Christopher F. Sharpley, Roisin Reynolds, Alicia Acosta and Jagdish K. Dua
Examines how data on job stress, health, anxiety and daily hassle were collected via survey questionnaires from 1,925 staff at Monash University campuses. The sample included…
Abstract
Examines how data on job stress, health, anxiety and daily hassle were collected via survey questionnaires from 1,925 staff at Monash University campuses. The sample included academic, general, administrative, technical and library staff, with both genders and representation from age, employment and seniority groupings. Shows that results indicated significant positive relationships between job stress and anxiety, daily hassle, and health, the latter suggesting that self‐reported stress at work was associated with absence from work, visits to medical practitioners, and frequency of illnesses and accidents. Reports comparisons across campus, gender, age and job type, and makes some overall contrasts between these data and those previously reported for a rural university. Discusses implications for health promotion among university staff.
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Margaret Barry, Colette Reynolds, Anne Sheridan and Róisín Egenton
This paper reports on the implementation and evaluation of the JOBS programme in Ireland. This is a training intervention to promote re‐employment and improve mental health among…
Abstract
This paper reports on the implementation and evaluation of the JOBS programme in Ireland. This is a training intervention to promote re‐employment and improve mental health among unemployed people that was implemented on a pilot basis in the border region of the Republic and Northern Ireland. Programme participants were unemployed people recruited from local training and employment offices and health agencies. The evaluation indicated that the programme was implemented successfully and led to improved psychological and re‐employment outcomes for the intervention group, lasting up to 12 months post‐intervention. This paper reflects on the implementation issues that arose in adapting an international evidence‐based programme to the local setting and considers the implications of the evaluation findings for the roll out of the programme on a larger scale.
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Ricardo Figueiredo Belchior and Roisin Lyons
Entrepreneurial intention (EI) has been studied prolifically, as a precursor to entrepreneurial action, and a desired outcome of entrepreneurship education. Yet, the paucity of…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurial intention (EI) has been studied prolifically, as a precursor to entrepreneurial action, and a desired outcome of entrepreneurship education. Yet, the paucity of extant studies that analyze its temporal stability has been noted. This paper aims to address this gap by studying the temporal stability of EI, investigating its persistence as an attitudinal state over time.
Design/methodology/approach
A series of intraindividual and group-level longitudinal analyses were undertaken, over an 11-year period, using a student sample from Portugal. The authors highlight the magnitude of EI change over time, where item-structure, relative and absolute stability and group and individual-level EI changes are all considered.
Findings
Results indicate an initially strong to moderate EI item-structure stability and relative stability over the first five years, with moderate signs of deterioration. This deterioration becomes even more pronounced across the full 11-year period. Regarding EI absolute stability, while college students (as a group) did not display a general tendency to develop higher or lower EI during the first five years, a small deterioration was found over the 11-year period. At the individual level, EI instability was detected, and this increased with time. Finally, the exploratory results suggest that entrepreneurship education may buffer the deterioration of EI.
Practical implications
The findings provide a more nuanced reasoning for dampened EI–entrepreneurial behavior associations and highlight key determinants of EI change, which can inform educational experts and policymakers.
Originality/value
The legitimacy of the EI field lays heavily on the existence of a stable EI construct and a strong relationship between intentions and behavior. The methodology provides a new and more complete picture of EI’s temporal stability.
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Linda F. Edelman, Róisín Donnelly, Tatiana Manolova and Candida G. Brush
Women-led companies receive less than 5 per cent of early-stage equity investment. This paper aims to explore the disparity in equity funding between men- and women-led companies…
Abstract
Purpose
Women-led companies receive less than 5 per cent of early-stage equity investment. This paper aims to explore the disparity in equity funding between men- and women-led companies, using a social identity perspective, complemented by insights from signaling theory. We argue that in the angel group context, which is male-dominated, gender stereotypes may bias angels’ interpretation of the signals sent by entrepreneurs, so that entrepreneurial ventures led by men are more favorably evaluated, thus excluding women entrepreneurs from funding. The ideas are tested on a sample of 358 entrepreneurs who applied for funding from a northeast US angel group using perceptual data from both sides of the investment dyad. Findings suggest that angel investors view women-led entrepreneurial ventures as having less legitimacy, even though we see no difference in actual legitimacy across ventures.
Design/methodology/approach
The ideas are tested on a sample of 358 entrepreneurs who applied for funding from a northeast angel group using perceptual data from both sides of the investment dyad.
Findings
The findings suggest that, in the context of angel investing, there is a subtle bias that follows from the perceived stereotype between being female and the ability to lead a legitimate new venture. Thus, this study tests the tenets of the social identity theory by finding that mostly male angel investors act in accordance to their gender prescribed roles when they evaluate businesses presented by women entrepreneurs providing some evidence of “in-group” and “out-group” effects and stereotypes.
Research limitations/implications
The findings continue the conversation about biases toward women in early-stage financing by using a social identity lens to look at the way in which adopted identities lead to particular outcomes and stereotypes. The authors have used the context of angel investing to test these ideas, finding some support for their contention that gender is pivotal when angels are making investment decisions. For researchers, this study suggests that gender should not be used solely as a control variable, but instead should be the focus of the inquiry itself.
Practical implications
For practitioners, this study reminds women seeking angel investment that they are not playing on a level field and so they should do all that they can to enhance the legitimacy of themselves and their ventures.
Originality/value
The authors contend that within an angel group that is composed of predominantly men, role stereotypes of entrepreneurs as masculine will be expected, therefore creating gender biases against women. The authors expect these biases, whether conscious or unconscious, will lead the angel investors to evaluate men entrepreneurs more favorably than women entrepreneurs as they move through the angel investment process. Therefore, for women entrepreneurs in the early stages of investment funding, the authors posit that the dearth of funding is a function of gender identity stereotypes which may be manifested in hidden and often unconscious biases on the part of the angel investor.
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Rachael Behr and Virgil H. Storr
There is a large literature about crisis entrepreneurship, spanning from necessity, natural disaster and long-term conflict entrepreneurship. This paper situates pandemic…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a large literature about crisis entrepreneurship, spanning from necessity, natural disaster and long-term conflict entrepreneurship. This paper situates pandemic entrepreneurship as a unique form of crisis entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilize the Kirznerian and Schumpeterian theories of entrepreneurship to understand pandemic entrepreneurship. Using evidence from the US COVID-19 pandemic, the authors argue that pandemics impact both the “identification” and “action” moments of entrepreneurship.
Findings
The Kirznerian identification moment becomes much more uncertain for entrepreneurs because of fluctuating conditions, such as public health conditions, new potential variants of the virus causing the pandemic, shifting government mandates and rules and so forth. The Schumpeterian action moment becomes more challenging because of the necessity of physical distancing and because, generally, all crises raise the cost of entrepreneurial action. That said, the authors still document considerable entrepreneurship during pandemics as entrepreneurs adapt to the increased uncertainty and costs by rely upon local and customary knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
This research finds that entrepreneurs, depending upon the crisis, face differing constraints. Specifically in times of pandemic, entrepreneurs face difficulty recognizing opportunities because of shifting conditions and acting upon opportunities because of financial and political constraints. This research thus implies that there are large opportunities for alleviation of such constraints if there were to be future variants or pandemics.
Practical implications
Practically speaking, this research affects how people study entrepreneurship. By recognizing the differing constraints that pandemic entrepreneurs face, the authors can better understand the last several years, and can also prepare better policy wise for future pandemics or further variants of COVID-19.
Social implications
Socially, entrepreneurship can be a large factor in recovery from disasters and crises. By recognizing and perhaps alleviating constraints that pandemic entrepreneurs face, future crises could have better responses and recoveries.
Originality/value
Although several studies have examined entrepreneurship during the COVID-19 pandemic, the extant literature on pandemic entrepreneurship remains relatively underdeveloped and has not yet focused on what distinguishes pandemic entrepreneurship from other forms of crisis entrepreneurship. The authors highlight what pandemic entrepreneurship has in common with other forms of crisis entrepreneurship and pinpoint the various ways that is distinct.
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Teresa V. Menzies and Joseph C. Paradi
This article examines entrepreneurship courses offered by engineering faculties in Canada. The venturing rate of engineering students, whether the venturing rate increases if…
Abstract
This article examines entrepreneurship courses offered by engineering faculties in Canada. The venturing rate of engineering students, whether the venturing rate increases if students have taken a course in entrepreneurship, and the type of ventures created are also explored. A recent census and an empirical study of two groups of engineering graduates from a Canadian university were utilized. Findings have implications for educators and administrators and for policy-makers interested in encouraging economic growth.