Work-life balance is a dominant discourse in contemporary Western society. It has been built on a language of large organizations, hence has not been widely considered in relation to the small-medium enterprise sector. As a consequence, scant research has been conducted on the experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs and work-life balance within the small-medium enterprise sector in New Zealand, a country largely populated with migrants and small businesses which account for 96 per cent of the total enterprises. This study aims to fill this gap by firstly exploring the interpretations of the concept of work-life balance by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs and, secondly, the main challenges they face in achieving work-life balance. This is done by drawing on literatures including those on work-life balance, small-medium enterprises, and immigrant entrepreneurship theories. Primary research was conducted using a critical interpretive approach where the researcher is an insider to the study. This philosophical and methodological approach makes it possible to give a minority group a voice to effect social change and gain further research attention. Fifteen Chinese business owners, chosen from a variety of industries within the Auckland region, participated in this study. A qualitative methodological technique and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data for the case study on these entrepreneurs. The results indicate that the majority do not enjoy a sense of work-life balance because they take on filial obligations important for their own culture. They need to work hard to generate financial profit for the benefit of family. About half of them work more than 60 hours per week and three works longer than 70 hours weekly. The motivation for them to work in this way is to provide their family with desirable housing and to enable their children to meet higher education goals. This study challenges the applicability of the work-life balance discourse among the immigrant entrepreneurs who perceive the concept differently based on their cultural values. The results emphasise the need for business case studies from Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs and research attention on contemporary human resource topics to be given to minority groups.

Work-life balance is a dominant discourse in contemporary Western society. It has been built on a language of large organizations, hence has not been widely considered in relation to the small-medium enterprise sector. As a consequence, scant research has been conducted on the experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs and work-life balance within the small-medium enterprise sector in New Zealand, a country largely populated with migrants and small businesses which account for 96 per cent of the total enterprises. This study aims to fill this gap by firstly exploring the interpretations of the concept of work-life balance by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs and, secondly, the main challenges they face in achieving work-life balance. This is done by drawing on literatures including those on work-life balance, small-medium enterprises, and immigrant entrepreneurship theories. Primary research was conducted using a critical interpretive approach where the researcher is an insider to the study. This philosophical and methodological approach makes it possible to give a minority group a voice to effect social change and gain further research attention. Fifteen Chinese business owners, chosen from a variety of industries within the Auckland region, participated in this study. A qualitative methodological technique and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data for the case study on these entrepreneurs. The results indicate that the majority do not enjoy a sense of work-life balance because they take on filial obligations important for their own culture. They need to work hard to generate financial profit for the benefit of family. About half of them work more than 60 hours per week and three works longer than 70 hours weekly. The motivation for them to work in this way is to provide their family with desirable housing and to enable their children to meet higher education goals. This study challenges the applicability of the work-life balance discourse among the immigrant entrepreneurs who perceive the concept differently based on their cultural values. The results emphasise the need for business case studies from Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs and research attention on contemporary human resource topics to be given to minority groups.

Submitted by Marcus Alexandre Yshikawa Salusse (msalusse@gmail.com) on 2014-03-31T16:50:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 (@DISSERTAÇÃO_VERSAO FINAL_31.03.14).pdf: 9682404 bytes, checksum: 74f2c344694c9eae81d4e672f1c1af51 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by PAMELA BELTRAN TONSA (pamela.tonsa@fgv.br) on 2014-03-31T16:53:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 (@DISSERTAÇÃO_VERSAO FINAL_31.03.14).pdf: 9682404 bytes, checksum: 74f2c344694c9eae81d4e672f1c1af51 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-03-31T16:58:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 (@DISSERTAÇÃO_VERSAO FINAL_31.03.14).pdf: 9682404 bytes, checksum: 74f2c344694c9eae81d4e672f1c1af51 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-27 / O objetivo desta pesquisa é compreender como professores ao redor do mundo ensinam empreendedorismo com fundamento na teoria effectuation. A pesquisa utiliza a metodologia de estudo de caso múltiplo para análise de cinco experiências em educação empreendedora em nível universitário, realizadas em cinco instituições de ensino de quatro países diferentes com intuito de compreender o contexto dessas experiências, a estrutura dos cursos, as metodologias de ensino utilizadas e as percepções de docentes e alunos sobre essas experiências. O estudo traz inicialmente um breve histórico sobre a evolução do ensino de empreendedorismo nos Estados Unidos e no Brasil. Ato contínuo, o estudo faz uma análise da evolução das perspectivas teóricas utilizadas para compreensão do fenômeno empreendedor e relaciona essas perspectivas às metodologias de ensino utilizadas para o ensino de empreendedorismo, com destaque para a recente discussão sobre a perspectiva do empreendedorismo como método. A teoria effectuation é apresentada em seguida e introduz seus os princípios norteadores e as teorias que deram origem à sua formulação. A análise dos casos resulta em contribuições teóricas referentes à estruturação de perguntas de pesquisa que relacionam a utilização da teoria effectuation no ensino de empreendedorismo ao aumento da intenção dos alunos em empreender e que analisam a influência da cultura e da formação dos alunos no processo de ensino e aprendizado. As contribuições práticas, por sua vez, referem-se à identificação do elemento integrador das metodologias de ensino de empreendedorismo com fundamento na teoria effectuation, da identificação de metodologias de ensino emergentes e da contribuição da teoria para o desenvolvimento do ensino de empreendedorismo no Brasil. Assim, os resultados desta pesquisa contribuem para aumentar o conhecimento existente sobre a utilização da teoria effectuation no ensino de empreendedorismo e sobre os efeitos dessa introdução, bem como por meio da formulação de perguntas de pesquisa para direcionamento de esforços de pesquisa futuros. / This research aims at understanding how professors around the world teach entrepreneurship using effectuation theory. The research utilizes the multiple case study methodology to analyze five entrepreneurship education experiences at the university level, performed at five institutions from four different countries in order to understand the context of these entrepreneurship education experiences, the structure of the courses, the teaching methodologies used and the perceptions from both students and professors regarding their experiences. The study initially presents a brief history on the evolution of entrepreneurship education in the United States and Brazil. Thereafter, the study analyzes the evolution of the theoretical perspectives used to understand the entrepreneurial phenomenon and relate these perspectives to the methodologies used for teaching entrepreneurship, highlighting the recent discussion about the entrepreneurship as method perspective. The effectuation theory is presented in sequence and it guiding principles and theories that led to its formulation are presented. The theoretical contributions from the study relate to the structuring of research questions that analyze the relationship between effectuation teaching and the increase on intention of the students to become entrepreneurs, and the influence of culture and educational background in the teaching and learning process. The practical contributions refers to the identification of the integrating element of effectual teaching methodologies, the identification of emerging teaching methodologies in the field and the contribution from effectuation theory to the development of entrepreneurship education in Brazil. Thus, this research contributes to increase the existing knowledge on effectuation teaching and the effects on introducing effectuation to teach entrepreneurship, as well as through the structuring of research questions for future research efforts.