Investigating the Impact of the Spouse and Family in the Female Entrepreneur’s Life: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Purpose: This study targets to groundwork the role played by spouses and household members in female businesses. This study focuses on married female entrepreneurs. The Conservation of Resource theory conveys that females as an entrepreneur can obtain, retain and then extend resources from their spouses and family members (Hobfoll, 1989). Hence it is theoretically needed to enquire about women’s entrepreneurship from the family and spouse point of view therefore it helps in understanding the depth of their influence on women’s business performance.   Methodology: The Conservation of Resource Theory was used to analyze the influence of spouse and family in the female entrepreneur’s life. To insight more knowledge about the study the articles published on the topic “Women Entrepreneurs”, “Spousal Influence” and “Family Influence” was selected from the Scopus Indexed journals, Web of Science, and Google Scholar from 1990-2022. The reason behind selecting the previous research on the topic is highly cited research papers on female entrepreneurship, spouse, and family support for their business.   Findings: This study examines the role played by both household members and spouses with the support of the conservation of resource theory.  Household members are the good reserves and they provide support to business-women, although a woman needs support from their spouse. The family-work dispute arises due to business with household members being overcome easily by women because of having an understanding spouse.   Research, Practical & Social Implications: This study attempts to investigate the resources provided by spouses and household members in women’s businesses through the use of Conservation of Resource Theory. Married women can perform their business more effectively by obtaining the resources provided by their spouse and family members because females as an entrepreneur can utilize and grasp maximum resources from their surroundings.   Originality/value: The results indicate that the observation of married businesswomen is unfinished without the examination of her spouse and family.  The relationship between women’s business performance are positively correlates with spouses and family members.