Exploring the career/achievement and personal life orientation differences between entrepreneurs and nonentrepreneurs: The impact of sex and dependents

Abstract

This study explores the career/achievement and personal life orientations of entrepreneurs, specifically the impact of sex and dependent-child status. Although a growing body of research has explored the similarities and uniqueness of women, none have explicitly analyzed entrepreneurs employing a career/achievement and personal life framework. In addition, no studies have sought to explore the career/achievement and personal life orientations of female entrepreneurs with female nonentrepreneurs of similar backgrounds. Consequently this research explores and compares the career/achievement and personal life orientations of female entrepreneurs with a group of female nonentrepreneurs with similar educational levels, ages, and work experience. it also compares the orietnations of male entrepreneurs with a group of male nonentrepreneurs in order to both confirm existing literature and create a means to compare intra-female with intra-male career and personal life orientations. The analysis shows no statistically significant differences in the career/achievement and personal life orientations of women entrepreneurs and similar female nonentrepreneurs. It also finds, confirming existing literature, that male entrepreneurs possess a greater career/achievement orientation as compared with male nonentrepreneurs.