The influence of life form and working creation on the foundation activity of

women and the foundation success of women business owners

A lot of studies have revealed direct evidence of substantial gender differences for

individuals becoming self-employed. Motivated by the rising importance of female

self-employment, this diploma thesis compares studies, which search for the impact

of lifestyle and work structuring on the probability of becoming self-employed and

the entrepreneurial success of self-employed women.

Despite recent increases in the amount of work in the home done by men, most of

this work is still performed by women. This thesis investigates whether women turn

to self-employment as one way of coping with conflicting family and work pressures.

Most, but not all, of the studies in this field show that the existence of young children

increases the probability of women becoming self-employed. All studies reveal an

impact of lifestyle on self-employment, which strength depends on the institutional

basis conditions of each country. It was found that the lack of temporal resources due

to children diminishes the entrepreneurial success. In contrast, living with a partner

increases the probability of being self-employed and the entrepreneurial success in

case that the partner has a good financial background or makes his money in selfemployment.

Furthermore this thesis compares studies which deal with the organisation

of work, especially of self-employed women. In sum, a woman is more likely to

choose self-employment the greater her demand for flexibility and a non-standard

work week is. Regarding the impact of work organisation on the entrepreneurial

success of women, female entrepreneurs who invest a little more time in business are

more successful than women who invest more time in the household.

The comparison of all studies proves an impact of women’s lifestyle and work organisation

on the probability of becoming self-employed and their entrepreneurial

success. However, this impact is not as high as the impact of financial resources,

human capital and network resources.