Nurturing Entrepreneurs' Work-Family Balance: A Gendered Perspective

A survey of 258 entrepreneurs examined how positive facets of their family experiences, family-to-business enrichment, and support, nurture their satisfaction with workfamily balance. Satisfaction with workfamily balance was nurtured by instrumental family-to-business enrichment to the advantage of women as a group and by instrumental support from the family at home to the advantage of men as a group. Overall, results supported feminist theories that depict entrepreneurship as a gendered process. Female entrepreneurs tend to nurture satisfaction with workfamily balance by creating workfamily synergies, whereas male entrepreneurs tend to nurture satisfaction with workfamily balance by obtaining family support at home.