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258

Women and work-life balance:

is home-based business
ownership the solution?
Elizabeth Walker, Calvin Wang and Janice Redmond
Small and Medium Enterprise Research Centre, Edith Cowan University,
Joondalup, Australia
Abstract
Purpose This paper seeks to explore self-employment through home-based business ownership as
a potential solution to the inter-role conflict experienced by women attempting to balance dual work
and family roles.
Design/methodology/approach Home-based businesses (n 626) were surveyed in Western
Australia as part of a larger national study. Data were collected on operator and business
characteristics, and specific home-based business issues (e.g. reasons for preferring a home-base,
management and planning, growth facilitators and barriers). Four-way comparisons investigating the
dynamics of home-based business ownership between male and female operators and operators with
and without dependants were made.
Findings The attraction of home-based business ownership is driven predominantly by the
flexibility afforded to lifestyle and the ability to balance work and family. While these advantages
were more salient for women than for men, gender per se was not a determining factor in why
operators started a home-based business. The more significant determining factor was the issue of
dependants.
Practical implications Self-employment, particularly through home-based business ownership,
may well solve some womens necessity to balance work and family. However, it may not be a viable
solution for all women, particularly those seeking high financial and career rewards.
Originality/value This paper contributes empirical findings regarding home-based businesses
which, as a distinct form of small business and self-employment alternative, still remain very much
under-researched. The paper also addresses the issue of home-based businesses being emancipatory
vehicles for women juggling to manage work and family, and provides findings which question this
increasingly populist notion.
Keywords Small enterprises, Women, Self-employed workers, Homeworking, Role conflict
Paper type Research paper

Equal Opportunities International

Vol. 27 No. 3, 2008
pp. 258-275
# Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0261-0159
DOI 10.1108/02610150810860084

Introduction
Work-life balance is one of the most difficult issues facing families in the twenty-first
century. Economic pressures over the last decade have significantly increased the need
for dual-earner families to the point that the majority of families now require two
breadwinners to meet rises in the cost of living (Ford et al., 2007; White and Rogers,
2000). At the same time, structural changes in the labour market have led to a
casualisation of the workforce resulting in a number of important changes for
employees. For example, movement away from permanent to part-time, casual
and contract work; an increase in more irregular and volatile working hours; and an
overall lengthening of the working week (Pocock, 2003; Feldman and Bolino, 2000;
Jurik, 1998).
These pressures often create conflicts for women and men trying to balance carer
responsibilities (primarily young children but increasingly also aged parents) and
employee obligations. Such conflicts arise from a clash of roles within the work and
family domains (i.e. inter-role conflict) and are due mainly to a combination of personal,
domestic and societal expectations and demands (Posig and Kickul, 2004, p. 375). As

a result, complying with work roles can make it very difficult for the individual to also
participate in expected family roles and vice versa (Posig and Kickul, 2004).
Although men and women both experience inter-role conflicts, it is often more
difficult for women to balance their work and home roles. According to Doherty (2004),
this difficulty then becomes the primary source of womens disadvantage in the
corporate world and explains their concentration in low paid, part-time employment
and their absence at the most senior levels of management [in business] (p. 433). An
alternative to the emotional rigors of trying to battle the corporate world is to opt out
and become self-employed. In recent times, the number of women-owned businesses
has risen considerably and, according to Loscocco and Smith-Hunter (2004, p. 164),
women are becoming entrepreneurs at a more than proportionate rate compared to
men. A key reason for this is that self-employment or business ownership provides the
flexibility for women to accommodate both their work and home responsibilities
(Daniel, 2004; Holmes et al., 1997; Walker and Webster, 2006).
This paper explores a particular form of business ownership, namely, home-based
business ownership and its potential as a solution to the inter-role conflict experienced
by women. It starts with an overview of the issues of work-life balance, followed by
small business ownership, in particular, why people choose to start and operate a
business from their home. This is followed by an explanation of the methodology
employed with the results of the analysis, concentrating mainly on using gender and
whether the owner operators or the businesses had dependants or not as the
independent variables. The paper concludes with a discussion on the suitability or not
of business ownership as a work option for women.
Women and work-life balance
Work-life balance is very much a current organisational as well as a person issue, but
what do we mean by the phrase? Pocock (2005a, p. 201) cites the employers for worklife balance definition which is that work-life balance is:
. . .about people having a measure of control over when, where and how they work. It is
achieved when an individuals right to a fulfilled life inside and outside paid work is accepted
and respected as the norm to the mutual benefit of the individual, business and society.

This definition places the emphasis on control and an individuals ability to exert
control over their work environment and their domestic environment. However, the
reality of workers being able to have that control is not always the case, especially for
women (Carlson and Kacmar, 2000; Shelton, 2006) and, in particular, for women who
are not working full-time because of domestic responsibilities (Drago et al., 2004;
Pocock, 2005b). Therefore, balancing work and home roles is traditionally (and
continues to be) more difficult for women than men. This is because societal norms still
expect men to focus on careers, and women to focus on caring for the family (Biggs and
Brough, 2005; Buttner and Moore, 1997; Haar and ODriscoll, 2005; Raskin, 2006).
As a result, the work/home trade-off for men tends to be bi-directional but only
uni-directional for women (Posig and Kickul, 2004). What this means is that when
men are faced with an inter-role conflict, they are able to adjust one domain to
compensate for the other (Posig and Kickul, 2004, p. 378). In contrast, there is less
compensatory flexibility for women since their participation in the family domain is
often seen as independent of (and sometimes even more important than) their
participation in the work domain (Posig and Kickul, 2004). The trade-off for women is

Women and
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uni-directional in so much as while family involvement may impinge upon work,

work involvement is not allowed to impinge upon family.
Consequently, management of inter-role conflicts for women involves working a
double or even triple shift when career, children and aged parents are involved (Clancy
and Tata, 2005; Hyman and Summers, 2004; Walker and Webster, 2007; Wynarczyk
and Renner, 2006). As a result of this loading, women are generally under-represented
in senior management positions and seem to encounter significant problems despite
progressing more or less equally [with their male counterparts] up to the level of unit
management (Doherty, 2004, p. 434).
Inter-role conflicts have significant implications for organisational employment. For
example, the majority of employees are typically dissatisfied with their work-life
balance and would consider alternative employment options because of their inability
to balance home and work roles (Posig and Kickul, 2004). This has especially been the
case for women who, because of the dual role as employee and the primary care giver,
have long had their careers obstructed (Bardoel et al., 2000). In response, some
employers try to find ways to reduce the work-life balance conflict their employees face
(e.g. mommy track arrangements), and governments and large organisations are
often at the forefront of these efforts (Doherty, 2004; Konrad and Cannings, 1994;
Lewison, 2006; Ortega, 2006; Quesenberry et al., 2006).
There are also some industries that are not family friendly and have an almost
anti-family culture. Using the information communication and technology (ICT)
sector as an example, women still have to battle entrenched corporate cultures of
masculinity and family unfriendly work practices (Panteli et al., 1998; Stanworth,
2000; Quesenberry et al., 2006). This has led to a decrease in women entering the
industry and a high rate of women dropping out of the industry, or ceasing to work for
large ICT corporations (see also Wilson-Kovacs et al., 2006; Wynarczyk and Renner,
2006). A proportion of women dropouts become self-employed and do so because of
the difficulties they have experienced with the expectations placed on them to work
long and unsociable hours (Gaudin, 1999; Melymuka, 2000). As Melymuka (2000) states
in reference to the situation in Silicon Valley, you are not seen as dedicated if youre not
at your desk by 7.00am (p. 54).
Such work pressures are obviously not just confined to the ICT industry and are
prevalent in many industries, as Parker and Fagenson (1994, p. 20) commented when
reviewing management issues several decades ago:
While men in management were expected to be at work and not with family, when work
demanded it, managerial work for women did not provide the same choice. Instead, whether
explicitly or implicitly stated, organisations which hired women for management slots in the
1970s generally expected women in management not to have families.

It would appear that corporate attitudes have changed little since then (Schein, 1994;
Hoddinott and Jarratt, 1998; Moore, 1998). According to Drew and Murtagh (2005,
p. 264), international research into management found that:
The senior management culture, designed and developed to suit men, impacts on women in a
number of ways... it tends to ignore womens responsibilities to their family, as most men have
the home support through their partners and thus do not have to worry about such things.

In Australia, for example, women make up 45 per cent of the workforce but only
account for 12 per cent of executive managers and only 3 per cent of CEOs in the
largest 200 listed corporations (Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace

Agency, 2006). Similarly, in the USA, only 8 per cent of senior managers are women
even though almost half the workforce (47 per cent) is female (Anonymous, 2006).
Over several studies, Doherty and colleagues have found that the strongest and
most overwhelming explanation for womens failure to progress in organisations is the
long hours required for senior management (Doherty, 2004). When combined with the
lack of flexible working arrangements for senior management in many organisations,
the situation for women with aspirations to climb the corporate ladder is continually
thwarted, making it even more difficult for women to gain and then sustain senior
managerial roles; thus perpetuating gender imbalances at senior levels in many
organisations (Drew and Murtagh, 2005).
A consequence for women who work the same number of hours as men, whilst
doing the overwhelming majority of child rearing and household work, is that
they tend to be more prone to role overload (Posig and Kickul, 2004). This may well
explain why an increasing number of women are choosing self-employment as an
alternative flexible career path to better manage their family obligations (DeMartino
and Barbato, 2003).
Self-employment and business ownership
Women start their own businesses for a variety of reasons, with an oft cited one being
that women pursue self-employment as an alternative to waged employment because
of the flexibility it offers them to care for their children while pursuing their career
(Caputo and Dolinsky, 1998; Hughes, 2003; Roffey et al., 1996; Still and Walker, 2006). In
addition to flexibility factors such as child-rearing responsibilities (Still and Walker,
2006), other reasons for women choosing self-employment include personal health
concerns, family obligations such as caring for elders (Mattis, 2004) and other personal
reasons (e.g. death and divorce) (Lewis, 2004). Where household incomes are
inadequate, owning and operating a business offers women a way to help supplement
the family budget (Bruni et al., 2004). For women searching for self-fulfilment outside
of the family sphere, business ownership is often an emancipatory vehicle to escape
unpaid home labour, to build a sense of self-worth and to be self-determining (Buttner
and Moore, 1997; Jurik, 1998; Maysami and Goby, 1999).
However, far from being an equal substitute for waged employment, many
businesses owned and operated by women on average report lower earnings, sales
volumes and profitability when compared to male-operated businesses (Collins-Dodd
et al., 2004; Fasci and Valdez, 1998; Jurik, 1998; Longstreth et al., 1987). Knowing that
many women who start their own businesses have adequate management skills and
competencies, the reason women often have low growth is because they are constrained
by the very factors that initially steered them into business ownership (Buttner and
Moore, 1997; Loscocco and Robinson, 1991; Walker and Webster, 2007). For example,
the necessity to continuously balance business and personal responsibilities means
that women often choose to keep their businesses small, operate on a part-time basis
and work in low profitability sectors such as personal services and retail (Buttner and
Moore, 1997; Daniel, 2004; Longstreth et al., 1987). Women also appear to have some
difficulty in making the leap into complete business ownership, including being in
commercial premises and often choose to begin their businesses from their homes
(Roffey et al., 1996; Morris and Pike, 2002; Walker and Webster, 2004).

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Home-based businesses
A home-based business is any business that, instead of a commercial premise, uses the
family residential property as a base of operation (Dwelly et al., 2005). In recent times
there has been a rise in interest by governments, academics and others in home-based
businesses, primarily driven by a realisation that these enterprises represent the
largest subset of the overall business sector. For example, home-based businesses form
nearly two-thirds of all small businesses in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics,
2005), and approximately half of all small businesses in the UK (Dwelly et al., 2005). In
the USA, they make up about 52 per cent of all private sector businesses (Pratt, 2000).
Conservative estimates suggest that a home-based business operates in approximately
1 in 10 households in Australia, the USA and the UK (Dwelly et al., 2005; Pratt, 2000;
Walker and Webster, 2004).
Apart from sector size, home-based businesses are of interest because they are the
fastest growing business segment and have growth potential that can be tapped to
stimulate economic development at a local and regional level (Breen et al., 2006; Dwelly
et al., 2005; Walker et al., 2002).
There are several reasons why starting a home-based business is attractive to
women contemplating business ownership. It is well documented that women going
into business do so without the same level of tangible and emotional support from
family members as that typically offered to men (Loscocco and Robinson, 1991).
Establishing a business in the home alleviates many of the stresses that women
potentially experience as a consequent of this disparity. For example, home-based
businesses generally require less seed capital as historically women experience greater
difficulties compared to men in accessing business finance and government assistance
for start-up ventures (Loscocco and Robinson, 1991; Loscocco and Smith-Hunter, 2004;
Marlow and Carter, 2004). A smaller start-up investment also reduces the personal and
psychological risks perceived by women who are generally more risk-averse than men
(Walker and Webster, 2004).
Overall however, perhaps the greatest attraction of a home-based business for
women is the ability to accommodate their gendered-roles as carer and homemaker
with that of being employed (Baines and Gelder, 2003; Earles et al., 2006; Loscocco and
Smith-Hunter, 2004; Walker and Webster, 2004). In relation to this last point, this paper
explores the potential of home-based businesses to alleviate the inherent conflict of
concurrently having a career and a family. It does this by examining the dynamics of
home-based business ownership of operators with family responsibilities, and those
without. While the primary focus is on women, it is acknowledged that men are
increasingly taking on and sharing greater family roles in modern society (Australian
Bureau of Statistics, 2006) and therefore, issues of work-life balance may be just as
significant for them. Accordingly, four-way comparisons are made between men and
women home-based business operators with and without family responsibilities.
Methodology
Design and sample
Findings reported in this paper are derived from a broader study of home-based
businesses in Australia. A purposive list of home-based businesses, defined as those
operating at or from the operators residence (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005),
was compiled through the use of networks, government databases and the mailing lists
of small business centres. This method was necessary as home-based businesses
are notoriously difficult to identify (Carter et al., 1992; Deschamps and Dart, 1998;

Walker et al., 2002). Letters of introduction and self-administered questionnaires were

posted to approximately 4,000 home-based businesses. Participation was both
voluntary and anonymous.
The questionnaire was designed to collect general information on the characteristics
of owner-managers and their businesses (e.g. age, dependents, gender, education,
type of business, number of employees, location, years in operation, business
ownership motivation), as well as information on specific home-based business issues
(e.g. reasons for preferring a home-base, management and planning, growth facilitators
and barriers). A simple multiple-choice answer format and ranking (not at all
important to highly important, never to always) was used for the majority of
questions. Only results relevant to the issue of work-life balance are reported in
this paper.
Data analysis
Basic frequencies were used for descriptive analyses, and multivariate techniques,
using mean scores for comparisons of variables (De Vaus, 1995). Factor analysis was
used for the main set of analyses. Factor analysis allows items to be combined into a
smaller number of factors as a form of data reduction. The method used was Principal
Component Analysis with Varimax rotation, and only factors with eigenvalues over
one were extracted (Bryman and Cramer, 1999; Kim and Mueller, 1978). Factor analysis
has also been used in several seminal small business and motivation studies such as
Birley and Westhead (1994); Kuratko et al. (1997) and Shane et al. (1991), therefore it
was deemed to be an appropriate analysis tool in the present study.
In all analyses, the objective was to explore operators motivations for home-based
business ownership in relation to work-life balance by contrasting mean scores for
operators with and without dependents.
Results
A total of 626 usable questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of
approximately 16 per cent. This rate compared favourably with that of postal surveys
of small business owners generally (Birley et al., 1999; Chittenden et al., 1998; Fischer
et al., 1993). Non-response bias was investigated by comparing early and late return
respondents on relevant demographic variables. This approach treats late return
respondents as characteristically similar to non-respondents (French et al., 2004). No
significant differences were found between the two groups in the present study.
Sample overview
Table I presents selected characteristics of home-based business owners surveyed and
their operations, followed by Table II which compares annual turnover and Table III
which shows growth intentions by both gender and dependents. The types of
businesses operated included retail, hospitality and tourism services, professional
services, business services and trades and personal services. The sample was broadly
representative of the general small business population in Australia, in terms of
education level, number of hours worked and number of employees.
What can be seen from Tables II and III is that there were gender differences in
annual turnover, with women having much smaller turnovers than men. In relation to
growth intentions, there were no gender differences observed. When the variable of
dependants was added, differences emerged. Men with dependants had larger
turnovers compared to men who did not have dependants, whereas with women,

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Per cent
Gender

Male
Female

Education (total sample)

Secondary school
Trade
Tertiary

Dependants (total sample)

Yes
No

Hours worked <35

Hours worked >35

Male
Male

Hours worked <35

Hours worked >35

Female
Female

Size of operation (total sample)

(Full-time employee nos.)

1
2
3
4-10
>10

Annual turnover

<$25,000
$25,001-$50,000
$50,001-$100,000
$100,001-$150,000
$150,001-$250,000
>$250,001

Growth intentions: (total sample)

Stay the same

Grow moderately
Grow significantly

264

Table I.
Characteristics of study
sample

49
51
100
23
40
37
100
45
55
100
35
65
100
59
41
100
71
12
5
10
2
100
32
18
19
11
7
13
100
33
49
18
100

Per cent

Table II.
Annual turnover

Annual turnover

Total

Male
With
dependants

<$25,000
$25,001-$50,000
$50,001-$100,000
$100,001-$150,000
$150,001-$250,000
>$250,001

19
19
21
15
9
17

13
16
22
15
11
23

Without
dependants
24
20
21
14
8
13

Total

Female
With
dependants

Without
dependants

43
17
17
8
5
10

46
16
15
8
6
9

41
18
19
8
4
10

having or not having dependants made little difference to turnover. In relation to

growth intentions, men with dependants were more interested in either moderate or
significant growth, compared to men without dependants. For women, having or not
having dependants made little difference to growth aspirations overall.

Motivation for being in business

Operators business ownership motivations were assessed in relation to 15 common
factors or motivators which can be broadly categorised into either pull or push
rationale. This particular combination of 15 factors had been developed, tested and
refined over several studies of Australian small and home-based business operators
(Walker, 2002a, b, 2004).
Operators rated each motivator (five-point Likert scale: 1 not at all important to
5 highly important) according to contributory importance in their initial decision to
go into business. Table IV presents mean scores for the 15 motivators for all operators,
as well as operators with and without dependants.
From Table IV, the motivators with the highest and lowest mean scores were to do
work that I really enjoy (All operator mean 4.26), and because I am just starting
and want to test the market first (All operator mean 2.24), respectively. Overall,
pull or positive motivators (e.g. enjoyment of work, lifestyle, independence/
autonomy) were more important drivers of operators business ownership decisions
than push or negative motivators (e.g. lack of advancement in previous job) or other
generic motivators relating to business need (e.g. testing the market, growing a hobby).
Comparing means of operators with and without dependants, statistically
significant differences were found for the following items: work enjoyment, lifestyle
flexibility, balancing work and family responsibilities, achieving financial
security, making lots of money and wanting to stay small. In all except the first
and last items (work enjoyment, staying small), mean scores were significantly higher
for operators with rather than without dependants.
Table V explores the above results by gender. From the table, a discernible difference
in business ownership motivation is evident between men with and without
dependants and the same is observed for women. For men, the emphasis on financial
imperatives (making lots of money, achieving financial security) as well as the need to
balance work-family responsibilities was significantly greater for those with
dependants (than those without). For women operators, to do work they really enjoy
and having lifestyle flexibility were most important for those without dependants,
while work-family balance and lifestyle flexibility were the primary motivations for
those with dependants.
In order to reduce the data, factor analyses were conducted and are shown in Tables
VI to IX. In Tables VI and VII, factor analyses of the 15 business ownership motivators
for operators with and without dependants are presented. Additional results for men
and women with dependants are shown in Tables VIII and IX. Loadings greater than
0.5 are considered practically significant (Hair et al., 1998) and therefore, lesser
loadings were omitted from all analyses.

Women and
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265

Per cent
Growth intentions

Total

Male
With
dependants

Stay the same

Grow moderately
Grow significantly

33
49
18

21
61
18

Without
dependants
41
41
18

Total

Female
With
dependants

Without
dependants

33
49
18

34
53
13

33
45
22

Table III.
Growth intentions

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266

With
dependants

I started a home-based business. . .

To do work that I really enjoy*
For a more flexible lifestyle**
To be my own boss
To avoid overheads associated with rented premises
Because my type of business does not require
commercial premises
Because I saw a business opportunity
To balance work and family responsibilities*
To achieve financial security**
To keep myself employed
To make lots of money*
Because I want to stay small so I do not need
bigger premises**
Because the business started as a hobby/past-time
and has just grown/evolved
Because of the lack of opportunity for advancement
in my previous job
Because I am just starting and want to test the
market first

Mean scoresa
Without
dependants

All
operators

4.15
4.36
4.11
3.90

4.35
4.16
3.95
3.84

4.26
4.25
4.02
3.87

3.89
3.72
4.27
3.67
3.07
3.24

3.85
3.71
3.20
3.44
3.25
2.95

3.86
3.71
3.69
3.54
3.16
3.08

2.76

3.06

2.92

2.54

2.53

2.53

2.42

2.56

2.49

Table IV.
2.35
2.17
Motivations for owning a
a
Notes:
Scale 1 (not at all important) to 5 (highly important); *p < 0.01; **p < 0.05
home-based business (i)

2.24

Mean scoresa
Men

I started a home-based business. . .

To be my own boss
To make lots of money
To achieve financial security
For a more flexible lifestyle
Because I saw a business opportunity
Because of the lack of opportunity for
advancement in my previous job
To keep myself employed
To do work that I really enjoy
To avoid overheads associated with
rented premises
To balance work and family responsibilities
Because the business started as a
hobby/past-time and has just grown/evolved
Because I am just starting and want to
test the market first
Because my type of business does not require
commercial premises
Because I want to stay small so I do not need
bigger premises

Women
With
Without
With
Without
dependants dependants dependants dependants
4.18*
3.39**
3.88*
4.18
3.76

3.76
2.95
3.51
4.02
3.56

4.05
3.12
3.48
4.52*
3.68

4.15
2.95
3.36
4.30
3.87

2.64
3.02*
4.01

2.59
3.40
4.19

2.23
3.11
4.26*

2.54
3.10
4.51

3.96
3.82**

3.81
3.00

3.85
4.66**

3.88
3.41

2.35

2.28

2.70

2.80

2.2

2.06

2.47

2.28

3.85

3.76

3.92

3.93

Table V.
2.66
3.08
2.85
Motivations for owning a
a
home-based business (ii) Notes: Scale 1 (not at all important) to 5 (highly important); *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01

3.05

I started a home-based business. . .

F1

To achieve financial security

To make lots of money
Because of the lack of opportunity for advancement in
my previous job
For a more flexible lifestyle
To be my own boss
To balance work and family responsibilities
To do work that I really enjoy
Because the business started as a hobby/past-time and
has just grown/evolved
Because I am just starting and want to test the
market first
Because my type of business does not require
commercial premises
To keep myself employed

0.76
0.73

Eigenvalues
Percentage of variance explained

F5

Total

0.66
0.81
0.70
0.65

Table VI.

0.64
0.69
0.62
2.4
17

F1

To achieve financial security

To make lots of money
To be my own boss
For a more flexible lifestyle
Because my type of business does not require
commercial premises
Because the business started as a hobby/past-time
and has just grown/evolved
Because I am just starting and want to test the
market first
Because of the lack of opportunity for advancement
in my previous job
To keep myself employed

0.83
0.75

2.0
15

1.4
10

1.2
9

Factors/groupings
F2
F3
F4

1.0
7

8
58

F5

Total

(2) Factor F2: lifestyle motivations;

(3) Factor F3: work-life balance motivation;

Factor analysis of
motivations for homebased business
ownership: operators
with dependants (total
sample)

0.78
0.73
0.75
0.77

Table VII.

0.72
0.80
0.63
2.7
20

1.8
13

1.4
10

1.3
9

1.0
7

7.2
58

Table VI shows that five factors representing underlying groupings of the motivation
items could be reasonably extracted from the data for operators with dependants.
Three items (saw a business opportunity, avoid rental overheads and want to stay
small) did not attain critical loading values and were omitted from further analyses.
The five factors extracted may be reasonably interpreted as groupings of items along
the following unifying dimensions:
(1) Factor F1: financial motivations;

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267

0.73
0.71

I started a home-based business. . .

Eigenvalues
Percentage of variance explained

Factors/groupings
F2
F3
F4

Factor analysis of
motivations for homebased business
ownership: operators
without dependants
(total sample)

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I started a home-based business. . .

F1

To make lots of money

To achieve financial security
Because my type of business does not require
commercial premises
Because I want to stay small so I do not need
bigger premises
Because I am just starting and want to test the
market first
To do work that I really enjoy
To balance work and family responsibilities
For a more flexible lifestyle
To keep myself employed
Because of the lack of opportunity for advancement
in my previous job

0.89
0.88

Total

0.67
0.77
0.68
0.72
0.65
0.82
0.74
2.7
19

I started a home-based business. . .

F1

To make lots of money

To achieve financial security
To avoid overheads associated with rented
premises
Because I am just starting and want to test
the market first
Because of the lack of opportunity for
advancement in my previous job
For a more flexible lifestyle
To balance work and family responsibilities
Because the business started as a hobby/past-time
and has just grown/evolved
To do work that I really enjoy
Because I saw a business opportunity
To keep myself employed

0.88
0.83

Eigenvalues
Percentage of variance explained

F5

0.80

Table VIII.
Factor analysis of
motivations for homebased business
ownership: operators
with dependants (women Eigenvalues
Percentage of variance explained
only)

Table IX.
Factor analysis of
motivations for homebased business
ownership: operators
with dependants (men
only)

Factors/groupings
F2
F3
F4

1.9
13

1.4
10

1.3
9

1.2
8

8.5
59

Factors/groupings
F2
F3
F4

F5

Total

0.76
0.71
0.61
0.80
0.65
0.77
0.70
0.69
0.67
2.4
17

2.2
16

1.3
9

1.2
9

1.2
9

8.3
60

(4) Factor F4: work enjoyment motivations;

(5) Factor F5: necessity motivations.
By comparison, Table VII shows the five factors that were extracted from the data for
operators without dependants. Five items (balance work and family, work enjoyment,
business opportunity, avoiding rental overheads, staying small) did not attain the
critical loading value and were omitted from further analyses. Extracted factors may be
reasonably interpreted as groupings of items along the following dimensions:

(1) Factor F1: financial motivations;

(2) Factor F2: lifestyle motivations;

Women and
work-life balance

(3) Factor F3: business need motivation;

(4) Factor F4: business development motivations;
(5) Factor F5: push motivations.
Tables VIII and IX present factor analysis results for women and men with
dependants. From Table VIII, extracted factors may be reasonably interpreted as
groupings of items along the following dimensions:
(1) Factor F1: financial motivations;
(2) Factor F2: business need motivation;
(3) Factor F3: business development motivations;
(4) Factor F4: work-life balance motivations;
(5) Factor F5: push motivations.
Similarly, extracted factors from Table IX are as follows:
(1) Factor F1: financial motivations;
(2) Factor F2: business need motivation;
(3) Factor F3: business development motivations;
(4) Factor F4: work-life balance motivations;
(5) Factor F5: push motivations.
Discussion
Two interesting findings emerge from the factor analysis and the gender and
dependants comparisons shown in Tables VI to IX. The first relates to financial
imperatives and motivation for starting a home-based business, and the second to the
relationship between work-life balance and dependants.
The first finding of interest is that regardless of gender and dependant
responsibility, financial imperatives relating to making lots of money and achieving
financial security appear to be the overriding motivation for all home-based business
operators in the study, explaining about one-fifth of observed variances.
As financial imperatives were the overriding motivation for operating home-based
businesses regardless of gender, a review of annual income was made to identify
differences. There was a clear gender difference here, in that the majority of women
achieved a very low turnover figure from their businesses. One reason for this was
found in the working-hours data. These data, which were split at 35 h (the level deemed
to be full-time work), showed that women worked significantly less hours overall than
did men. Nearly two-thirds of all men (66 per cent) worked 35 h per week in their homebased businesses as compared to less than half (41 per cent) of all women. As women
are working less hours, then not surprisingly they have lower turnovers. However,
even while 41 per cent of women do work full-time in their businesses, more than half
(60 per cent) have turnovers of less than $50,000. It should be noted here that turnover,
rather than profit was used as the financial measure, so in reality many home-based
businesses operated by women are certainly not very financially viable, if financial
viability is linked to turnover.

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270

When the issue of having or not having dependants is also considered, men that had
dependants also had larger turnovers compared to men without dependants, whereas
dependants had little impact on the turnovers of women-owned businesses. This may
well link back to the male breadwinner connotation and the necessity to provide for
family.
What is interesting is that while both women and men had the same growth
aspirations, women generally produced significantly lower turnovers. This could be
explained by the fact that growth and who is measured are both subjective and
individualistic, in so much as how much growth one business wants to achieve may be
quite different from another business. What the data does show is that the majority of
all respondents had modest growth aspirations, that is, only 20 per cent wanted to
grow significantly.
The second finding, which relates more specifically to this studys objective, is the
loading of the flexible lifestyle and work-life balance items as a separate and distinct
factor extracted from operators with dependants (but not from operators without). In
this regard, gender was not a determining factor.
So given that both men and women stated that having dependants meant they had
to balance work and family, operating a business from home was therefore an
attractive employment alternative. However, this option may not be an all
encompassing solution given the limited financial outcomes achieved by the majority
of women and some men, especially for those seeking substantial financial rewards for
their personal efforts.
For those seeking a more holistic outcome, home-based business ownership may
afford greater social, education and lifestyle benefits especially when contrasted with
the alternative of being in paid employment. Therefore, it is recommended that future
research assess these factors in terms of satisfaction and include income, turnover,
business growth and career advancement variables as these may also add valuable
knowledge to this field.
Conclusion
What the findings show is that for many men, owning and operating a business from
home is a viable employment option. However, this is not necessarily the same for
women. For many women, the option of small business ownership as an alternative to
mainstream employment, may well give them occupation, but does not necessarily give
them the financial security that paid employment does. This coupled with having to
balance domestic responsibilities, means that for some women, swapping mainstream
employment for self-employment may not be the best option financially. Whereas the
literature states that the motivation for many women to go into business ownership is
because of the flexibility (Caputo and Dolinsky, 1998; Hughes, 2003; Roffey et al., 1996;
Still et al., 2005; Still and Walker, 2006) this may not be the case in reality.
In addition, the aspect of operating the business from home has many noted
benefits, in particular, the ability to accommodate their domestic and economic roles
(Baines and Gelder, 2003; Earles et al., 2006; Loscocco and Smith-Hunter, 2004; Walker
and Webster, 2004). However, again the reality of being able to fulfil those roles is
questionable. This study showed that many women had very low turnovers and
modest growth intentions. Further, having dependants did not alter their turnovers.
However, women without dependants had stronger growth intentions.
However, some women may not have the option of staying in the paid workforce,
particularly if their previous employment status had been casual. For these women,

owning and operating their own home-based business may well give them some
income benefits and the opportunity to balance domestic responsibilities, therefore the
financial aspect may well be secondary anyway.
Business ownership is not solely about making money, although the majority of
respondents did say that one of their main motivators was to achieve financial security.
Nevertheless, if a business is not financially viable, then the additional stresses that
come with continuous financial uncertainty may well outweigh the positives of selfemployment. Self-employment may well solve some womens necessity to balance
work and family; however, it may not be the solution for all women.
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Corresponding author
Janice Redmond can be contacted at: j.redmond@ecu.edu.au

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