor needed before motivation occurs. The results align with what the academic has stated in terms of entrepreneurs having those types of characteristics. This does not mean that entrepreneurs have all of the characteristics stated but merely a few. Independence and a degree of risk taking perhaps the most applicable from this study.

Research by Haifend and Sibin (2014) discussed how motivation occurs when there are organisational goals, leading to entrepreneurial action. This statement is similar to literature mentioned by Grigore (2012). The participants all mentioned different motivations and life events which led them to creating their business. Many entrepreneurs stated in the study about finding an opportunity and pursuing it of which this statement seems to suggest that is what happens with entrepreneurs.

Shane et al. (2003) identified how external factors, such as the state of the economy, government regulations, venture capital and competitors can play a part in motivation. External factors (these were identified as problems in the results) are shown in the results. These range from gaining enough money to start the business, finding premises and finding customers. Participant 7 discussed:

We acquired staff that were part of the company, part of the business. When you buy a business that is a going concern, you have to take on the staff.

This was a problem, an external factor that the owner had to consider when taking over the business opportunity she was presented with. 100% of participants stated one problem or another in regards to starting their business. This gives reason to say that Shane et al.’s (2003) discussion of external factors playing a part in motivation some logic. Perhaps this study should have asked more about external factors and how they exactly played a part in whether participants decided to pursue their business.

Also outlined by Shane et al. (2003) was that of opportunities in regards to motivation. Recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities and people’s willingness to pursue them depends on their financial situation and career experience. Participant 6 said ‘This opportunity was identified, along with others and we looked into it.’ Just over 93% of participants in this study believed they had relevant work experience prior to the type of business they started. Perhaps entrepreneurs who have worked in a similar field to the business they start, are presented with an opportunity to use their experience in order to become an entrepreneur and seize it. This may be because they are confident they have relevant experience to start that specific business.

68% of the participants did not have a relevant qualification or training related to the business they owned. It could be seen that entrepreneurs do not need to have specific qualifications to start a business

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in the area they want to go into. For example, participant 14 started her business and gained a qualification in children’s shoe fitting prior to starting. It could be seen that this participant could have started her business without this qualification. This participant deemed her business successful in terms of finance. Maybe the success of her business depends on the fact she is more reputable for being able to provide the correct and qualified service customers want for their children. Perhaps in certain types of business fields, having qualifications can ensure the success of a business. A study into other’s perceptions of business owners with relevant qualifications could be conducted to see if being qualified in certain areas could help the successfulness of a business.

Ep Chedli (2016) cited work by Benjamin and Levine, 1986 with reference to push and pull factors in motivations. Push factors being negative motivations such as unemployment or career dissatisfaction. Pull factors described as positive motivations such as opportunity and inheritance. The results show that such factors as these were found in the life events (table 3). Opportunity was the most frequent life event which could be considered as a pull factor. The second most frequent life event was career dissatisfaction which is a push motivation. The results show that this literature seems to describe accurate motivations in terms of pull and push factors. Looking at the other tables, these motivations and life events are one of the same.

5.2.5 The most common motivationsResearch by Sloka et al. (2014) explained independence and money as two main motivators. Independence was spilt into two separate motivators- to make my own decisions and to maintain personal freedom. For the purpose of this study those shall be identified solely as independence. Similarly, Alina (2010) identified money and to be one’s own boss but contrasting to this was the desire for new challenges. Cromie (1987) stated autonomy, achievement and job dissatisfaction to be the main motivators in his research.

From this research, money and independence have been identified as the most common motivational factors. This result aligns with all three studies identified in the literature, being that two of the three identify money as a main motivator and all three identify independence in one way or another. There are only two main motivators identified in this study as the top main three in table 2 and table 4 differed by one motivator. One table shows entrepreneurship to be a top motivator and the other table shows success. These have been eliminated as a main motivator as they do not occur frequently in both tables, whereas money and independence does. The results of this study in terms of most frequent motivations suggests that the results of previous studies have reliable data.

5.2.6 Potential New InsightsAs shown in the results, a participant mentioned why she was demotivated and stopped her business, a negative life event was presented. This being the death of a parent. A look into previous research of this area needs to be discussed. Bullough and Renko (2013) describe how self-efficiency can be the de-motivational or motivational force depending on a person’s self -enhanced and self-deprecated beliefs. Aligning this demotivation with the literature, it could be stated that once this participant’s parent had passed away, the participants self-esteem lowered and she was critical about herself. Further research into this area is something that could be conducted as there is a serious gap in this part of the entrepreneurship literature.

From this study, just over 87% of participants deemed their business successful and over 12% did not deem their business successful. This is an interesting finding for the study in that the majority of entrepreneurs believe their business or businesses to be successful. Perhaps this is due to a high level of confidence among entrepreneurs in that they believe it is successful, whether it really is or not. Research by Zimmerman and Hung Manh (2013) found that the majority of entrepreneurs perceived their business to be successful or very successful. This study focused on entrepreneurs in Venezuela, however it seems that similar results have occurred even though the studies have been conducted in different countries. 20 | P a g e

Perhaps a further look into how long people have had their business should be addressed to see if there is a correlation with how successful they deem it.

5.3 The importance of this studyThis study provided some rich data from the interviews that builds on knowledge about motivations of entrepreneurs. The study also provides validity in stating that previous literature and this study have found the main motivations among entrepreneurs to be that of money or independence. Opportunities is a recurrent theme, from literature to results in areas of life events and motivations and in general. This study shows that many entrepreneurs are presented with, or seek an opportunity and take action. It is interesting that over 93% of participants have relevant work experience prior to the business they own and it can be concluded that perhaps this gives them confidence to seize certain business opportunities relevant to their work experience.

As the study aligns with literature that is similar in terms of methodology and the country it was conducted, it could be generalised to the UK. That being that entrepreneurship is a motivator identified by males and not by females in either this study or Cromie’s (1987) study. This could be the main difference of motivation between male and female entrepreneurs. In answer to the research question, there does seem to be differences among male and female entrepreneurs. This should be looked into further. The differences, main motivations, factors related to motivations and most common motivations among entrepreneurs have been identified in this discussion and the results.

5.4 Limitations and suggested improvements for this studyThe sample size of 16, although recommended to be reasonable, would be better if it was larger so that data could be contrasted easier in terms of gender differences. The study cannot be generalised as a whole as the sample is small and has issues in terms of validity and reliability. In terms of the limitation outlined being that the entrepreneurs are recalling information from years ago therefore affecting validity. Some of the results seem to match up with the literature and so perhaps this is not actually a limitation. Participants may be able to recall such events of importance- that being setting up a business. This could mean the validity of this study is higher than thought. The reliability is low for the study as repeating this study may not provide consistent results, although it seems to provide areas of consistent results with previous studies.

5.5 Future research directionsA look into why entrepreneurs become demotivated to carry on with their business could be valuable in furthering knowledge of entrepreneurial behaviour. Further research into the differences of male and female entrepreneurial motivations could be conducted using a larger sample size. Interviews seemed to prove useful in finding very rich data in this study, so could be used again in further research. Research into perceptions of people’s views on qualified business owners might be useful in helping entrepreneurs’ businesses be more successful in light of a participant who has done so.

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6.0 Reference ListAlina, B. (2010) 'Entrepreneurial Motivations: Are Women Driven by Different Motivators Than Men? (I—The Literature)'. Annuals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series, 19 (2): 358-364.

Barba-Sánchez, V. and Atienza-Sahuquillo, C. (2012) 'Entrepreneurial behavior: Impact of motivation factors on decision to create a new venture'. Investigaciones Europeas De Dirección Y Economía De La Empresa, 18: 132-138.

Barringer, B.R. and Duane Ireland, R. (2016) Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures. 5th

Ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Belwal, S., Belwal, R. and Al Saidi, F. (2014) 'Characteristics, Motivations, and Challenges of Women Entrepreneurs in Oman's Al-Dhahira Region'. JMEWS: Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, 2: 135.

Bullough, A. and Renko, M. (2013) 'Entrepreneurial resilience during challenging times'. Business Horizons, 56: 343-350.

Burton, M., Sørensen, J. and Dobrev, S. (2016) 'A Careers Perspective on Entrepreneurship'. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 40 (2): 237-247.

Clarke, A. and Dawson, R. (1999) Evaluation Research: An Introduction to Principles, Methods and Practice. London: Thousand Oaks.

Cromie, S (1987) 'Motivations of Aspiring Male and Female Entrepreneurs'. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 3: 251.

Ep Chedli, M.K. (2016)'Entrepreneurial Motivation and Performance of Enterprises'. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 11 (1): 175-188.

Estay, C., Durrieu, F. and Akhter, M. (2013) 'Entrepreneurship: From motivation to start-up'. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 11 (3): 243-267.

Ghauri, P. and Gronhaug, K. (2005) Research Methods in Business Studies: A Practical Guide. 3rd Ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Grigore, A. (2012) 'The Psychology of Entrepreneurship'. Romanian Journal of Marketing, 2: 25-30.

Haifeng, Z. and Sibin, W. (2014) 'The Power of Motivation-Goal Fit in Predicting Entrepreneurial Persistence'. Social Behaviour & Personality: An International Journal, 42 (8): 1345-1352.

Hammond, M. and Wellington, J. (2013) Research Methods: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge.

Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Lloyd C.H. and Piercy, N. (2013) Principles of Marketing. 6th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Matthews, B. and Ross, L. (2010) Research Methods: A Practical Guide for the Social Sciences. Harlow: Longman.

McGowan, P., Redeker, C., Cooper, S. and Greenan, K. (2012) 'Female entrepreneurship and the management of business and domestic roles: Motivations, expectations and realities'. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 24 (1/2): 53-72.

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McKenzie, B., Ugbah, S. and Smothers, N. (2007) '"Who is an Entrepreneur?" Is it Still the Wrong Question?'. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 13 (1): 23-43.

Ndinguri, E., Phipps, S. and Prieto, L. (2014) 'Predictors of Entrepreneurial Venture Exploitation Tendencies: Role of Gender, Emotion, Motivation and Role Model Accessibility'. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal, 20 (1): 23-36.

Saunders, M. and Lewis, P. (2012) Doing Research in Business and Management: An Essential Guide to Planning Your Project. Harlow: Pearson Education ltd.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012) Research Methods for Business Students. 6th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students. 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Shane, S. and Venkataraman, S. (2000) ‘The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research’. Academy of Management Review, 25 (1): 217-226.

Shane, S., Locke, E. and Collins, C. (2003) 'Entrepreneurial motivation'. Human Resource Management Review, 13: 257-279.

Sloka, B., Kantane, I., Avotins, V. and Jermolajeva, E. (2014) 'Analysis of Entrepreneur's Motivation to Start Business (Comparative Studies in Latvia in Comparison with Canada, USA, Mexico)'. European Integration Studies, 8: 152-158.

Zimmerman, M. and Hung Manh, C. (2013) 'Motivation, Success, and Problems of Entrepreneurs in Venezuela'. Journal of Management Policy & Practice, 14 (2): 76-90.

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7.0 Appendices 7.1 Appendix 1: Interview question sheetThis is the interview question sheet with the brief and debrief for participants, it has been edited for this study.

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Interview questions sheetParticipant number: _______________________________

Female Male

BRIEF: Thank you for taking part in this interview and being a part of my research. Your details will be confidential in my dissertation and your answers will be anonymous. You have the right to not answer any of the questions presented or withdraw from the study at any time.I will be asking some general questions about yourself, your motivations and your beliefs about others motivations. During this interview our conversation will be recorded. Please sign or agree verbally that you consent to taking part in this interview and to being recorded.Signature: _____________________ Details about business(es) they own:

QUESTIONS: THEME 1: GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ENTREPRENEUR:

1. How many businesses do you own and what type of businesses are they?2. What were your current commitments at the time of starting your first

business/businesses?3. What work experience did you have before starting your first business? Is there

any related to any of the businesses you own?4. Do you have any qualifications related to the businesses you own? Or do you

have any training related to the businesses you owned?5. Do you believe your business or businesses to be successful? 6. What measures do measure these successes within?7. How much of a risk taker do you consider yourself? High-moderate-low? 8. Do you believe you take risks often?

THEME 2: MOTIVATIONS:

9. What do YOU think were the motivations for you to start your first business?10.What would you consider the most important motivation?11.At what age did you start your first business and other businesses?12.What do you think was the life event or ‘trigger’ that caused you to start your

first, second etc. business? E.g. Inheritance, job made redundant.13.Did you have any help starting your first business or other businesses?14.What hurdles did you overcome to establish your first business/businesses?15.What deters you from an average 9-5 job or part time job?

THEME 3: FEMALE/MALE ENTREPRENEURS OPINIONS:

16.In terms of Female Entrepreneurs, what motivations do you think they have to start up a business?

17.In terms of male Entrepreneurs, what motivations do you think they have to start up a business?

18.Can you recommend any other Entrepreneurs for me to interview?

DEBRIEF: The purpose of the study I am conducting is to find out what differences in motivations females and males have to become entrepreneurs. I am also seeing what other factors are related to their motivations and what people believe to be the motivations of females/males. You have the right to written documentation for this interview at any given time.

7.2 Appendix 2: Record of meetingsThis is the record of meetings with my tutor for this study.

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