Although there is a strong body of existing research on women’s career-life development and on women’s entrepreneurship, there is a lack of understanding of the experiences of mother entrepreneurs specifically. This dissertation addresses the question how do self-employed women with children manage their multiple life roles. Context and the rationale for conducting the proposed study is discussed, followed by a literature review, which begins by describing the key career development terms, offering an overview of career theory with a focus on women’s career development and entrepreneurship, followed by a discussion of modes of inquiry considered appropriate for this study. An outline of the research methodology is presented, with further rationale for a qualitative approach, specifically Grounded Theory. This research includes a description of the basic social problem Being a Mother Entrepreneur, as well as proposing a substantive theory to explain how mother entrepreneurs manage their multiple life roles. This process is explained in the core category Keeping Going, which is recursively fueled and affected by seven key properties: feeling supported, making choices, adapting creatively, remembering the push, remembering the pull, envisioning the future, and living my values. The finding of Keeping Going as the basic social process of how mother entrepreneurs manage their multiple life roles, underscores the importance of understanding the role of values on the process of career-life development of self-employed women with children. Finally, implications for further research, including the extension of the proposed substantive theory to other groups, and implications for counselling practice are discussed. / Graduate / 0525 / 0519 / rehb@shaw.ca
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/5345 |
| Date | 01 May 2014 |
| Creators | Hudson Breen, Rebecca E. |
| Contributors | Hiebert, Bryan A., Tasker, Susan L. |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ |
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