Stefanie Ruel, Iiris Aaltio, Tarja Römer-Paakkanen and Banu Ozkazanc-Pan
Tarja Römer-Paakkanen and Pirjo Takanen-Körperich
This study investigates how older women linguists' careers developed and led to self-employment, and this not necessarily in a linear career stage fashion. The focus is on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates how older women linguists' careers developed and led to self-employment, and this not necessarily in a linear career stage fashion. The focus is on understanding the factors that influence older women to become or continue into an entrepreneurship lifestyle, beyond economic reasons.
Design/methodology/approach
The research questions that guided this research are: (1) How have women linguists' careers developed at older or older old age? and (2) Which factors influenced women linguists' decision to become or continue as self-employed at older or older old age? This study is based on semi-structure interviews and short narratives written by ten informants about their late-career motivations and decisions. To get a holistic view of career development of women linguistics at an older age, the approach adopted in this study is explorative and interpretive, where the theoretical perspective supporting this approach derives mainly from career and wellbeing theories.
Findings
The authors’ findings signal that these self-employed older women's careers develop along parallel, explorative or expertise directions. The factors which appear to influence these women's decision to continue their careers as entrepreneurs include economic reasons (having), clearly. They also importantly point to other themes surrounding wellbeing including social relations (loving), self-realization and lifelong learning (being), entrepreneurship as a life style (acting) and meaningful extension of one's career (belonging).
Originality/value
This paper discusses how older women entrepreneurs may experience wellbeing and careers integrated together. It challenges the common notion of “career” as a one-time, linear “choice”, and instead shows how older women's entrepreneurship is a complex phenomenon.
Details
Keywords
Jouni Hintikka, Kyllikki Taipale-Erävala, Ulla Lehtinen and Leena Eskola
The purpose of the study is to clarify Finnish youth’s attitudes toward entrepreneurship and evaluate both regional and background factors influencing those attitudes.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to clarify Finnish youth’s attitudes toward entrepreneurship and evaluate both regional and background factors influencing those attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a survey of 1,497 students aged 15 to 24 years and analyzed the data using descriptive statistical analysis.
Findings
The study’s results indicate positive attitudes toward entrepreneurship among the youth. One of the notable findings of the study was the number of students who had already worked as entrepreneurs. The study also revealed background factors that affected entrepreneurial attitudes, such as regional aspects, entrepreneurial background and gender.
Practical implications
The results of this study highlight the importance of regional-level entrepreneurial education activities for increasing the vitality and entrepreneurial intentions within remote areas of Finland. This study suggests to develop new teaching methods to further raise entrepreneurial attitudes and expand gender equal entrepreneurial education programs aimed at promoting entrepreneurship, especially in remote areas.
Originality/value
The study results reveal that the attitudes of young Finnish people toward entrepreneurship seem to be at a more positive levels than indicated by earlier studies. In previous Global Entrepreneurship Monitor studies, researchers evaluated Finnish youth’s attitudes toward entrepreneurship. By contrast, this study’s data was based on the opinions of youth in the region with the youngest population in Finland, and they described the entrepreneurial attitudes of themselves and their peers.