Mumpreneurs: a qualitative exploration of the motivations and barriers to starting up a business shortly after pregnancy

Details

Supervisors

Jammaers, Eline

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

This article aims to look inside mumpreneurs’ motivations to start up a business after their pregnancy and the barriers they were facing throughout their entrepreneurial journey. 14 in-depth interviews were carried out with 14 actual mumpreneurs and 1 “mumpreneur-to-be” of which 13 were located in Western Europe and 2 were based in Hong Kong. A basic interpretive qualitative methodology was adopted in order to create an insightful understanding of the participants’ experiences. Findings revealed that motherhood constitutes an important life-stage event characterized by changing needs and requirements and acts simultaneously as a push and a pull factor to women’s self-employment. Their career choice is explained, on the one side, by many intrinsic and extrinsic motives, and on the other side, by the environment and the context in which they live. Mumpreneurs were first confronted to a set of barriers at the start-up phase of their venture, and then, they also faced numerous challenges during their daily management of their activity. According to this empirical research, mumpreneurship could be qualified as a sustainable career choice for mothers to reconcile their business obligations with their family responsibilities provided that they maintain a strong boundary strategy and achieve long-term financial security.