Relationship between Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and mumpreneurial intentions

Abstract

Nascent mumpreneur is a mother with one or more children coming up with a new venture to support herself and her family. The debate about the motivation for mumpreneurs to start their new business is going on and underresearched. Therefore, this study aims to define the major motivational factors that influence mumpreneurial intentions in Jordan, specifically amongst nascent mumpreneurs. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was employed to discover these factors. This quantitative cross-sectional study uses convenience sampling to collect data from 81 nascent mumpreneurs through an online survey that included nascent Jordanian mumpreneurs. After confirming the validity and reliability of the tool, the multiple regressions test was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate a strong relationship between Maslow’s needs and mumpreneurial intentions, where r equals 0.74, and Maslow’s needs can explain 54% of changes in mumpreneurial intentions, where R2 is 0.54. The results also show that the need for esteem influences mumpreneurs’ intentions (β = 0.43), and the need for self-actualization influences mumpreneurs’ intentions (β = 0.80). At the same time, the physiological needs, the security needs, and the need for belonging do not influence mumpreneurial intentions, where significance is 0.74, 0.09, and 0.09, respectively. Moreover, the results show that the marital status and level of education do not moderate the influence of Maslow’s theory of needs on mumpreneurs’ intentions, where the significance for both is more than 0.05. Finally, the study recommends developing mumpreneurial incubators and providing workshops and training for potential mumpreneurs.