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Although cross-national work–family research has made great strides in recent decades, knowledge accumulation on the impact of culture on the work–family interface has been hampered by a limited geographical and cultural scope that has excluded countries where cultural expectations regarding work, family, and support may differ. We advance this literature by investigating work–family relationships in a broad range of cultures, including understudied regions of the world (i.e., Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia). We focus on humane orientation (HO), an overlooked cultural dimension that is however central to the study of social support and higher in those regions. We explore its moderating effect on relationships between work and family social support, work–family conflict, and work–family positive spillover. Building on the congruence and compensation perspectives of fit theory, we test alternative hypotheses on a sample of 10,307 participants from 30 countries/territories. We find HO has mostly a compensatory role in the relationships between workplace support and work-to-family conflict. Specifically, supervisor and coworker supports were most strongly and negatively related to conflict in cultures in which support is most needed (i.e., lower HO cultures). Regarding positive spillover, HO has mostly an amplifying role. Coworker (but not supervisor) support was most strongly and positively related to work-to-family positive spillover in higher HO cultures, where providing social support at work is consistent with the societal practice of providing support to one another. Likewise, instrumental (but not emotional) family support was most strongly and positively related to family-to-work positive spillover in higher HO cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

This paper examines the work-life challenges women entrepreneurs face and the consequences of such challenges on the management and growth of women’s enterprises in Ethiopia. Using a grounded theory approach, in-depth interviews with 31 women entrepreneurs operating in various sectors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were analyzed. The key finding of the study showed that women’s work-life role and the expectation to take the primary (sometimes the sole) responsibility to care and domestic responsibilities hampers their ability to grow and expand their businesses. Some of the women interviewed were found postponing their business growth decisions as a result of their care responsibilities at home. The challenge of growing their business was found to be acute for those women with pre-school children and with less familial and/or societal support to help shoulder care and other work-family responsibilities. However, we also found examples of women’s continued motivation as a resilience factor in making their business a success. Furthermore, the notion of business success is perceived to be much richer than economic business success. The study provides theoretical and practical insights to the field of (women) entrepreneurship and the work-family literature by exploring the relationship between the work-family roles and business growth in a less researched Sub-Saharan African country. Theoretically, the study contributes in providing partial explanation for the consistently reported but less explained phenomena of why women-headed enterprises remain small in size and less performing than men-owned business. It also questions looking at women’s entrepreneurships solely from their economic contribution to a country. It shows that their businesses operate at the intersection of gender, sex, family, culture, religion, institutions, and that they could be supported to contribute to family-community wellbeing as well as economic development.

Despite constraints women entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan countries face, they create value for themselves, their family well-being and societal welfare through their entrepreneurial activities. Development economists acknowledge that this value creation through enterprising has a positive impact on development indicators that go beyond economic growth, in particular for women entrepreneurs. Building on this notion, we explored the value that women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia create for their sense of self through their entrepreneurial activity within a constrained socio-economic environment. The narrative accounts of three women entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, highlight the challenges and opportunities women encounter as well as the values they create. Specifically, the study gives an insight into how the women’s entrepreneurial activities help in building capability to exercise agency, self-confidence, decision-making autonomy, wellbeing and personal growth and learning. Formal and informal support may strengthen the resilience of women entrepreneurs among which investing in education of girls and improving accessibility to financial loans. Furthermore, initiatives aimed at nominating, navigating and changing constraining gender roles both for women and men may facilitate change and enhance social value creation.

This paper examines the work-life challenges women entrepreneurs face and the consequences of such challenges on the management and growth of women’s enterprises in Ethiopia. Using a grounded theory approach, in-depth interviews with 31 women entrepreneurs operating in various sectors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were analyzed. The key finding of the study showed that women’s work-life role and the expectation to take the primary (sometimes the sole) responsibility to care and domestic responsibilities hampers their ability to grow and expand their businesses. Some of the women interviewed were found postponing their business growth decisions as a result of their care responsibilities at home. The challenge of growing their business was found to be acute for those women with pre-school children and with less familial and/or societal support to help shoulder care and other work-family responsibilities. However, we also found examples of women’s continued motivation as a resilience factor in making their business a success. Furthermore, the notion of business success is perceived to be much richer than economic business success. The study provides theoretical and practical insights to the field of (women) entrepreneurship and the work-family literature by exploring the relationship between the work family roles and business growth in a less researched Sub-Saharan African country. Theoretically, the study contributes in providing partial explanation for the consistently reported but less explained phenomena of why women-headed enterprises remain small in size and less performing than men-owned business. It also questions looking at women’s entrepreneurships solely from their economic contribution to a country. It shows that their businesses operate at the intersection of gender, sex, family, culture, religion, institutions, and that they could be supported to contribute to family-community wellbeing as well as economic development

This chapter focuses on the role of hired domestic help (HDH), viewed as a ‘home resource’, in influencing life and business satisfaction by reducing the family-to-work conflict of men and women entrepreneurs in the sub-Saharan context, where women entrepreneurs face greater challenges of multiple role demands at home, in the community and at work in comparison to men entrepreneurs. Therefore, segmenting business from other life roles through hiring domestic help at home can be expected to be more instrumental in reducing family-to-work-conflict, thereby enhancing business satisfaction and wellbeing. We review the current debates in the literature on this issue and subsequently showcase a study involving 174 men and women entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which researched how having hired domestic help, as a home resource, can enhance the wellbeing and business satisfaction of both women and men entrepreneurs. The showcase study shows that this appears to be particularly true when hiring domestic help allows for family roles to be separated from interfering with the business roles of entrepreneurs. This indicates that the quality of support from hired domestic help is more important than simply having such help in influencing business satisfaction and wellbeing. Our chapter concludes by presenting an agenda for research and policymakers that addresses the importance of using HDH to manage work-life-conflict, gender-equal business outcomes and general wellbeing.

This chapter focuses on the role of hired domestic help (HDH), viewed as a ‘home resource’, in influencing life and business satisfaction by reducing the family-to-work conflict of men and women entrepreneurs in the sub-Saharan context, where women entrepreneurs face greater challenges of multiple role demands at home, in the community and at work in comparison to men entrepreneurs. Therefore, segmenting business from other life roles through hiring domestic helps at home can be expected to be more instrumental in reducing family-to-work-conflict, thereby enhancing business satisfaction and wellbeing. We review the current debates in the literature on this issue and subsequently showcase a study involving 174 men and women entrepreneurs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which researched how having hired domestic help, as a home resource, can enhance the wellbeing and business satisfaction of both women and men entrepreneurs. The showcase study shows that this appears to be particularly true when hiring domestic help allows for family roles to be separated from interfering with business roles of entrepreneurs. This indicates that the quality of support from hired domestic helps is more important than simply having such helps in influencing business satisfaction and wellbeing. Our chapter concludes by presenting an agenda for research and policy makers that addresses the importance of using HDH to manage work-life-conflict, gender-equal business outcomes and general wellbeing.

The study investigates the community roles of women entrepreneurs in a traditional and developing country context—Ethiopia, where various social and/or community expectations on women are present. The study also tried to explore the interface between the various community roles of the women with their other life and work responsibilities. In depth interview was conducted with 20 women entrepreneurs in the capital Addis Ababa. Our analyses show that community holds a strong and omnipresent presence in the work-life experiences of the women entrepreneurs, constituting various roles such as the need to attending social events such as funerals (and resulting social engagements such as subsequent visits to comfort the bereaved), visiting the ill, fulfilling roles at community associations such as iddirs and so forth as social obligations that they cannot easily avoid. To a large extent, this makes such community roles as expectations to be fulfilled by the women rather than responsibilities chosen by the women to participate in. The study also shows the time-bound nature of most of these roles, create a challenge for the women in their effort to combine their work and home responsibilities as they interfere with their pre-planned activities. This interference is found to be bidirectional as work and family responsibilities also pose challenge and force the women to avoid participating in some of the social roles as well as fail meeting certain community expectations.