Making the Entrepreneurial Transition: Understanding the Challenges of Women Entre-Employees 3031292103, 9783031292101

Citation preview

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN EQUITY, DIVERSITY, INCLUSION, AND INDIGENIZATION IN BUSINESS SERIES EDITOR: EDDY S. NG

Making the Entrepreneurial Transition Understanding the Challenges of Women Entre-Employees Sydney D. Richardson

Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business

Series Editor Eddy S. Ng, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

This series seeks to assemble scholarly research around equity, diversity, inclusion, and indigenization in the business world. The books in this series will explore contemporary diversity topics such as gender and corporate governance, sexuality and career development, social justice in the workplace, race and marketing, Indigenous inclusion, supplier diversity, mental health and neurodiversity at work, and more. Through rigorous, disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and contributions from leading scholars, this series will provide an in-depth exploration of each topic and challenge scholars and practitioners to consider expanding their own awareness while addressing ways to make business (and society) more inclusive. The series speaks on behalf of anyone who has ever been affected–directly or indirectly–by discrimination or exclusion.

Sydney D. Richardson

Making the Entrepreneurial Transition Understanding the Challenges of Women Entre-Employees

Sydney D. Richardson North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Greensboro, NC, USA

ISSN 2731-7307 ISSN 2731-7315 (electronic) Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business ISBN 978-3-031-29210-1 ISBN 978-3-031-29211-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Maram shutterstock.com This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This book is dedicated to the first examples of women entrepreneurs and entre-employees in my life: my maternal grandmother, Corrine Phillips and my mother, Linda Phillips Davis.

Preface

What is a woman entre-employee? What challenges does she face and what can companies do to help women entre-employees be successful? I asked myself these questions early in the research phase and they became the questions that I wanted to answer in this book. Women entre-employees have surrounded me for decades. Without knowing the term for them, I knew that they navigated working for employers while also launching and expanding their own businesses. Growing up, I saw them within my own family and within my community. I became one, for the first time, when I began my professional working career. I kept encountering women entreemployees as I moved from one job to another and one business launch to another. Eventually, I provided coaching services to these women on ways to manage their time and I created plans for them to ensure that their businesses were successful. I joined women’s business groups and we discussed our challenges on growing businesses, celebrated moments of triumphs at work, and discussed obstacles navigating life as women and (for some) minority women. Finally, when I came across an article on entre-employees, I finally understood the term. That is where my research truly began taking shape. Over the course of five years, I have documented stories and counter stories of women entre-employees, transcribed stories, observed daily life among entre-employees, and analyzed the words of countless women who opened their businesses and homes to me in order for me to understand the phenomenon of the woman entre-employee, fully. Overtime,

vii

viii

PREFACE

central themes emerged that explained how they were different from entrepreneurs, people with side hustles, people who participated in the gig economy, and even male entre-employees. Some of their stories revealed new knowledge about the type of worker the United States was likely to continue seeing in a new economy. Other stories were continuations of the trials and challenges of women in the workplace and within the world of business. Therefore, my goal for this book is twofold. I want to (1) share knowledge of what a woman entre-employee is, along with what makes her unique to the workforce, using the words of the participants and research; and (2) encourage organizational leaders to continue thinking about ways that they can change organizational culture into one that is equitable, fair, and considerate of all employee identities. Greensboro, USA

Sydney D. Richardson

Acknowledgments

This book would not be possible without the love and support of my husband and children, first. Thank you for listening to me brainstorm chapters, encouraging me to continue researching and writing, and giving me needed time to flesh out the details of this book. Your constant support and cheerleading means more to me than you will ever know. I would also like to thank my sister, Rev. Dr. Sharrika D. Adams, for providing useful feedback on this work and serving as a sounding board as I went through this writing process. To my parents, Charles and Linda Davis, thank you both for encouraging me on this academic journey and for serving as models of ethical and authentic leadership before I knew what the terms were. Finally, to the women entre-employees who dedicated their time and stories to this project: thank you for opening yourselves up to me and trusting me with your narratives to convey the positives and negatives of being a woman entre-employee in the twenty-first century.

ix

Contents

1

Introduction My Story What Is a Woman Entre-Employee? The Participants Workplace Challenges Method for Research Storytelling Through Narrative Research Chapter Outlines References

1 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 10

2

History of Women Entre-Employees Women and Work in the Twentieth Century Early 1900s and World War I Late 1900s Women and Part-Time Work Women Entrepreneurs Women Entrepreneurship in Research Women and Twenty-First-Century Work Conclusion References

13 13 15 18 19 20 22 24 25 25

3

COVID’s Influence on Women Entre-Employees Scenario of the Woman Entre-Employee COVID’s Impact on Working Women Pandemic, Women, and Family COVID and Business Launching

29 29 30 32 33 xi

xii

CONTENTS

Challenges for Entre-Employees Funding of Women-Owned Businesses Social Entrepreneurship of Women Entre-Employees Positive Business Aspects Due to COVID Conclusion References

35 36 37 39 40 40

4

Women of Color Entre-Employees African American Women in the Workforce Work Discrimination Invisibility and Hypervisibility in the Workplace Entrepreneurship Entre-Employment as Liberation Conclusion References

45 45 47 48 51 52 54 54

5

Gender and the Entre-Employee Women in the Workplace Inequities at Work Workplace Flexibility Striving at Work Happiness at Work Gender Discrimination Conclusion References

57 57 59 60 61 63 64 67 67

6

Ethical Leadership and Social Responsibility for Women Entre-Employees Leadership Challenges What is Ethical Leadership? Ethical Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility Influence of Ethical Leadership on Employees Ethical Leadership and Role Modeling Ethical Leadership/Moral Manager in the Participants Consequences of Unethical Leadership and Lack of Social Responsibility Conclusion References

7

Leadership Development of Women Entre-Employees Ethic of Care Leadership Ethic of Care as Inclusive Work Environments Ethic of Care Within Social Entrepreneurship

71 71 73 74 77 78 79 80 81 82 87 87 90 92

CONTENTS

xiii

Self-Advocacy Authentic Leadership Is Authentic Leadership Real? Cultural Views of Authentic Leadership Authentic Leadership and Entre-Employees Conclusion References

93 95 96 97 98 100 101

8

Reimagining Quiet Quitting What is Burnout? Disengagement with Organizational Values Disengagement and Customer Service Roles Other Reasons for Burnout So, What is Quiet Quitting? A Closer Look at Quiet Quitting Conclusion References

105 105 107 108 109 111 112 114 115

9

Ways Organizations Can Support Women Entre-Employees Ways to Support Women Entre-Employees Autonomy on the Job Highlight Learned Skills and Talents Help Employees Start and Grow Their Businesses Establish Equitable Workplace Policies and Practices Address Gender Pay Gaps and Equitable Work Clearly Address Discriminatory Practices Provide DEIBJ Training Openly Support Entrepreneurship Conclusion References

119 119 120 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128

Conclusion and Further Research What We Now Know About the Woman Entre-Employee Further Research Needed

131 131 132

10

Index

135

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

My Story All these years, I had entrepreneurial inklings and wanted to understand how businesses work because I wanted to know in case I went out [and launched my business]. We just want to build a life that makes sense. We’ve got some strong willed women in life. One grandmother was in her 90s when she passed. She finished school at 16 and got married and then to make ends meet, she started teaching school. So against all odds, she still made a way. She ended up owning a motel and learned bookkeeping. She lived to be 99, and at no point did she struggle. We found that she didn’t cash her social security checks ‘cause she didn’t need them. My mother would start these random side projects. My dad’s cousin sold diamonds, and my mom tried to do it as well. She would try different adventures. She didn’t have the mentality for full entrepreneurship like building a business. There was an entrepreneurial desire that never manifested. I do have an uncle who owns his own business and my grandmother was a candy lady [in the community]- without a business license. We always had a hustle. My mom wasn’t licensed but she repurposed furniture. My mom was always doing things for people in our neighborhood. This was after she worked [at her day job].

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_1

1

2

S. D. RICHARDSON

I do come from a family of entrepreneurs. My grandfather started many businesses and my own father actually encouraged us [the kids] by having me set up my own snack stand when I was probably 5 years old. As early as I can remember, we’d screen movies in my family basement for the neighborhood and I had my own snacks. I sold candy popcorn, drinks. Now I appreciate that experience [of selling] cause I think it kind of set the bar… at least implanted the thought that you can own something. We [my family] used to own a corner store here in [city] when I was a kid. So it’s [entrepreneurship] always been in our blood to own businesses. So, I think I saw it modeled for me early on with my parents and them having the corner store; then, they eventually sold the store and my dad opened his security company and that allowed me to see the inner workings of what it takes to be an entrepreneur. I do come from a family of entrepreneurs. My mother is one and employs a lot of my family members.

These quotes came from the women entre-employees within this book and aligned with my own story. My interest in this line of work stems from my family history of women entrepreneurs and entre-employees, along with my own experiences as an entre-employee. I come from a family where my maternal grandmother started her beauty salon as a young mother, operating this business until her early 80s. My mother, who once worked in insurance, eventually opened her own decorating business. She also worked part-time for my grandmother, styling hair. After operating the decorating business for fifteen years, she began making jewelry and operated that business until her she was well into her 70s. Growing up, watching them, and helping my mother with her business inspired the entrepreneurial spirit in me. While working in higher education, I dabbled in editing, coaching, and consulting work, and I eventually started my own consulting business. Then I segued into a product-based business (completely different from higher education) and I have continued contract-consulting work, when I have the time. I eventually met other women who were like me. They worked for employers either full-time or part-time and operated their own businesses. In meeting with other women entre-employees, discussion grew about ways in which we ran our businesses, what inspired us to choose this life, ways that we endured the trials of earning funding, and how we have handled the pitfalls and lessons learned in succeeding as employees and entrepreneurs. I eventually collected the stories of women entreemployees who lived in the United States. What started as speaking with

1

INTRODUCTION

3

approximately thirty women grew into speaking with over one hundred women entre-employees. The more women entre-employees that I met, the more I wanted to hear more stories; therefore, I embarked on this research process. Choosing narrative research, I focused solely on these storytellers and their experiences as they chose to tell it to me.

What Is a Woman Entre-Employee? The above quotes represent the responses from a select few of the women participants of this study on women entre-employees. All of the participants shared their life stories and explained how others taught them to be socially responsible and care for others. The teachings came from their own family members, especially mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and even grandfathers. At other times, teachings came from employers and community leaders. A woman entre-employee, or entrepreneurial employee, is one who works for someone full-time or part-time, while also operating her own business (Hankel, 2018). Different from one with a side-gig, the entre-employee launches her own business instead of working a second job for another employer. The goal of the entre-employee incorporates the following: (1) this person wants to work for her employer in a job that fulfills a passion and purpose, and (2) this person wants to grow her own business, stemming from a different passion and purpose from their field of employment. An entreemployee is one who chooses to live in this dichotomy often because they genuinely enjoy both their work and the idea of owning a business and contributing to society in a new way. This person enjoys the mission and feeling of purpose on her job. However, this person begins her own business because there is something missing at the job that cannot be fulfilled within it, only outside of it. For entre-employees, the businesses that they launch are either completely opposite from their line of work (such as product launching), and/or fills a gap in their field (such as virtual financial coaching for women). The entre-employee is not necessarily launching a business to reach millionaire status. She does not launch her business to replace her current job either. While she will make a profit, sometimes matching or surpassing her job salary, that is not the main goal of the business. Autonomy, social responsibility, and personal freedom serve as the main goals.

4

S. D. RICHARDSON

The Participants The participants revealed a lot of information about the woman entreemployee. The woman entre-employee could be found across various age ranges, class levels, and job titles; however, the women in this book could be labeled as middle class. Their ages ranged from approximately thirty-five to fifty-five years and the majority of them were middle managers or senior leaders within their organizations. They had approximately twenty-five to thirty-five years of work experience behind them, so they had a good idea of the needs that their businesses served in their communities or across communities. They were often caretakers of either children, elderly family members, or both which meant that they were aware of the time that they had available to devote to business launching and expansion. They were k-12 teachers, principals, higher education professors, higher education administrators, financial advisors, bankers, religious leaders, nonprofit directors, k-12 district executives and supervisors, wealth managers, healthcare administrators, doctors, and lawyers. Within their businesses, they were bakers; consultants; skincare developers; home product makers; diversity, equity, and inclusion trainers; counselors; financial planners; artists; life and health coaches; and restaurant owners, to name a few. They were financially conservative and skilled planners, which proved helpful as they funded their own businesses. This meant that they had the financial means to build their businesses and outsource needs if they had to do so as well. Some were married, others divorced, others were in partnerships, and others were single. Some lived in the same states as the rest of their families and others lived separately from their families for employment, traveling back and forth to see them regularly. For some of them, this meant traveling a state away and for others, this meant traveling across continents. Within their businesses, the stories of profit ranged in detail. For some, the profits were miniscule as their businesses launched months before the research took place. For other women, their profits matched or surpassed their salaried positions, yet they still did not intend to leave their day jobs, proving the point of the woman entre-employee. As the businesses grew, the women hired others to assist in running their companies. However, their stories were not void of other obstacles.

1

INTRODUCTION

5

Leadership Within leadership, the women entre-employees held supervisory roles within their places of work, but it was the leadership and skills learned within their businesses that influenced their own leadership development. As they launched and built their businesses, they had to clearly understand their values and state those values, address deal breakers, and model what they wanted to see within the businesses. Doing so made it possible for them to use those same leadership skills within their places of work, even when it proved challenging. Ethical leadership via ethic of care, authentic leadership, and self-advocacy took center stage as they navigated invisibility, hypervisibility, sexist supervisors, racial discrimination, and microaggressions at work. On a positive note, the entre-employees gained confidence in expressing their own voices to employers as well as customers when challenges arose. The way in which the participants spoke about their leadership development reinforced the theoretical framework guiding the research.

Workplace Challenges Women entre-employees navigated many obstacles within the workplace and as entrepreneurs. Some obstacles included time management, organizational cultures that favored traditional male-centered work environments; financial and business funding models not designed for small businesses and needs-oriented businesses; limited supportive infrastructures; and unfavorable business environments due to sexist and racist challenges (Panda, 2018). Whether they attempted to balance family caretaking duties or did not have access to advanced funding streams, women had a difficult time steering entrepreneurial life, especially as entre-employees. One reason was the type of business path that they chose. Unlike male entrepreneurs, women tended to take on needsoriented businesses more than opportunity-based businesses. This meant that women entre-employees saw a need within the community and created a business to fill that need. While men may do the same, theirs may be more profit based, whereas women created more community driven businesses (Stefan et al., 2021; Strawser et al., 2021), of which financial growth opportunities and funding access was limited due to funding structures and policies. These points were prominent in their stories.

6

S. D. RICHARDSON

Method for Research The theoretical framework that I used for this book was social entrepreneurship as it related to social responsibility, ethical leadership via ethic of care, and authentic leadership and self-advocacy. Social entrepreneurship occurred when entrepreneurs formed businesses that were needs based/community oriented out of a sense of social responsibility. Similar to nonprofits, the sense of commitment and ethical responsibility to help others served as a driving force behind the social entrepreneurs, but there was more to it (Gupta et al., 2020). Their reasons for starting their own companies fit within social entrepreneurship via social responsibility, comprising three aspects as described by Hossain et al. (2016, pp. 14–16): 1. Social innovation: Each participant created something new that provided a valuable service, often focusing on forgotten or marginalized groups; 2. Networking: Each participant networked among family, friends, and community partners to spread awareness for their business and gain support; and 3. Sustainability: Each participant had the ability to (or already did) create a business that was environmentally or eco-friendly and incorporated goods and/or services for the good of others (ex. bakery using products from local farmers). Therefore, they worked to bring about social change and solve challenges such as gender discrimination, poverty and unemployment, and workforce development in underserved communities (Gupta et al., 2020; Mair & Marti, 2006; Santos, 2012). Social entrepreneurs have the goal of benefitting society. While they earn compensation for their work, their main benefit is to create positive changes for others first. Based on social responsibility, these entre-employees display specific characteristics such as exhibiting a higher level of empathy for others and an intrinsic drive to address social needs (Bullough et al., 2021; Kibler et al., 2018). However, there are obstacles with being a social entrepreneur, such as obtaining funding for need-based businesses (Gupta et al., 2020; Mair & Marti, 2006), which was harder to do. Women social entrepreneurs also display an ethic of care within ethical and authentic leadership when it comes to guiding their own work and

1

INTRODUCTION

7

leading others. Ethic of care (Held, 2007) within ethical leadership is a feminist concept that also applies to leadership. This concept, originally displayed in the feminist and psychology fields, suggested that interconnected relationships with others served as the basis of care ethic. Forming relationships with others influenced how one led and guided those around them, resulting in a form of care. Displayed traits were empathy, compassion, sympathy, and the need for the well-being of others, to name a few (Held, 2007). Identity and decision-making were rooted within ethical leadership and authentic leadership via the ethic of care framework, which the entre-employees described when addressing their own leadership styles. Storytelling Through Narrative Research “Stories have a powerful impact on our surroundings and contribute to larger systems of collective meaning, influencing which stories are accepted, challenged, ignored, or silenced” (Silva & de Tarso Fonseca Silva, 2022, p. 5). Narrative research captures the life stories of each individual. Because participants can begin at any timeline in their story, and because narrative research shows how a participant makes meaning of her own life events (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), I felt that this inquiry would best capture how and why women entre-employees choose this path, along with any challenges that unfolded in their lives. Although narrative research could capture stories from as little as two people, capturing more stories led to greater data and saturation (Creswell, 2013). Based on the social sciences and humanities, narrative inquiry uses different methods in which to collect a person’s story; however, I requested something of each participant: to have each participant tell her life story as it related to being a woman entre-employee. Because a person can begin at any point in their life story, the timelines were often not in chronological order. In this case, a participant could start with her earliest memory, move to an incident that occurred in her teenage years, and then move to a story from when she was in grade school. My role as the researcher was to listen intently and make sense of the participants’ meaning with the participant co-contributor, not make their stories fit within my research goals. In order to understand a person’s story better, a researcher may ask additional questions, which I did. The additional questions that I asked were unstructured, but encouraged each participant to tell me more. I phrased the questions as follows:

8

S. D. RICHARDSON

1. Could you clarify what you meant when you said XYZ? 2. Please tell me more about X experience. Aside from the questions, I used additional sources to validate narrative inquiry (Klenke, 2016). These materials included news articles, scholarly resources, and observations of the women. These helped validate the life stories that I collected. Finally, an important part of narrative research is ensuring that the participants serve as co-writers. It was important for me to use their voices when reporting the findings and major themes. This helps readers understand the content, as well as context of what a person is saying; the power of creating new meaning rests with the participants and myself as coauthors in this journey (Rolon-Dow & Bailey, 2022). Therefore, out of various qualitative theories, narrative served as the best method, especially when considering alternative methods.

Chapter Outlines I arranged this book into nine chapters, each furthering the chapter before it and enhancing the story and meaning of being a woman entreemployee. This chapter serves as the introduction, giving background information on what an entre-employee is, the research involved, and my own connection to the topic. In Chapter 2, I present the history of women within the workplace, noting their fight for gender equality, workers’ rights, and equal pay. The chapter ends with explaining the conditions in which women became entrepreneurs and eventually entre-employees. In Chapter 3, I explain the impact that the coronavirus pandemic had on women’s loss of jobs, which influenced the number of women who launched their own businesses. I but also highlighted the employed women who chose to launch their own businesses as well (i.e., the entre-employee). In Chapter 4, I describe the experiences of African American women and other women of color as entre-employees. The chapter focuses on discriminatory workplace experiences that led women of color to launch their businesses, as well as how they viewed business ownership as a way of liberation from the demands of the workplace. In Chapter 5, I furthered the conversation from Chapter 4 and focused on women’s stories in general of workplace violations due to sexism

1

INTRODUCTION

9

and gender discrimination. While the women either stayed within the leadership roles or took roles at different organizations, the discriminatory patterns served as an impetus for transitioning to becoming an entre-employee. In Chapter 6, I moved into leadership aspects of women entreemployees, drawing a connection between them voicing their discriminatory experiences to their supervisors and developing their leadership styles. Beginning with ethical leadership via ethic care, this chapter details care ethic and the ways in which the participants used it to develop their ethical leadership style. In Chapter 7, I continued with ethical leadership, but moved into aspects of authentic leadership that further explained the participants’ leadership development, with particular focus on self-advocacy and care ethic. It is in this chapter that I drew a connection between all three aspects that comprised their leadership styles, stemming from battling discrimination and organizational violations. In Chapter 8, I focused on ways that the entre-employees reimagined quiet quitting. As constantly dealing with discriminatory acts can lead employees to burnout and detachment, quiet quitting became the new way to handle work-life balance. For entre-employees, autonomy became of utmost importance in their practice of work-life balance, self-care, and resistance of traditional work norms. In Chapter 9, I used the collective experiences of the women entreemployees to explain ways in which organizational leaders could create fair and equitable places of work, along with work policies and practices, eventually benefitting entre-employees, as well as all employees of various identities. Finally, in Chapter 10, I concluded with ways in which scholars and researchers can further the study and discussion of women entreemployees. This book served as a starting point to the conversation, but there is more to learn. Using different methodologies and various focal points, scholars have ways in which to further this study as the world becomes more diverse and as more entre-employees emerge.

10

S. D. RICHARDSON

References Bullough, A., Guelich, U., Manolova, T. S., & Schjoedt, L. (2021). Women’s entrepreneurship and culture: Gender, role expectations and identities, societal culture, and the entrepreneurial environment. Small Business Economics, 58, 985–996. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00429-6 Creswell, J. (2013). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Sage. Gupta, P., Chauhan, S., Paul, J., & Jaiswal, P. (2020). Social entrepreneurship research: A review and future research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 113, 209–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.032 Hankel, I. (2018). Entre-employee and term-employee are the only career options left. Minute Hack. https://minutehack.com/opinions/entre-employee-tempemployee-are-the-only-career-options-left Held, V. (2007). The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford University Press. Hossain, S., Saleh, M. A., & Drennan, J. (2016). A critical appraisal of the social entrepreneurship paradigm in an international setting: A proposed conceptual framework. International Entrepreneurship Management Journal. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s11365-016-0400-0 Kibler, E., Salmivaara, V., Stenholm, P., & Terjesen, S. (2018). The evaluative legitimacy of social entrepreneurship in capitalist welfare system. Journal of World Business, 53(6), 944–957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2018. 08.002 Klenke, K. (2016). Qualitative research in the study of leadership (2nd ed.). Emerald Publishing. Mair, J., & Marti, I. (2006). Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction and delight. Journal of World Business, 41(1), 36–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wb.2005.09.002 Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). Wiley. Panda, S. (2018). Constraints faced by women entrepreneurs in developing countries. Review and ranking. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 33, 315–331. https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-01-2017-003 Rolon-Dow, R., & Bailey, M. J. (2022). Insights on narrative analysis from a study of racial microaggressions and microaffirmations. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 6(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11456 Santos, F. (2012). A positive theory of social entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Ethics, 11, 335–351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s100551-012-1413-4 Silva, T. C., & de Tarso Fonseca Silva, P. (2022). Making sense of work through collaborative storytelling: Building narratives in organizational change. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89446-7

1

INTRODUCTION

11

Stefan, D., Vasile, V., Oltean, A., Comes, C. A., Stefan, A. B., Ciucan-Rusu, L., Bunduchi, E., Popa, M. A., & Timus, M. (2021). Women entrepreneurship and sustainable business development: Key findings from a SWOT-AHP analysis. Sustainability, 13(5298), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3390/su1130 95298 Strawser, J. A., Hechavarria, D. M., & Passerini, K. (2021). Gender and entrepreneurship: Research frameworks, barriers and opportunities for women entrepreneurship worldwide. Journal of Small Business Management, 59(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2021.1965615

CHAPTER 2

History of Women Entre-Employees

Women and Work in the Twentieth Century In order to understand the nature of women entre-employees, it is important to start with women in the workplace and the obstacles that they faced. Due to social constructions of gender, society judged women based on normative expectations of them, which left them restricted economically, academically, and politically (Ferreira dos Santos et al., 2019; Yadav & Unni, 2016). Women were expected to remain subservient, conservative, submissive, non-assertive, and at the will of dominant figures in the home and within the workplace (Ho et al., 2015), but this only pertained to some women of certain financial means. While middle- and upper-class White women may not have always worked and developed their own businesses out of necessity, poor White women and low-income women of color usually had no other option than to work for themselves and sometimes (if married) with their spouses. There were very few times in history where women did not work. Historically, Black women and poor White women have always worked whether full-time or part-time, yet they were not able to obtain the same labor rights as men (especially White men). The marriage bar, from the early 1900s to 1970, restricted women from working once they married (Jenkins et al., 2002). Therefore, society felt that the only women who should be working were those who were single and needed to support their families, yet they still received less © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_2

13

14

S. D. RICHARDSON

money than men did (Jenkins et al., 2002; Maclean, 1999). It is important to note that the backlash to women working came from those mainly against White middle-class and upper-class women working, as they did not align with the view that people had of these women as homemakers. “Black women were subject to fewer marriage bars, but had little access to the jobs available to white, middle-class women at the time” (Blakemore, 2021). For the women who did work, they faced discrimination from male colleagues, regularly. While the marriage bar was one obstacle for women, they were willing to take on the challenge of other obstacles in order to further their cause for equality. As women gained political and economic rights, their access to obtaining more jobs and jobs in male-dominated fields increased. However, gender discrimination kept them from higher-level positions and higher salaries, such as positions equivalent to men. People such as Elizabeth Butler stressed the need for professional training of women in order for them to move into skilled jobs. Her studies showed that women doing labor-intensive work were eventually performing jobs that would not elevate their careers in title or monetary status (Balka & Wagner, 2021). Worldwide, women worked in factories under intense conditions and they took home meager wages, only to rise the next day and do the same job again with little opportunity for advancement. In the United States, the same was found of lower class and low-middle-class women of all races. Race, class, and citizenry also influenced the percentage of people employed. Women from low-income families and racially minoritized women, often received less pay than others did, and families of immigrant status were not awarded the same opportunities as White, middle- and upper-class women and families. Of the census prior to 1930, the following categorized working women: – Twenty percent of White women with native born parents were listed as gainfully employed; – Twenty-nine percent of women with immigrant parents were listed as gainfully employed; – Eighteen percent of women who were immigrants, themselves, were listed as gainfully employed; – Forty-four percent of African American women were listed as gainfully employed (Atkins, n.d.).

2

HISTORY OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

15

African American women were approximately twice as likely to work outside of the home, compared to White women, as they often had to work even after marrying (Yellen, 2020). The country employed younger women (ages sixteen to twenty-four) more than those over the age of twenty-five (mostly likely due to not being married) (Atkins, n.d.). However, there was an increase in women working skilled jobs leading up to 1920 (due to the war), holding jobs such as clerk, stenographer/typist, librarian, teacher, and more (Atkins, n.d.). While these facts provide an overall summary of women working in the 1900s, it is important to view these items within the structure of race, class, gender, and its’ relation to employment. Early 1900s and World War I By the 1900s, almost five million women worked outside of the home; however, after World War I, the country and companies forced many women to return home in order for the majority of men to hold jobs (Yellen, 2020). Aside from losing jobs, families risked financial security due to longer work hours, less pay, and economic inflation (Abramovitz, 2001; Yellen, 2020). For low-income women who were working, many took to striking and forming unions, fighting against terrible work conditions. As a result, many formed alliances with feminist organizations comprised of middle- to upper-class White women in an effort to gain a livable wage and shorter workdays. However, more unions emerged as well. “During World War I, southern black household workers organized to control wages, hours, and volume of work agreed to with white employers” (Abramovitz, 2001, p. 120). Strikes continued with women of various races protesting unfair wages and poor work conditions and their lists of work needs enhanced. “They [women] called for equal pay for equal work, nondiscriminatory seniority lists, protection of women’s jobs during the conversion to peacetime production, and female representation in union leadership roles” (Abramovitz, 2001, p. 120). Even women who worked in the home joined in the protests by boycotting places that charged high food and rent prices and/or places that did not hire women, women of color, and men of color. Over the decades, as labor policies changed, they still stigmatized single mothers and low-income women; as a result, new forms of resistance emerged. With women still being the main caregivers of their homes, even when working outside of the home, the cause for fair and

16

S. D. RICHARDSON

livable wages, plus moving beyond the glass ceiling remained necessary to fight for. While the fight for justice continued, women found various ways to elevate themselves and others, economically, especially within jobs that segregated themselves based on gender. While certain jobs became gendered, they were not always that way. By 1970, fifty percent of single women and forty percent of married women were working (Yellen, 2020). As more women graduated high school, more women fought for the opportunity to work, and certain jobs appeared safer for women to work in (i.e., administrative work, teaching, etc.). At one time, prior to the 1960s, men occupied certain jobs, such as clerical work. However, as technology improved and the need for more human resources increased, women began filling these positions and middle class, White men, moved into other positions. “2500 women in the initial year alone [of the EEOC of 1965], overwhelmingly working class and often trade union members, challenged unequal wages, sex-segregated seniority lists, unequal health and pension coverage, and male-biased job recruitment and promotion policies-among other things” (Maclean, 1999, p. 50). Acts such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC), and Affirmative Action worked more for women, especially White women, than it did for African American men and women, economically. Women used these movements to address their own struggles in the workplace, often in the form of caucuses: Borrowing a tactic from mostly male, blue-collar African Americans …women joined together with like-minded coworkers to organize women’s caucuses as their characteristic vehicle of struggle. Blacks of both sexes and women of all races who joined together implicitly announced that traditional class tools-such as unions-were ill suited to the issues that concerned them. (Maclean, 1999, p. 51)

Often, the caucuses were composed of working-class women and women of all races furthering the women’s rights movement, especially at work (Abramovitz, 2001). Over time and into the late 1970s, women caucuses began targeting sex-segregated working-class jobs that employed women, and began networks across states focused on improving the wages for working-class women. The women’s groups saw numbers of participation from Black women than from the original caucuses, “making up as much as one-third of the memberships” (Maclean, 1999, p. 55). This

2

HISTORY OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

17

makes sense as more Black women were starting to enter clerical office work in the late 1960s. However, the clerical work that women performed mimicked being a homemaker, not an equal professional to men, as the work was more services oriented. The goal of the caucuses was to fight for equal and fair wages, along with gaining respect and proper professional work, not performing personal service work for male managers. While White, middle-class women organized to gain equal working rights as men, low-income White women and racially minoritized women mobilized to change work policies and government policies in an effort to make living better in their communities (Abramovitz, 2001; Maclean, 1999; Reid & Padavic, 2005). For low-income White women, their fight centered on increasing wages in order to support their families and gaining equality to men, along with access to other jobs. For Black women, the focus was similar to low-income White women, but there focus was also racial equality, as they navigated race and gender in their day-to-day lives. Over time, other women’s groups formed to tackle the interests of low-income women of color and women who needed to support their families as single mothers and breadwinners. Organizations such as Advocates for Women, led by Dorothy Hernandez, started as one of the groups (Maclean, 1999). Other women’s organizations, in an effort to gain increased pay for women, focused on training and education for low-income women and minority women who did not have the equal educational opportunities. With an effort to get women into nontraditional jobs and gain them fair pay, additional organizations developed over time, which focused on conversations of gender, race, class, and work. In New York … Black women and Latinas helped run United Tradeswomen, and their concerns prompted discussions about how racism and sexism worked together in the construction industry. One result was special attention to the exclusion of Black women from the trades and pressure for their inclusion … (Maclean, 1999, p. 60)

For low-income women, the fight for equal and fair pay came not only as a need to end gender work discrimination, but to survive such as in coalmining.

18

S. D. RICHARDSON

The number of female underground coal miners grew from zero in 1973 to over 3,500 by the end of 1981, when they comprised 2 percent of the workforce. Often widowed or divorced and raising children on their own, coal-mining women took these jobs for the same reasons that led other women to construction sites: the work paid more than three times as much as they could get elsewhere. (Maclean, 1999, p. 61)

As women’s groups continued to see improvement in the working rights of women, they also saw the need to improve their groups as well, especially the groups that lacked diversity. Groups that were predominantly White worked to form alliances with Black workers’ groups to fight for fair employment in a way that benefitted various racial and class groups. “Women’s employment groups joined forces with those promoting Black and Latino men’s employment to push for better enforcement of anti-discrimination and affirmative action policies …” (Maclean, 1999, p. 65). Working together, these groups were able to sue companies that continued gender discrimination, as well as racial discrimination (and sometimes both), successfully. However, more work was needed within income equality. Late 1900s Between 1974 and 1995, White women’s median annual earnings increased by 18%, while Black and Hispanic women’s median earnings rose by only 9% and 3%, respectively, despite disproportionate educational gains in high school and college educational attainment by Black and Hispanic women. (Albeda, 1997, p. 276)

Into the late 1900s, women who wanted to move into leadership positions found it difficult to attain that goal (i.e., glass ceilings). For women not in managerial positions, lower level jobs provided low pay and little opportunity for promotion. For women who did want to advance to higher positions, they needed additional training and education, which became difficult given the rising cost of education. As of 1993, most women earning wages could care for themselves without the help of a partner, meaning that women no longer had to depend on men, financially; however, it did not mean that they could always support the rest of their family members (Albeda, 1997). “Wage scales, job structure and government income policies in the United States (and elsewhere) have

2

HISTORY OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

19

been built upon a model that includes a nuclear family with a male breadwinner” (Albeda, 1997, p. 278). This nuclear model meant that job opportunities, although getting better over the decades, remained predominantly gendered. Women and Part-Time Work Even part-time work appeared gendered, as it was primarily seen as women’s work (women performed more part-time work than men). In 1995, sixty-eight percent of women who worked did so part-time (Caputo & Cianni, 2001, p. 312). Research found that women working in the public sector, involuntarily and part-time, were more than likely working the job that companies offered them, not necessarily the job that they wanted (i.e., involuntary work). For reasons such as gendered jobs and workspaces, plus the societal notion that women should still be at home, some women (especially those without advanced degrees) still found securing full-time work difficult. “For women in the USA, part-time employment appears to be more a function of immediate circumstances and motivations than a patterned behavior or way of life” (Caputo & Cianni, 2001, p. 321). The part-time work for women served as meeting a temporary need (i.e., paying urgent bills; being the sole family supporter; earning enough to care for the family at a present moment, etc.) until a full-time job presented itself. It is important to also note that state healthcare plans and benefits, along with unemployment insurance, excluded part-time employees; therefore, women who were involuntarily part-time workers suffered, especially if they were attempting to support their families. In the 2000s, companies began offering optional healthcare and retirement plans to part-time workers. However, the lack of family friendly policies, the inadequacy of the minimum wage, the decline in male wages, the increased labor participation of mothers, and the lack of employment security makes work and raising a family a more precarious proposition than it was two decades ago. (Albeda, 1997, p. 279)

The ones that gendered work policies affected the most were single mothers. While single mothers could support themselves around the mid1990s, unlike the 1960s and 1970s, that did not mean that they could

20

S. D. RICHARDSON

support additional family members on one salary (Albeda, 1997; Maclean, 1999). This also meant that single mothers and/or mothers who were the breadwinners were performing two types of work: working outside of the home and caring for the well-being of the family inside of the home (Albeda, 1997; Emslie & Hunt, 2009; Hochschild & Machung, 1989; Lowson & Arber, 2014). This is where women entrepreneurs enter the picture.

Women Entrepreneurs While many scholars note that women worked during World War I and even worked after the war, others omit the women who started their own businesses during the mid to late 1900s. By 1972, women owned approximately five percent of all US firms (Loscocco & Robinson, 1991). Women still remained predominantly responsible for the home and childrearing, regardless of whether or not they worked outside of the home (Emslie & Hunt, 2009; Lowson & Arber, 2014). While women have been known to work a second shift (Hochschild & Machung, 1989), they seemed to do so even if they had a third shift career (Lowson & Arber, 2014). Even in terms of small business owners, historically, men viewed their flexibility of hours as evidence that their businesses provided autonomy over their work lives; however, the flexible schedule for women business owners seemed necessary for work-life balance because many of them still juggled caring for the home and family (Emslie & Hunt, 2009). From 1997 to approximately 2017, women-owned businesses increased by 114% (“Female entrepreneurs”). When it came to juggling multiple responsibilities, lower-income women saw the demand on their time as something that needed addressing; hence starting their own companies became a necessity (Emslie & Hunt, 2009; Lowson & Arber, 2014). Compared to men, women continue to own businesses at a lesser rate, although they are launching at fast rates (Ferreira dos Santos et al., 2019; Minniti & Naude, 2010). The stereotype of women continues to be that they are caring and nurturing, equating to being less likely to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors and this is not entirely true. While women entrepreneurs are most known for creating needs-based businesses, that mindset does not encompass all women entrepreneurs, as some of their businesses are opportunity-based (Zhao & Yang, 2021). This causes obstacles for women entrepreneurs. Similar to the history of jobs, research shows entrepreneurship as gendered and rooted in families

2

HISTORY OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

21

(Yadav & Unni, 2016). “Female entrepreneurship faces barriers imposed by society, formal institutions, cultural and economic conditions, which makes it challenging to start or develop a new enterprise” (Ferreira dos Santos et al., 2019, p. 24). Therefore, research on female entrepreneurship did not emerge until the mid-1970s/1980s since scholars did not view it differently from male entrepreneurship in earlier research (Yadav & Unni, 2016). In the early 1900s, especially after World War I, some women owned their own businesses (others operated businesses with their husbands) to keep the economy running and assist in the war effort (“Female entrepreneurship”). While some of those businesses continued after the war, other women helped expand businesses run with their husbands, and other women continued to operate their own businesses. However, wartime businesses are not the first time that women have owned businesses. Entrepreneurship in the United States is also not new to women of color. Historically, African American businesses not only created jobs for others, but also relied heavily on the African American community (church members, family, friends, etc.) for expansion. Communities that were more socially cohesive included members with a higher sense of belonging and well-being and were more likely to be more resilient (Kulig et al., 2018; Theodori, 2001). Therefore, the success and expansion of African American businesses took on a community aspect. Due to racial discrimination during the post-Emancipation era, African Americans started their own businesses and practices (Umoh & Garrett, 2020). While African Americans started small businesses, others grew theirs into large enterprises. Madam CJ Walker (a.k.a. Sarah Breedlove) is the most well-known self-made millionaire, growing her haircare business (which began in 1906) into a large multi-million dollar empire. Others opened their own medical practices, law practices, and beauty salons. However, as early as the 1820s, free people of color owned businesses as well (Schweninger, 1989). In the 1830s, “the Crescent City boasted the most prosperous free mulatto businesswoman in the South, Eulalie d’ Mandeville” (Schweninger, 1989, p. 28). Over time, as access to jobs and work promotions increased for African Americans in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, entrepreneurship lessened, but never stopped. For all people of color, but especially women of color, entrepreneurial growth proved financially challenging. However, the creation of laws in the late twentieth century targeted entrepreneurial women.

22

S. D. RICHARDSON

In 1988, the Women’s Business Ownership Act became law, creating opportunities for women entrepreneurs to access funding and resources to support their businesses (Inuzuka, 1991; Pandey & Amezcua, 2018). The creation of organizations such as the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) reviewed the status of women-owned businesses in order to expand more of them. However, exclusion of some women in business funding remained. Racially minoritized women and low-income women felt excluded from entrepreneurship expansion. While women in NWBC argued that council creation targeted low-income women, as well as racially minoritized women, the percentage of women businesses in such groups (minority and low income) remained low. Whether it was in the Council or other organizations, the omission of minority women and lower-income women in decision-making and policymaking conversations directly influenced which ones succeeded in entrepreneurship and which ones did not (Inuzuka, 1991). Women Entrepreneurship in Research Research featuring businesspeople focused on male entrepreneurship. Researchers of entrepreneurs disregarded gender in the 1970s; therefore, entrepreneurship research treated men and women equally, leaving any forms of gender discrimination against women unacknowledged. When entrepreneurship research continued, the acknowledgment of various experiences based on aspects such as gender and race did not emerge until the 1980s. This phenomenon is similar to entre-employee research. Within the field of entrepreneurship, entre-employee research is practically nonexistent, except for a few opinion pieces. No scholarly research about people who work as employees and entrepreneurs, especially women, exists; luckily, there are public examples of women similar to entre-employees (those who work for an employee and run her own business): direct sales companies. Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Thirty-One, Rodan and Fields, Lulumon, and Avon are examples of direct sales companies that give sales representatives the chance to work like an entre-employee. Within these companies, the employee is a consultant who works a flexible schedule. The companies provide each salesperson with his or her own products to sell (some have to buy a certain amount to sell). The elementary school teacher who sells Pampered Chef in the evenings; the accountant who hosts ThirtyOne parties on the weekends in order to meet her sales goals; and the

2

HISTORY OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

23

business managers who sell Rodan and Fields products use entrepreneurial skills to meet and surpass their sales goals. The success of the consultant is completely up to that person. The direct sales companies market their opportunities as more than a side hustle and they are. While these are not personal businesses, they provide a close example of what a woman entre-employee navigates when building her business while working for an employer. In this case, the woman entre-employee has control over her schedule. While she cannot decide when she will work for her employer, she can decide when she will work on her business as a direct sales consultant. This includes when and how she will take calls, answer emails, launch marketing campaigns, and sell products or services, and more. When women choose to become an entre-employee, they often want to have some level of control or flexibility over their lives. This level of autonomy over one’s schedule, time, and salary serves as form of gender equality, where women are their own bosses and can set their own practices. Like those who engage in direct sales, entre-employees often are not interested in leaving their primary jobs for their businesses. They do both forms of work because they enjoy both fields. A professor who also runs her own financial coaching business for women does both because she finds purpose in both areas. Therefore, women entre-employees who match or surpass their salaries may enjoy their work lives, but it will not cause them to leave their primary job. For many women entre-employees, their businesses allow them to employ others in order to operate their new ventures smoothly. One entre-employee shared her vision for employing others, because of her company expanding: I employed 12 people within 17 months so I knew something powerful was happening. One of my goals was to build wealth for my child, but I knew that as I saw success coming, I wanted to broaden the network to other [employ] women, especially black women in particular.

For this entre-employee, growing her business financially meant that it was time to employ other people, especially other women. Leaving her primary high-ranking job was not on her list of possibilities. With other women entre-employees, the goal is similar. When the business grows, they employ people and give others opportunities. What started as a fight for gender and work equality has now moved into something more: the fight for autonomy and ability to create a gender-neutral territory (Shortall, 2001).

24

S. D. RICHARDSON

Women and Twenty-First-Century Work Many companies are not gender neutral and most organizations enforce gender roles through organizational cultures. There is a culture of gender within organizations and it influences the ways people interact with one another, the language that is used, and the mannerisms others consider normal or not (Shortall, 2001). Therefore, when someone different enters that space (i.e., women entering jobs predominantly occupied by men), they are seen as a threat. Viewing organizations from this perspective makes it easier to see why women had a difficult time breaking the proverbial glass ceiling. However, within the workplace, women progressed in roles and career opportunities into the 2000s. Across racial lines, more women worked outside of the home, as well as inside of the home. They managed climbing the professional ladder, while raising children. Not only did they manage their careers and families, women also made career shifts and launched businesses. However, they still faced gender, economic, and racial discrimination. The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) revealed this as many jobs that were eliminated were ones that employed women of various races, as well as low-income women (ex. day care owner, salon owner, home care aids, etc.) (Edwards et al., 2022). As a result, many women launched their businesses from home. Black women were the only minority group where women entrepreneurs outnumbered the men (Hannon, 2018). Aside from knowing that minority women, especially African American women became entrepreneurs, was the question of why. While African American and Latina women were the largest group to become entrepreneurs between 2014 and 2020, they also did not receive as much funding as other groups and suffered the most during the pandemic (Fulcher, 2021). Half of the new businesses that started during the pandemic were by women of color, yet they (especially Black women) hardly took advantage of payment protection program loans and instead ran their business by themselves, using their own funds (Padilla, 2021). Employed women of color who funded their own businesses did so via salaries from their full-time jobs, making them entre-employees. Not only did the pandemic lead to a rise in entrepreneurship, it also led to a rise in the woman entre-employee. While this still encompassed direct sales opportunities, this expanded to building other types of businesses and taking on socially responsible causes.

2

HISTORY OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

25

Conclusion Historically, women have worked to advance social justice causes for centuries. One cause, being equality in the workplace across age, gender, and race has taken time, but these change agents built systems and organizations to achieve their goals. While the fight for gender equality has not ended, it has expanded into the twenty-first-century workforce. With many homes needing two incomes or multiple streams of income to survive, and discrimination remaining in other companies, building one’s own business seems to be the proper segue for many women. In order to fill a gap within their own communities or fields of work, women have used their skills and talents to build and expand their own organizations. As a result, they are not only contributing in their primary jobs, but they are making vast contributions in equity and belonging within the businesses that they launch. Whether the business is product based or service based, women entre-employees are investing their time and resources to benefit others, as well as themselves. The pandemic helped in fulfilling this need.

References Abramovitz, M. (2001). Learning from history of poor and working-class women’s activism. The Annals of the American Academic of Political and Social Science, 577, 118–130. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1049827 Albeda, R. (1997). Improving women’s employment in the USA. Industrial Relations Journal, 28(4), 275–281. Atkins, S. (n.d.). Women’s occupations in the early twentieth century. The Social Historian. https://www.thesocialhistorian.com/womens-occupations/ Balka, E., & Wagner, I. (2021). A historical view of studies of women’s work. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 30, 251–305. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10606-020-09387-9 Blakemore, E. (2021, November 8). Why many married women were banned from working during the Great Depression. History.com. https://www.history. com/news/great-depression-married-women-employment Caputo, R. K., & Cianni, M. (2001). Correlates of voluntary vs. involuntary part-time employment among US women. Gender, Work, and Organization, 8(3), 311–325. Edwards, R., Essien, L. S., & Levinstein, M. D. (2022, June). U.S. labor market shows improvement in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on the economy. Monthly Labor Review. https://doi.org/10.21916/ mlr.2022.16

26

S. D. RICHARDSON

Emslie, C., & Hunt, K. (2009). ‘Live to work’ or ‘work to live’? A qualitative study of gender and work-life balance among men and women in mid-life. Gender, Work, and Organization, 16(1), 151–172. Ferreira dos Santos, V., Morais, G. M., Ferreira de Arau ujo Ribeiro, F., & Pardini, D. J. (2019). Female entrepreneurship: Evolution, current challenges, and future prospects. International Journals of Business Administration, 10(5), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v10n5p24 Fulcher, M. (2021). For black women entrepreneurs, the pandemic made an already challenging path to success even more difficult. CPR News. https:// www.cpr.org/2021/04/01/for-black-women-entrepreneurs-the-pandemicmade-an-already-challenging-path-to-success-even-more-difficult/ Hannon, K. (2018, September 8). Black women entrepreneurs: The good and not-so-good news. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com Hochschild, A. R., & Machung, A. (1989). The second shift: Working parents and the revolution at home. Viking. Ho, S. S. M., Li, A. Y., Tam, A. Y., & Zhang, F. (2015). CEO gender, ethical leadership, and accounting conservatism. Journal of Business Ethics, 127 , 351– 370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-2044-0 Inuzuka, J. K. (1991). Women of color and public policy: A case study of the women’s business ownership act. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1215–1239. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229038 Jenkins, S., Lucio, M. M., & Noon, M. (2002). Return to gender: An analysis of women’s disadvantage in postal work. Gender, Work, and Organization, 9(1), 81–104. Kulig, J. C., Townshend, I., Kosteniuk, J., Karunanayake, C., Labrecque, M. E., & MacLeod, M. L. P. (2018). Perceptions of sense of community and community engagement among rural nurses: Results of a national survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 88, 60–70. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.ijmurstu.2018.07.018 Loscocco, K. A., & Robinson, J. (1991). Barriers to women’s small-business success in the United States. Gender & Society, 5(4), 511–532. Lowson, E., & Arber, S. (2014). Preparing, working, recovering: Gendered experiences of night work among women and their families. Gender, Work, and Organization, 21(3), 231–243. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12032 Maclean, N. (1999). The hidden history of affirmative action: Working women’s struggles in the 1970s and the gender of class. Feminist Studies, 25(1), 43–78. Minniti, M., & Naude, W. (2010). What do we know about the patterns and determinants of female entrepreneurship across countries? The European Journal of Development Research, 22(3), 277–293. https://doi.org/10.1057/ ejdr.2010.17

2

HISTORY OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

27

Padilla, M. (2021). Women owned businesses are driving the pandemic growth, but many miss out on PPP loan. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/ economy/women-owned-businesses-are-driving-pandemic-growth-but-manymiss-out-on-ppp-loans Pandey, S., & Amezcua, A. (2018). Women’s business ownership and entrepreneurship through the lens of U.S. federal policies. Small Business Economics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s1187-018-0122-5 Reid, L. L., & Padavic, I. (2005). Employment exits and the race gap in young women’s employment. Social Science Quarterly, 86, 1242–1260. Schweninger, L. (1989). Black owned businesses in the South, 1790–1880. Business History Review, 63, 22–60. Shortall, S. (2001). Women in the field: Women, farming and organizations. Gender, Work and Organization, 8(2), 164–181. Theodori, G. L. (2001). Examining the effects of community satisfaction and attachment on individual well-being. Rural Sociology, 66(4), 618–628. Umoh, R., & Garrett, B. (2020). Black in business: Celebrating the legacy of black entrepreneurship. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/ 2020/02/03/celebrating-black-history-month-2020/?sh=1b05b05a2b45 Yadav, V., & Unni, J. (2016). Women entrepreneurship: Research review and future directions. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 6(12), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40497-016-0055-x Yellen, J. L. (2020). The history of women’s work and wages and how it has created success for us all. The Brookings Institute. https://www.brookings. edu/essay/the-history-of-womens-work-and-wages-and-how-it-has-createdsuccess-for-us-all/ Zhao, E. Y., & Yang, L. (2021). Women hold up half the sky? Informal institutions, entrepreneurial decisions, and gender gap in venture performance. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(6), 1431–1462. https://doi.org/ 10.1177/104225872098705

CHAPTER 3

COVID’s Influence on Women Entre-Employees

Scenario of the Woman Entre-Employee During the pandemic, one working mother of two elementary school-age children had to navigate a new territory. She juggled a full-time job and a part-time business of her own. Her spouse worked as an emergency room doctor and had his work hours increased due to his label as an essential employee by the government. The hospital in which he worked also required more working hours from him due to the number of patients needing care. During COVID, the woman found herself taking time away from her business and rearranging her full-time job schedule in order to help her children navigate online school. In the evenings, she answered emails and fulfilled orders for her business. On the weekends, she found herself spending less time with her family in order to catch up on full-time job work that she missed. Another person worked part-time as an instructor at a local community college, prior to the pandemic. During that time, she launched her online consulting business and started gaining clients. The flexibility allowed the entre-employee to help care for her ailing aunt and escort her to and from the adult day care center. Once lockdown occurred in her state, she had to move her aunt into her house since the adult day care was closed. While she was able to get an aide to assist one day per week, it was not enough help. She was able to continue her consulting business because she maintained control of the amount of virtual clients that she accepted; © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_3

29

30

S. D. RICHARDSON

however, two of her community college classes were removed because students were not able to attend online as much. The entre-employee worried about her finances and her mental health.

COVID’s Impact on Working Women While the scenarios above relate to two fictional people, they do mirror what took place in the United States for women entre-employees during the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The pandemic impacted work in the world and the United States was no exception. Between December 2019 and February of 2020, COVID was identified in the US Americans were asked to wear masks when they ventured outdoors and many kept their eyes on the news to find out just how bad COVID would become. States prepared for the virus to wreak havoc on their populations. Two weeks into March of 2020, K-12 schools, universities, for-profit companies, nonprofits, and more closed their buildings and sent their students and employees home. The United States entered lockdown. Everyone went home, closed their doors, and attempted to navigate life indoors. Schools sent children home with computers, school districts and businesses provided internet access, employees learned to use Zoom or Microsoft Teams for all of their work meetings, and employers figured out ways to ensure that their employees were working, sometimes checking online hours. However, not all organizations functioned easily. Organizations that could only provide a service face-to-face suffered under COVID restrictions, such as restaurants and daycare centers. Many of those companies employed women and did not qualify for, or were not awarded, a paycheck protection program (PPP) loan issued by the government. One particular sector that employed a large number of women were childcare centers and nursing home/adult day care centers. Two out of every three caregivers in the United States were women during this time (Bateman & Ross, 2020). Whether they were caring for children, sick relatives, or the elderly, women managed challenging duties around work and caregiving; however, COVID exacerbated the challenges. Prior to COVID, mothers working outside of the home spent up to fifty percent more of their time each day caring for children versus fathers who worked outside of the home (Bateman & Ross, 2020). That increased during the pandemic because everyone was at home, yet women still found themselves doing more of the housework. For mothers of children under the

3

COVID’S INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

31

age of twelve, thoughts of taking lesser roles in the workplace due to childcare arose more during the pandemic (Jablonska, 2021). The same dynamic occurred for women caring for elderly or sick family members, aside from children. Caring for relatives during the pandemic caused working women to utilize sick leave and vacation days for caregiving duties (Ranji et al., 2021). Caregiving duties during the pandemic caused some women to leave their jobs and others to reduce their working hours. Childcare companies closed. Hair and nail salons closed. Cleaning companies closed. Part-time college faculty (i.e., adjuncts) received less classes to teach or no classes at all, which equated to less income or no income. Nursing homes only allowed a select number of employees into the building. As a result, women were financially affected by the pandemic. Worse, many of the jobs never returned a year later. As a result, women worked multiple part-time jobs in order to earn an income, while others took on additional caregiving roles while looking for new work. One participant explained how her life changed during COVID because of her work not being valued. Well, COVID happened. And my father in law had a stroke. My husband works in [health] research, so while my job was going down (part-time faculty), his was going up. And if you know job disparity of fair wages is that women don’t get paid as much and it just made sense to have my father-in-law move in and me care for him at that time.

Aligning with statistics, caregiver duties, even to in-laws, fell mostly on the woman. While the participant above was not caring for children, she did have to care for her father-in-law, which made looking for a flexible job during COVID difficult. She was able to take a job with a small business bakery, and the owner convinced her to start her own business. By December of 2021, approximately forty-four percent of the jobs lost due to the pandemic had not returned (Edwards et al., 2022). Not only had jobs been eliminated, some people chose to leave their positions altogether (full-time as well as part-time). The largest drop in demographics leaving the workforce were Black women (154,000) (Ewing-Nelson, 2021). Compared to men across races and ethnicities, Black women, Latina women, and women with disabilities lost jobs during COVID and did not return to the workforce. There remain contradicting reports about COVID-19’s impact on small businesses, entrepreneurship, and the Great Resignation, especially when it pertains to women. Between

32

S. D. RICHARDSON

February and April of 2020, African American businesses decreased by forty-one percent due to the pandemic (Fairlie, 2020). By comparison, Latinx businesses decreased by thirty-two percent, and Asian businesses decreased by approximately twenty-six percent. The pandemic affected twenty-five percent of female-owned businesses as well (Fairlie, 2020). Aside from these businesses, employment proved challenging. For the women who were able to return to work, they received less hours, which affected their overall wages. Pandemic, Women, and Family Prior to the pandemic, women were still primarily caregivers and they completed the majority of household duties, even though men increased their participation in household duties and caregiving (Hochschild, 2001; Pettigrew, 2021; Uddin, 2021). For women in management and leadership positions, the role of home manager did not subside and the mental and emotional struggle increased during the pandemic (Coronel et al., 2010). During the global lockdown (and even afterward), the amount of caregiving and household duties increased mainly for women. Women were affected more by the lockdown, as they (1) mainly had jobs that were either eliminated or could be completed from home and (2) were more likely to care for the children who had to school from home, which affected their own productivity) (Al-Dajani et al., 2020; Dy & Jayawarna, 2020; Pettigrew, 2021; Stephan et al., 2020). Aside from that, the women who had essential jobs were more likely to have front-facing jobs, which affected their health as they were interacting with the public daily (Dy & Jayawarna, 2020). In terms of household duties and childcare, their involvement did not change drastically when accounting for women who worked full-time or part-time (Pettigrew, 2021); however, men did increase in the number of hours spent as caregivers as well as in household duties, compared to men in the twentieth century. What this means is that while one side has increased in participation, the other side (women) still has not decreased in overall unpaid household participation (childcare duties, housework, and family event planning) prior to the pandemic (Coronel et al., 2010; Pettigrew, 2021; Uddin, 2021). The mental load did not decrease either, as women were more often the ones scheduling doctor’s appointments, planning birthday parties, setting up parent-teacher conferences, and planning daily family events

3

COVID’S INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

33

(even if inside). Post-COVID exacerbated all of this, especially once lockdown conditions lifted and researchers studied the effects of work on the emotional and mental health of people. In two-parent heterosexual households, while both parents may have been reduced to home life, women were the ones managing the home more between the two. For most of them, hours at the job were cut or the jobs were completely eliminated, whereas men (especially in managerial positions or essential positions) were working increased hours away from home or within the home (Alfaro, 2020; Kurtzleben, 2020; Pettigrew, 2021). For families with children to care for and/or elderly relatives, women took on the added burden of caregiving duties as well. For those who lost their jobs, they spent this time looking for additional, essential work, while launching businesses (regardless of marital status). Once companies allowed employees to return to work, women lagged behind men for various reasons: less hours available, less work available, no childcare or adult day care available, etc. (Pettigrew, 2021). For single mothers and mothers of young children, this was devastating, leading to the need for business creation, even after they secured paid work.

COVID and Business Launching One of the entre-employees interviewed who helped her friend with the bakery launched her own business, while working part-time at the bakery and caring for her parent. However, her story is not unusual. While many women, especially between the ages of forty-five and sixty, wanted to shift careers prior to COVID, the circumstances of the pandemic gave them the needed push to do so. Of all the businesses that launched during the pandemic, the majority were by women (approximately forty percent) especially Black and Brown women (Zalis, 2021). Working from home gave them more time to consider ways in which to take control of their working lives. As they learned to help children with homework and complete duties assigned by their employers, women were also permitted to consider ways in which entrepreneurship could enhance their lives. “External shocks, characterized by a climate of uncertainty, can lead individuals to conceive ideas or beliefs that, through a process of sensemaking, can be transformed into entrepreneurial opportunities” (Alva et al., 2021, p. 7). In other words, some business owners suffered during the pandemic, while the pandemic caused other entre-employees to conceive of new ideas that would help others. While it would require

34

S. D. RICHARDSON

more work, alongside being an employee and caregiver, the additional work was empowering to the women because it was theirs and they had control over it. What also helped during COVID was that the American public spent more time online, which created opportunities for women entreemployees. Online shopping in the United States increased by $244 billion or forty-three percent (Brewster, 2022). Businesses took advantage of that during the pandemic. Whether the business provided a product or a service, operating an online business proved profitable. For many of the participants, their businesses transitioned to online and remained there. The pandemic saw multiple entrepreneurs make this same shift with their companies. This proved positive for businesses that were able to do so, especially with the assistance of social media use. Between exposing the companies to a larger audience to shortening response times to customers, small businesses noticed a positive impact of the pandemic on their business sales (Afshan et al., 2021; Stephan et al., 2020). This proved beneficial for entre-employees as well. An online company meant that they no longer had to respond to customers and clients within a traditional nine in the morning to five o’clock in the evening framework, which conflicted with their primary work hours as an employee. Instead, customers inquired about services and ordered products at all hours, which allowed more time for flexibility for the entre-employees. Being online provided the women entre-employees exposure and opportunities to gain new clients. Whether it was writing a blog, conducting webinars, holding live meetings and offerings, or selling products online, moving to an online format during the pandemic helped the entre-employees become nationally and internationally selling business owners. On social media, entre-employees established trust between themselves, their businesses, and their customers. They held weekly live sessions, showed their unfinished workspaces, introduced new products and services to customers, held giveaways, made videos about packaging orders, and sold their products and services through social media platforms as well as their own websites. There was also a rise in online social networks for women entrepreneurs and entre-employees (Muzaffar, 2022; Ratten, 2020). Social networking for women served as an avenue for more women to meet across time zones, geographies, racial/ethnic groups, and fields of business. Networking meetings, many operating in the evenings and on weekends, accommodated the entre-employees’ schedules and time demands,

3

COVID’S INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

35

while including them in many of the conversations previously held for entrepreneurs during the daytime prior to COVID. Through the networks, women learned skills such as business planning, time management, and growth projection topics that they might not have gained access to, easily. Although this served as a positive, there remained challenges within the world of entrepreneurship. Challenges for Entre-Employees Women and racial minorities often comprise the majority of those with lower paying jobs and/or small businesses that receive less funding awards (Fabeil et al., 2020). However, the pandemic changed that. During COVID, the world saw women with advanced degrees and higher levels of resources, including finances, entering the small business sector, even though they did not have the same access to funding opportunities as larger businesses (Conroy & Low, 2021; Dy & Jayawarna, 2020). Selfemployment presented itself as an alternative to those women whose work hours were lessened or eliminated during the pandemic. However, entre-employeeship presented itself as an addition for the women who wanted to do something more with their unused skills. In this case, regardless of income classification, more needs-based businesses and fewer opportunity-based businesses launched. Working from home, arranging a flexible work schedule, and holding autonomy proved positive options to women of various class levels. Literature suggests that entrepreneurship takes place most among lowincome individuals and high-income individuals (Conroy & Low, 2021). However, the majority of the women entre-employees in my research could be considered middle class, where the income range was anywhere from the mid-$40K to approximately $200K per year, depending on location and number of dependents (Bennet et al., 2020). In addition, the number of socially driven small firms led by women was quite large and diverse (racially and geographically). Across income levels and location, necessity-driven entrepreneurs (those creating businesses out of personal necessity) are historically low-income, and those creating opportunitybased businesses (those pulled into entrepreneurship opportunities) are often high-income earners, but that has no bearing on the number of employees hired. Research shows that non-employer startups (businesses with no employees outside from the owner) also occur out of opportunity, not always necessity based businesses. Also, both types of businesses suffer

36

S. D. RICHARDSON

under funding models. Twenty-first century-funding policies are aimed at large, high-growth, and profit-driven businesses, and often exclude community-based, need-based, and socially based small businesses (often led by women) from funding and policy conversations (Conroy & Low, 2021). The participants of this book fell into this category, yet some of their businesses could be deemed as needs-based/necessity-driven. Funding of Women-Owned Businesses “Women entrepreneurs face severe challenges than male entrepreneurs in terms of lack of access to finance, cultural restrictions, and lack of spouse support” (Mustafa et al., 2021, p. 187). As many women started businesses, globally, other women-owned businesses suffered during the pandemic and had to learn ways to pivot in order to remain open, even virtually (Mustafa et al., 2021). Race, gender, and culture all affected the way in which women-owned businesses survived during and post-COVID, as these attributes influenced funding and small business policies (Conroy & Low, 2021). Independent funding agencies, globally, committed to funding women entrepreneurs, who were more likely to start businesses out of necessity than their male counterparts were (Grandy et al., 2020; Pettigrew, 2021). Over five million dollars was awarded to support women entrepreneurship; however, governmentfunding models of entrepreneurs, especially during COVID-19, simply reinforced gender favoritism and did not help the multitude of womenowned businesses (Grandy et al., 2020). The problem with many small business funding models and entrepreneurship funding models was that they: 1. Tended to have requirements of higher profit margins, 2. Tended to have higher employee number requirements, and 3. Tended to have high profit-goal requirements. Since most women-owned businesses had two or less employees, were socially based instead of purely profit driven, and profited less than some funding requirements (ex. the profit was less than $1.5 million annually), many women-owned businesses were automatically left in the margins of receiving support, although some did receive support. These challenges were then amplified based on the diversity of women: African American

3

COVID’S INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

37

and other women of color, Indigenous women, women with disabilities, immigrant and migrant women, and more found themselves excluded from funding as well. For women who created businesses out of necessity, the pandemic caused severe challenges, as they were ill-equipped to pivot due to skillset (Conroy & Low, 2021; Mustafa et al., 2021). For example, a necessity-driven business based on coaching women looking for new careers may not have had the same skillset as an opportunitybased business founded by partners that focused on technology and had multiple investors. Entering into lockdown and having more household responsibilities, especially if the business was a physical one, exacerbated the challenges for women business owners, such as time needed to devote to the business. At the same time, for some women, launching a business was a longtime dream come true. For others, it was about the right opportunity at the right time. For few of the women participants interviewed in this study, the launching of their businesses came after an opportunity presented itself (i.e., opportunity driven). For one participant, it was a business friend telling her what her business could be, based on her strengths. For other participants, it was a simple request for a workshop that led to one request after another. As those requests kept coming, so did the official business launching. COVID either allowed them to expand their already existing businesses or launch new ones.

Social Entrepreneurship of Women Entre-Employees Another area that the participants had in common was the area in which their businesses fit. All of the women participants funded their own businesses, similar to research about women entrepreneurs (Grandy et al., 2020). Being a business that fits a community and social need, all of the participants fit the meaning of being socially responsible entrepreneurs. Like many social entrepreneurs who are mainly women, they created businesses that solved a community or worldwide problem. For the participants, their businesses filled a gap in what they noticed was lacking either locally, regionally, or nationally. One participant created a financial coaching business geared toward women and operated by women. She noticed that most financial coaches were men who seemed to create models of coaching that did not take into consideration the needs and responsibilities of women. Another participant created a diversity

38

S. D. RICHARDSON

consulting business that incorporated the needs of immigrants. Another participant created a baking company, in which she targeted rural areas; from this, she also taught cooking classes. Another participant operated a hair salon on nights and weekends, and was able to sustain her business during lockdown. Operators of businesses such as these often found funding sources challenging. Because social entrepreneurs began in the nonprofit areas, those who launched as profit-based businesses had a difficult time proving that they would earn a profit in a way where investors would want to fund them. However, this did not mean that these social entrepreneurs would earn little profit. Many of the participants reported their business profits matching or exceeding their work salaries. A few of the participants hired employees to help them expand their businesses. One participant explained: I now work with a group of women to provide technological services to others. Another entre-employee was able to hire employees within her first year of launching her business. While businesses by women received less funding than men, African American and Latina-owned businesses received less funding than ones operated by White women did. However, business expansion and job creation continued to happen by all womenowned businesses, and their outlook on business success could be a factor (Kuckertz & Brandle, 2022). Less funding did not mean little to no funding. Because the women entre-employees had no intention of leaving their jobs as employees, they were not concerned with creating multi-million dollar enterprises. Instead they were more concerned with providing a service and making enough money to sustain their living situations, should they leave their jobs as employees in the future. There was a realization that the businesses could grow to a point where a decision needed to be made: either sell the business or leave one’s primary job and run the business full-time, but that was not an immediate concern. For the participants, this meant having a conservative mindset such as having an established savings account, a few investments, and keeping expenses low. As one participant shared, she launched her business as a newly single parent, while she was in between jobs. I had three family rental properties that I was no longer paying on (they were paid off). I practiced what I preached: I had emergency funds, I had

3

COVID’S INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

39

money coming in (rental properties). I could pay my bills fairly well. July 2020 I launched. The first three months were about getting the website up and talking to others about my business. Since then, the business has been growing and is doing well.

Because of financial management, this participant was able to launch her business on her own time. A few months later, she accepted a job elsewhere, with a boss who was supportive of her business, and she continued building her company.

Positive Business Aspects Due to COVID Additional women business owners practiced conservative financial management as well in order to provide more business services, increase profits, and employ others. As previously mentioned, though entrepreneurs suffered mentally and emotionally during the pandemic, especially women with children at home, they and others were able to express agility in skills, focus, products, and services. Small business owners and employees worked from home. They volunteered their time to other causes and many entrepreneurs donated their products to need-based causes (Stephan et al., 2020). While social entrepreneurship does not appear profitable in research results, there are positive consequences to it, even during the pandemic. Research showed that personal experiences, positivity, resilience, and drive greatly influenced the success of a socially responsible entrepreneur (Kuckertz & Brandle, 2022). For the participants, disillusionment with the workforce served as the energy that they needed to either expand or launch their businesses. While no one left their jobs for good, they all learned ways to balance their purposes in both of the roles of entrepreneur and employee. For some participants, this meant negotiating work hours that allowed them to stay engaged with their families, businesses, as well as full-time work. For others, this meant leaving one job to move to another with aligning values and then using those same values within their businesses.

40

S. D. RICHARDSON

Conclusion Women and minority entrepreneurs, as a researched field, have fluctuated since the late 1980s, and literature about women and minority entrepreneurs focused primarily on performance and impact, which can affect the type of research published, especially if women and minority groups face obstacles in funding and resources for business support compared to other groups (Sampaio et al., 2022). Studies such as those presented in this chapter work to change what has been known about women entrepreneurs and women entre-employees. The pandemic resulted in positive and negative consequences for women entre-employees and women small business owners. It shed light on inequalities in funding models, resources for women small business owners, and gendered policies. However, the pandemic also allowed women entre-employees to pivot and re-evaluate their work goals. On the entrepreneurship side, many funded their own businesses, aligned their products and services to online platforms, and volunteered their time and resources to worthy causes, which further highlighted their businesses. While housework and caregiving duties increased as well, not to mention primary work demands, the resilience of women entre-employees during business planning and launching allowed them to persevere during the pandemic, even as one-woman businesses.

References Afshan, G., Shahid, S., & Tunio, M. N. (2021). Learning experiences of women entrepreneurs amidst COVID-19. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 13(2), 162–186. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-092020-0153 Al-Dajani, H., Martinez Dy, A., & Ekinsmyth, C. (2020). Stay home and work” Implications of COVID-19 and the UK governmental response for self-employed women. ISBE Gender and Enterprise Network Blog. https://isb egen.wordpress.com/2020/03/27/stay-home-and-work Alfaro, M. (2020, July 7). The daily 2020: American is in the middle of a child-care crisis. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ news/powerpost/Paloma/daily-202/2020/07/07/daily-202-america-is-inthe-middle-of-a-chil-care-crisis/5f04185a602ff10807196404/ Alva, E., Vivas, V., & Urcia, M. (2021). Entrepreneurial bricolage: Crowdfunding for female entrepreneurs during COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of

3

COVID’S INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

41

Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEEE12-2020-0464 Bateman, N., & Ross, M. (2020, October). Why has COVID-19 been especially harmful for working women? Brookings Institute. https://www.bro okings.edu/essay/why-has-covid-19-been-especially-harmful-for-workingwomen/#:~:text=COVID%2D19%20has%20also%20increased,the%20rate% 20of%20men%20surveyed Bennet, J., Fry, R., & Kochhar, R. (2020, July 3). Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/07/03/are-you-inthe-american-middle-class Brewster, M. (2022, April 27). Annual retail trade survey shows impact of online shopping on retail sales during COVID-19 pandemic. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2022/04/ecomme rce-sales-surged-during-pandemic.html Conroy, T., & Low, S. A. (2021). Opportunity, necessity, and no one in the middle: A closer look at small, rural, and female-led entrepreneurship in the United States. Applied Economic Perspectives, 44, 161–196. https://doi.org/ 10.1002/aepp.13193 Coronel, J. M., Moreno, E., & Carrasco, M. J. (2010). Work-family conflicts and the organizational work culture as barriers to women educational managers. Gender, Work, and Organization, 17 (2), 219–239. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2009.00463.x Dy, A. M., & Jayawarna, D. (2020). Bios, mythoi and women entrepreneurs: A wynterian analysis of the intersectional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed women and women-owned businesses. International Small Business Journal: Research Entrepreneurship, 38(5), 391–403. https://doi. org/10.1177/0266242620939935 Edwards, R., Essien, L. S., & Levinstein, M.D. (2022, June). U.S. labor market shows improvement in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weigh on the economy. Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2022.16 Ewing-Nelson, C. (2021). All of the jobs lost in December were women’s jobs. National Women’s Law Center. https://www.nwlc.org Fabeil, N. F., Pazim, H. A., & Langgat, J. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic crisis on micro-enterprises: Entrepreneurs’ perspective on business continuity and recovery strategy. Journal of Economics and Business, 3(2), 837–844. Fairlie, R. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on small business owners: Evidence of early stage losses from the April 2020 current population survey. UC Santa Cruz. https://scholarship.org/uc/item/89w827c9

42

S. D. RICHARDSON

Grandy, G., Cukier, W., & Gagnon, S. (2020). Invisibility in the margins: COVID-19, women entrepreneurs and the need for inclusive recovery. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 35(7/8), 667–675. https://doi. org/10.1108/GM-07-2020-0207 Hochschild, A. R. (2001). The time bind: When work becomes home and home becomes work. Holt Paperbacks. Jablonska, J. (2021). Seven charts that show COVID-19s impact on women’s employment. McKinsey Report. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-ins ights/diversity-and-inclusion/seven-charts-that-show-covid-19s-impact-onwomens-employmentinclusion/seven-charts-that-show-covid-19s-impact-onwomens-employment Kuckertz, A., & Brandle, L. (2022). Creative reconstruction: A structured literature review of the early empirical research on the COVID-19 crisis and entrepreneurship. Management Review Quarterly, 72, 281–307. https://doi. org/10.1007/s11301-021-00221-0 Kurtzleben, D. (2020, May 9). Women bear the brunt of the coronavirus job losses. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2020/05/09/853073 274/women-bear-the-brunt-of-coronavirus-job-losses Mustafa, F., Khursheed, A., Fatima, M., & Rao, M. (2021). Exploring the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 13(2), 187–203. https://doi.org/ 10.1108/IJGE-09-2020-0149 Muzaffar, H. (2022). Pandemic silver lining: How the COVID-19 pandemic helped women to beat the “gender stereotypes pandemic” in entrepreneurship. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 1–17. https://doi. org/10.1108/GM-10-2021-0316 Pettigrew, R.N. (2021). An untenable workload: COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on women’s work-family demands. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 113(4), 8–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.14307/JFCS113.4.8 Ranji, U., Frederiksen, B., Salganicoff, A., & Long, M. (2021). Women, work, and family during COVID-19 findings from the KFF women’s health survey. https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/womenKFF.org. work-and-family-during-covid-19-findings-from-the-kff-womens-health-sur vey/ Ratten, V. (2020). Cornavirus (COVID-19) and entrepreneurship: Cultural, lifestyle and societal changes. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 13(4), 747–761. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEEE-06-2020-0163 Sampaio, C., Farinha, L., Sebastio, J. R., & Fernandes, A. (2022). Putting the magnifying glass on minorities groups in entrepreneurship: What can we observe? Strategic Change, 31, 367–386. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2510 Stephan, U., Zbierowski, P., & Hanard, P.-J. (2020). Entrepreneurship and COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities. King’s College London.

3

COVID’S INFLUENCE ON WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

43

Uddin, M. (2021). Addressing work-life balance challenges of working women during COVID 19 in Bangladesh. Wiley and Sons. Zalis, S. (2021). Economic disaster for women; these female entrepreneurs are helping other women bounce back. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ shelleyzalis/2021/08/24/the-pandemic-created-an-economic-disaster-forwomen-these-female-entrepreneurs-are-helping-other-women-bounce-back/? sh=5844be89203c

CHAPTER 4

Women of Color Entre-Employees

African American Women in the Workforce “Choosing to act when one’s humanity and brilliance are denied and to stand instead in your truth does have consequences” (Dillard, 2016, p. 33). Black women, through historical to present mobilizations, have led and organized themselves (with little to no affirmation) in order to advance a cause, often relying on resilience and self-encouragement to accomplish much-needed goals. This includes the workplace. According to Roberts and Mayo (2019), while Black professionals gained mid- to high-level positions, they still experienced more acts of discrimination and slower career progression within the workplace (Wingfield, 2020; Zuniga, 2002). In comparison to their White counterparts, Black professionals (historically and currently) are less likely to be hired or promoted, and more likely to feel uncomfortable within the workplace; that theme also emerged among the participants of this entre-employee study. The minority participants of this study felt reprimanded if they were not present during the nine-to-five o’clock time frame, even if they worked later hours and/or on the weekends. “Black women, by all indications, are more likely to experience higher levels of discrimination in hiring, promotion and general harassment, and it is most often race based” (Ortiz & Roscigno, 2009, p. 355). Other minority participants noted racism that took political form within their organizations, affecting their work. These included the effort to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion work in © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_4

45

46

S. D. RICHARDSON

certain states, thus influencing their work roles. Other forms included eliminating workplace policies of flex-work, which leaders implemented during the pandemic. As a result, the participants often launched businesses that embraced diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, as well as more family-friendly (or life friendly) policies. “In a world that has demonstrated over and over the belief that African Americans are secondclass citizens with little regard for their wellbeing, is it any surprise that they would seek safety from trusted members from their own community?” (Goldblum et al., 2021, p. 4). All participants recognized that the pandemic greatly showed them what they needed in order to feel supported and safe in their places of work. Due to their dual minority status (race and gender), African American women leaders believed that they were often overlooked, marginalized, and unappreciated as leaders in their professions (i.e., invisible in the workplace). Compared to other identities, African American women are less likely to receive mentorship or sponsorship opportunities in order to rise to higher leadership positions. Historically, they have worked to advance civil rights, educational opportunities, gender equality, and worker’s rights, as they needed to ensure their safety and ability to care for their own families. However, they often served as invisible leaders: those change agents who went unrecognized, yet served as sources of motivation and contribution to the causes (Sales, Burke, & Cannonier, 2020). While Black women gained rights in areas of voting and work, and they still lagged behind men and non-Black women due to race and barriers as to which jobs remained available to them. Although barriers are less prominent, there remain invisible barriers to leadership attainment for African American women. Being dual minorities (race and gender) means that African American women are more likely be outsiders within their workplace than other identities. In previous research, Black women leaders noted resilience as being significant to their success, along with the identifying skills: emotional intelligence, authenticity, and agility as keys to resilience (Sales et al., 2020). In this case, authenticity may not mean the same thing as denying one’s true self to become an organizational citizen through identity shifting. In this case, authenticity could be perceived as one remaining true to her values as much as possible, which means that she will only do so much for an organization without compromising her well-being. Research has shown that though intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) occurs for all women of color,

4

WOMEN OF COLOR ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

47

it seems to be more prevalent for Black women due to historical perceptions and stereotypes (Williams, 2014). For example, for those who see Black people as unintelligent, Black women may have to prove more than others that they are capable of performing well in leadership positions. Though they may be hired for the position, they still may receive less pay than their peers may or they might receive more questioning as to their work intentions than others may. The women participants of the study experienced discrimination on levels similar to these. Work Discrimination While the educational levels of Black women have increased in the twentyfirst century and the percentage of Black women-owned firms increased by approximately 67%, they still occupied less than 2% of senior-level positions in the private sector compared to White women and White men, as of 2017 (Dickens et al., 2019; p. 153; Sales et. al., 2020). Authors argue that due to race and gender, these women have had to break through a proverbial concrete ceiling instead of a breakable glass ceiling, as Black women may feel hypervisible, leading to an adjustment of displayed character and appearance. As a result, they may involve themselves in identity switching. The results of a study by Hall et al. (2012) showed that African American women used emotion and problem-focused coping responses to manage job stress, stemming from gender and racial discrimination. In the workplace, discrimination can look like the following for Black women, regardless of rank: “exhibiting stereotypes, excessive demands, an absence of mentoring, exclusions from work [office] cliques, being ignored and/or harassed, and assumptions of incompetence” (p. 211) and this is where identity shifting can act as a navigational mechanism. Unlike code switching, which often involves changing one’s language or dialect, identity shifting involves “shifting one’s worldview and cultural behaviors in intercultural encounters” in order “to limit visibility, [and] become more socially invisible” (Dickens et al., 2019, p. 154). Ways in which identify shifting occur include appearance and mannerisms. A Black woman may straighten her hair, not because she likes it, but to align herself more with the appearance of the majority of women in her organization. This person may adjust her language and dialect (i.e., code switching) if she interprets others responses to her cultural language as negative and belittling. She may also change the way in which she dresses, dismissing cultural styles to fit into her organization. This can all stem

48

S. D. RICHARDSON

from the way in which people in an organization express their values of others (consciously or subconsciously). While there may be positive consequences to this, such as more inclusion in decision-making and discussion, there are negative consequences for the individual. Being less authentic or hiding oneself in an organization can be emotionally, physically, and spiritually stressful. Black women seem to vacillate between the positive and negative consequences of identity shifting in order to meet organizational and societal acceptances. Identity shifting can be a conscious or unconscious act, especially if one is in a mode of survival. Used in the workplace as a coping mechanism, this shifting protects women against “discrimination, invisibility, and marginalization” (Dickens & Chavez, 2018, p. 761). With it, the marginalized member makes her negatively interpreted mannerisms less prominent, such as language, behaviors, or hair. While identity shifting can appear positive in certain contexts, it is a negative phenomenon when one is feeling stressed, angry, or upset about having to conceal her culture for the comfort of others (Dickens & Chavez, 2018; Dickens et al., 2019). Identity shifting can result from feeling invisible at work to feeling hypervisible at work, leading to additional stress. Invisibility and Hypervisibility in the Workplace The results of being invisible and hypervisible for African American women in the workplace result in feelings of rejection, isolation, stress, loss of identity, and performance pressures (Sales et al., 2020; Settles et al., 2019). Invisibility among Black women at work occurs when they feel left out of the majority group or dismissed. Feeling like a ghost, invisibility may occur when a colleague speaks to another colleague without including the third colleague. Invisibility can also occur when an employee expresses feelings of being overworked and instead is given more work by her supervisor. Hypervisibility, on the other hand, often occurs when the African American woman is the only one or one of a few selected Black people in an organization. At the executive level, she can appear as a token employee for diversity measures, even though she is perfectly qualified (or overqualified) for the position. In this case, hypervisibility reveals itself when she self-silences to avoid appearing as aggressive, or when she polices her own mannerisms in order to normalize herself with the dominant group. While hypervisibility appears alienating because Black women may feel that they have to self-supervise in order

4

WOMEN OF COLOR ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

49

to stay organizationally appropriate, and invisibility becomes isolating because the women feel unseen and/or demeaned and cast aside. In higher education, researchers found that “faculty of color were expected to engage in stereotyped activities (i.e. subservient roles); had to work harder to be perceived as legitimate scholars; and experienced racism and prejudice from their colleagues” (Settles et al., 2019, p. 64), which many of the participants of this study described. All of the women entre-employees, who worked in education, discussed enjoying their work roles. Whether it was serving in an administrative or teaching role, they all discussed enjoying working alongside their colleagues, as well as the atmosphere of education; however, there were challenges. Each participant expressed difficulty of working in higher education or K-12 education as a woman of color who valued diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice. The majority, if not all of their experiences, mirrored racial and gender discrimination, regardless of their supervisors’ identities. My conversations with them occurred during focus group sessions. As one participant explained: I see how we [black women] get the short end of the stick [in the workforce] with salaries, [and] service work, but you get tired of that.

Another participant nodded her head in agreement and added her own perspective of working in higher education and facing discrimination as a racial minority and a woman: I will say for my adult life, I never saw myself being an entrepreneur until I had some really, uh, discriminatory experiences in my profession [pause]. I just faced a lot of um discrimination, ageism, racism, you name it. I was completely unaware [before entering academia] and graduate school did not prepare me for the foolishness. I wasn’t the only one experiencing this in a professional context, and so based on my own experiences, I wanted to start a business to support other professionals [who experienced discrimination], and so that’s how I started my business.

A different participant included her perspective: I know I personally did not take a vow of poverty coming into this space, but I enjoy the work. However, between politics, microaggressions, and work wanting to take most of my time [over 60 hours], it’s important

50

S. D. RICHARDSON

to consider whether or not to stay in this environment of working for someone else.

One participant expanded on the realities of being overworked and underpaid in education: For me, you know, I’m working 12-hour days and still being asked to be available outside of those hours. It hurts and I feel very vexed. It’s like, I know how hard I work and then someone says that I am not working [as much as I should].

It is not uncommon for high-earning women and/or women in leadership positions to be asked to work longer hours and take on additional responsibilities. Yet, these micro-inequities lead to devaluing women and creating barriers for their own self-care (Blithe & McCarver, 2020). As the participant above described, she worked hard daily, and supervisors still asked her to prove her work dedication by working longer hours. Gender and racial inequities occur for women in general, but more so get reported for minority women (low-income; Black women, other women of color) (Frye, 2019). Not only do inequities occur, but also disbelief when minority women state what is true for them (such as one participant telling her supervisor that she works long hours). In the case above, the true experience was being overworked and not fully being able to care for oneself. Another participant explained: Black educators are treated poorly in our roles. For us to be met with the compensation and respect that we deserve, we often have to leave education because we are not invested in [professionally].

For all of the participants, dealing with discrimination due to either gender, race, or both, caused each one to (1) appreciate her own autonomy within her business, and (2) reflect on her own treatment by others at work. While the participants did not want to leave their places of employment (at least not at the time of the study), becoming an entre-employee served as a way for them to take control of their work passions and eventually create a work environment that was supportive of all identities.

4

WOMEN OF COLOR ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

51

Entrepreneurship As stated previously, the majority of new businesses started during the pandemic were by African American women (Cook, 2021). Whether they started side businesses or full-time businesses, or were caregivers or not, African American women launched companies. They funded their dreams out of their own bank accounts (many did not apply for loans or have investors), and did not let the risk of failure impede their progress. Some people worked their businesses full-time and only did so. However, some worked their businesses in a different way: alongside their current jobs. Entrepreneurship in the United States is not new among African Americans. Racial discrimination during the post-Emancipation era caused African Americans to start their own businesses and practices (Umoh & Garrett, 2020). From hair care products to self-owned doctor’s offices, African Americans have owned their own businesses and created jobs for others for centuries. As access to jobs and promotions increased among African Americans, entrepreneurship lessened, but never stopped. During recessions, the United States often sees an uptick in the Black-owned businesses. Not only does there appear to be an increase, but the dynamics of the Black-owned businesses is something new to research (Danes et al., 2008). Community wise, African Americans create job opportunities within their communities. Therefore, the success and expansion of African American businesses take on a cultural aspect. Within race and gender, entrepreneurship of minority women remains to be progressing as well. In terms of minority women-owned businesses, non-White women operated approximately 1625 of businesses (Fulcher, 2021; Padilla, 2021; Richardson, 2020). Of those entrepreneurs, the majority were of ages forty-five and older. The success of these womenowned companies related to the prior years of work experience and personal financial capital. Black women, however, were the only minority group where women entrepreneurs outnumbered the men (Hannon, 2018). Aside from knowing that minority women, especially African American women, became entrepreneurs, it was important to understand why this occurred. Continuing reports of African American women and performing more invisible duties at work, getting less pay served as a major reason.

52

S. D. RICHARDSON

Entre-Employment as Liberation Another aspect that all participants discussed was the way in which establishing their own businesses served as an avenue of freedom, as well as a way to give back. None of the participants created their own businesses to solely attain wealth, as their primary work allowed them to financially care for their families and fund their businesses; however, those businesses served as a quicker way for them to live their dreams of travel and autonomy. While the dreams did not incorporate quitting their jobs, having a business did provide them with an opportunity to consider leaving a discriminating environment in future. One participant especially used the word “freedom” when explaining how her business could directly serve her and her family: I’ve tried to weigh the balance between economic success, money, monetary means versus freedom. I want to be able to just to pick up and go. I think that’s more important to me now than any sort of money. As long as I have enough to take care of my child and take care of our basic needs. I actually want a small house. I want to travel. I want to go back to Gambia, West Africa and you know, work again at the University [there]. Maybe teach there, you know, just because I can. I think that will be really fulfilling for me and kind of, you know, provide me with that freedom that I’m looking for. I could have multiple jobs too. With my cultural background, we were taught to have many different streams of incomelike five or six different streams of income.

With this participant, she still saw herself teaching in the university, while operating her business, as well as incorporating more streams of income. Her dream was about taking care of her family and having the freedom to travel. Remote work for her primary job and business served as the best way to handle that goal. For another participant, working her primary job and her business meant being prepared for obstacles and being able to withstand them, such as a worldwide pandemic: I think navigating COVID has taught me the need to be versatile, to not get ready, but stay ready [for possible job loss]; and staying ready in this context means having a business that is thriving, that affords me the opportunity to replace my salary if need be.

4

WOMEN OF COLOR ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

53

The thought of her being able to replace her primary salary, if need be, meant that she no longer worried about the unexpected. Being an entreemployee served as financial security for her family first and freedom second. Aside from the unexpected, another participant explained the way in which being an entre-employee allowed her to get away from parts of her job that were unpleasant. It provided an escape that gave her additional professional skills, while allowing her make more money: I do this business because I want options. I don’t ever want to feel like I am stuck or indebted to a job, per se. In my current profession, I’ve never romanticized being in this space. My business provides additional opportunities to network outside of the traditional confines of my job and it also contributes to a larger purpose that’s bigger than myself.

For all of the participants, owning their own businesses reinforced what they learned growing up and allowed them to dream again. They learned to hold multiple jobs by watching their family members do so, and they saw what those additional streams of income afforded their families: the opportunity to gain essential life and professional skills, give back to others, and think of future possibilities. The participants also became disillusioned with their current educational work environments. As African American women leaders in predominantly White educational settings, there were similar stories of discrimination and micro-aggressions at work. Mirroring studies about African American women educators and administrators, the participants still faced discrimination and low pay due to race and/or gender (Patitu & Hinton, 2003). This coupled with feelings of being overworked and stressed, which caused the participants to not only rethink their own boundaries within the workplace, but it also caused them to sharpen their leadership styles from being leaders in their own businesses. Many studies on discrimination due to race and gender in higher education show that it happens in both Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). At PWIs, African American women face subtle bias and microaggressions, as well as blatant racism and discrimination. At HBCUs, African American women report facing age-old sexism and lack of mentoring opportunities (JeanMarie et al., 2009). Unfortunately, the participants of this study spoke of their experiences of discrimination and the lack of preparation they had in handling discrimination and bias as leaders and middle managers in the academy and K-12. Their businesses provided an escape from these moments.

54

S. D. RICHARDSON

Conclusion Choosing to become an entre-employee is a new way in which people are securing themselves financially and joyfully in the world. Especially in education, where flexible work schedules are difficult to implement due to the need to care for students, finding ways to achieve professional goals outside of the primary job proves taxing; however, some people have learned ways to do so via becoming an entre-employee. For the participants in this study, there were collective reasons for choosing this lifestyle of work. While some disillusionment on the job may be a reason why someone would choose to live in between the two work roles, engaging as an entrepreneur may help a person choose to stay as an employee as well. As with the participants, being an entrepreneur helped them become better employees and helped them manage work lives better. Learning how to manage one’s own business enhances soft skills, leadership skills, and the ability to relate to various internal and external stakeholders. Next, achieving one’s professional and personal goals also proved to be possible via becoming an entre-employee. Whether the goal is working from anywhere in the world or simply becoming more financially secure, being an entre-employee proved useful. This also meant that employees did not want to leave their primary careers, especially in higher education. They did want to hold their primary jobs, while progressing in their own work dreams, and as the participants showed, they remained productive in their primary jobs, even when it was difficult for them.

References Blithe, S. J., & McCarver, V. S. (2020). This is not where we thought we would be: Reviewing the promise of feminism at the intersection of women and work. Women & Language, 39(2), 31–51. Cook, I. (2021, September 15). Who is driving the Great Resignation? Harvard Business Review. https://www.hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-drivingthe-great-resignation Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241– 1299. Danes, S. M., Lee, J., Stafford, K., & Zachary Heck, R. K. (2008). The effects of ethnicity, families and culture on entrepreneurial experience: An extension of sustainable family business theory. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 13(3), 229–268. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946709001010

4

WOMEN OF COLOR ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

55

Dickens, D. D., & Chavez, E. L. (2018). Navigating the workplace: The costs and benefits of shifting identities at work among early career U.S Black women. Sex Roles, 78, 760–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199017-0844-x Dickens, D. D., Womack, V. Y., & Dimes, T. (2019). Managing hypervisibility: An exploration of theory and research on identity shifting strategies in the workplace among Black women. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 113, 153– 163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.10.008 Dillard, C. (2016). To address suffering that the majority can’t see: Lessons from Black women’s leadership in the workplace. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 152, 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20210 Frey, W. H. (2014). Diversity explosion: How new racial demographics are remaking America. Brookings Institution Press. Frye, I. (2019). Racism and sexism combine to shortchange working black women. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/ issues/women/news/2019/08/22/473775/racism-sexism-combine-shortc hange-working-black-women Fulcher, M. (2021). For black women entrepreneurs, the pandemic made an already challenging path to success even more difficult. CPR News. https:// www.cpr.org/2021/04/01/for-black-women-entrepreneurs-the-pandemicmade-an-already-challenging-path-to-success-even-more-difficult/ Goldblum, P., Thompkins, F., Jr., Lai, T., & Brown, L. M. (2021). African American faith communities and public health: Working at the intersections of COVID-19. Human Arenas, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-02100197-z Hall, J. C., Everett, J. E., & Hamilton-Mason, J. (2012). Black women talk about workplace stress and how they cope. Journal of Black Studies, 43(2), 207–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934711413272 Hannon, K. (2018, September 8). Black women entrepreneurs: The good and not-so-good news. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com Jean-Marie, G., Williams, V., & Sherman, S. L. (2009). Black women’s leadership experiences: Examining the intersectionality of race and gender. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 11(5), 562–581. Ortiz, S. Y., & Roscigno, V. J. (2009). Discrimination, women, and work: Processes and variations by race and class. The Sociological Quarterly, 50(2), 336–359. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1533-8525.2009.01143.x Padilla, M. (2021). Women owned businesses are driving the pandemic growth, but many miss out on PPP loan. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/ economy/women-owned-businesses-are-driving-pandemic-growth-but-manymiss-out-on-ppp-loans

56

S. D. RICHARDSON

Patitu, C. L., & Hinton, K. G. (2003). The experiences of African American women faculty and administrators in higher education: Has anything changed? New Directions for Student Services, 104, 79–93. Richardson, S. (2020, June 11). Let’s talk women owned businesses. RoK Leader, LLC. https://rokleader.com/2020/06/11/lets-talk-women-ownedbusinesses/ Roberts, L. M., & Mayo, A. J. (2019). Towards a racially just workplace. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/11/towarda-racially-just-workplace Rolon-Dow, R., & Bailey, M. J. (2022). Insights on narrative analysis from a study of racial microaggressions and microaffirmations. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 6(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/11456 Sales, S., Burke, M. G., & Cannonier, C. (2020). African American leadership across contexts: Examining the internal traits and external factors on women leaders’ perceptions of empowerment. Journal of Management History, 26(3), 353–376. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMH-04-2019-0027 Settles, I. H., Buchanan, N. T., & Dotson, K. (2019). Scrutinized but not recognized: (In)visibility and hypervisibility experiences of faculty of color. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 113, 67–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb. 2018.06.003 Umoh, R., & Garrett, B. (2020). Black in business: Celebrating the legacy of black entrepreneurship. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ruthumoh/ 2020/02/03/celebrating-black-history-month-2020/?sh=1b05b05a2b45 Williams, J. C. (2014). Double jeopardy? An empirical study with implications for debates over implicit bias and intersectionality, Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, 37 (1), 185–242. Wingfield, A. (2020). Women are advancing in the workplace, but women of color are still lagging behind. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/essay/women-are-advancing-in-the-workpl ace-but-women-of-color-still-lag-behind/ Zuniga, N. (2002) African American experiences in the workplace: Miseducation goes a long way. Florida Atlantic University. Retrieved from https://digita lcommons.fiu.edu/sferc/2002/2002/21/

CHAPTER 5

Gender and the Entre-Employee

Women in the Workplace “Individuals in the industrialized world are working more intensely, for longer hours, and are asked to balance competing demands that arise from the multiple roles across both work and nonwork domains” (Yu et al., 2022, p. 276). Not only have women (and some men) continued to provide caregiving to children, more dual-income households provided care to others, aside from children (i.e., elderly parents and relatives), yet places of work remained gendered and inequitable in terms of work policies, expectations, and organizational culture. “Most studies of the production of class, gender, and racial inequalities in organizations have focused on one or another of these categories, rarely attempting to study them as complex, mutually reinforcing or contradicting processes” (Acker, 2006, p. 443). All organizations have inequality regimes, “loosely interrelated practices, processes, actions, and meanings that result in and maintain class, gender, and racial inequalities” (p. 444). While flat-teamed organizations saw an advance in women in leadership positions, this only occurred if women acted like good workers, i.e., men (working long hours as though there was no home life). Acker (2006) described the good worker as male and heterosexual, having had no responsibilities outside of work since he presumably had a wife to perform household duties, thereby allowing him to devote long hours to the office. “The assumption underlying all highly paid careers is that work will take priority over © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_5

57

58

S. D. RICHARDSON

everything else. The push for productivity at almost any cost is clearly at odds with the affective priorities of family life (as cited in O’Hagan, 2014, p. 447). The same characteristics could be attributed to any maledominated career as well (Bridges et al., 2022) or career that operates under traditional organizational values. Therefore, work and the idea of the good employee remain gendered. Team-organized work may produce less inequalities (for example, class rank may have an equal voice in decision-making), but it may not change other inequalities (such as racial and gender inequality). While companies have worked to lessen gender inequities, leading to greater possibility of work advancement, many new initiatives are not afforded to women or other minorities who face bias in the hiring, promotion, or advancement process. In a study by McKie, Biese, and Jyrkinen (2013), women reluctantly left their high-achieving professional positions because they felt marginalized and stigmatized as mothers and caregivers. They did not fit the ideal worker or good worker image. Sometimes, women experienced different levels of gender, age, and sexual discrimination in their lines of work. For those who were also mothers and/or caregivers, reconsidering their careers became necessary, with the result of launching companies. Entrepreneurship, while having its own challenges, allowed women the autonomy and agency to create their own equitable spaces on their own terms. What emerged as important was control of space and time, flexibility of one’s calendar, and autonomy in one’s profession. “Singular career models, especially those originally designed for men in corporations with the assumption that one has limited to no caregiving responsibilities-gave rise to the ideal worker, ideal leader, and ideal career conceptualizations” (Kossek & Buzzanell, 2018, p. 814). Within the workplace, organizations are still structured to benefit the general male employee. By creating workplace policies and practices that value time at a desk and work over family, it remains difficult for women to succeed and advance in the workplace without sacrificing their other values and relationships. Coupled with inequitable wages and undervalued work, women who advance into leadership positions are those who do so against the odds. “Globally, women earn 77% of what men do, and pay and advancement vary depending on the career stage, marital status, birth and number of children, nation, racio-ethnicity, and other factors” (Kossek & Buzzanell, 2018, p. 814); yet, these differences were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic (Raile et al., 2021). These are biased, inadequate models for a diverse workforce. “How careers and

5

GENDER AND THE ENTRE-EMPLOYEE

59

leadership are conceptualized and visualized have profound consequences for who presumably has a career and leadership potential and who does not” (Kossek & Buzzanell, 2018, p. 815). Within the studies, while women reported being satisfied at work, that level of satisfaction seemed to lessen as women moved into leadership and managerial positions. It is possible that this result was due to a lack of autonomy and non-flexible work schedules. In other words, women leaders saw change taking place for employees in non-leadership positions, but managerial and leadership positions remained modeled after the good worker. Inequities at Work Acker (2006) explained that society was acceptable of certain inequalities, but not all. Within organizations (and society), gender and race have consistently been tied to class. In other words, women (historically) occupied low-paying positions, while men occupied higher-paying positions. Historically, racial minority men and women occupied low-paying positions due to laws and societal practices. Even as women advanced to executive positions during the twenty-first century, the expectation remained that they emulate their male counterparts: placing work before self (and others). Organizations soon created family-friendly policies; however, if those policies lacked support by organizational leaders and workplace culture, then they remained a moot point. Research exposed that organizations actually still operated from the perspective that men had time to commit long working hours and were the breadwinners of their families, while women did not. However, changing US demographics show that both parties participate in caregiving duties, prefer family-friendly policies, and prefer flexibility within their work hours. The visibility of inequalities vary per organization; however, they are common. For example, some companies may require that employees do not reveal their salaries. While employees may comply due to feeling that their salary is indicative of their qualifications and worth, the request by management could be due to inequitable pay disparities among employees that they want to be hidden. As one participant described, she began doing much of the work on the job as though she was a co-leader, yet she received no pay raise or bonus, which was different from her male colleagues. Invisible gender inequalities also reveal themselves through work policies (Acker, 2006; Couch et. al., 2020). For example, some leaders may reprimand some employees for violating a work policy, while

60

S. D. RICHARDSON

other employees do not face the same consequences. Other inequities occur in the form of something positive, such as work flexibility, but there may be questions as to how the policy is enforced. Who is afforded that option and who is not afforded the option and why? Unfortunately, this often boils down to ways in which leaders view gender, race, and class within their organizations. Workplace Flexibility Work time flexibility originated as a way to promote gender equality, as it gave caregiving women workers (and men), greater autonomy over their work and home lives (Couch et al., 2020; Peterson & Wiens-Tuers, 2014). While flexibility seems like an equitable approach to a growing problem, creating this option shows that organizations regulate based on historically male breadwinner households, as flexibility is an additional feature of the workplace environment. Over time, companies began investing in the idea of family-friendly policies to support work place flexibility, along with training leaders in emotional intelligence, which could help in understanding the need for work-time flexibility. Within research, scholars studied supervisor support in order to understand how it contributed to workplace policies, such as flexibility. Informal, genuine forms of supervisor support proved more effective than organizational forms of family and/or work-life support (i.e., checking on an employee versus instituting an organizational wellness programs) as well (Kossek & Buzzanell, 2018; Yu et al., 2022). In certain studies, the gender of the supervisor also seemed to matter in regards to the perception of support received. While female supervisors were expected to act more as a family positive ally, employees reported expecting traits such as compassion, empathy, and individualized strategies from all supervisors, regardless of gender. Doing so seemed to alleviate work stress, as well as familial stress. However, research and many of the entre-employee participants showed that this type of support was nonexistent in their places of employment. Employees who received the support needed at work became more resourceful and focused on the job versus those who were constantly anxious about how their supervisor viewed them. To be clear, a supervisor may exhibit supportive traits; however, employees accept those traits based on their perception of the supervisor. Therefore, communication remains important. As in the case of the entre-employees, some employers expected them to work after the pandemic as though they did

5

GENDER AND THE ENTRE-EMPLOYEE

61

not have familial duties; there was no leadership recognition that times changed because of the pandemic. As the participants showed, creating their own businesses served as a way to limit or remove gender inequalities experienced on their jobs.

Striving at Work While women advance in leadership positions, they still face more work at home than men due to social constructs (Hoschild, 1989; Fritz & Knippenberg, 2018; Taylor et al., 2020). Attempting to balance work-life responsibilities influence whether women aspire to leadership positions in the first place. Women caregivers are constantly rearranging their work lives in order to care for the family; therefore, they often conflict with the person who prioritizes work over family (Fritz & Knippenberg, 2018; Mahlck, 2012). As a participant shared about returning to work following the lockdown due to the pandemic: All of our kids-the school year was ending and we were supposed to come back. There was much anxiety. I actually wrote a letter to the [the leaders] and expressed my concerns and I was talking about our obligations to society. And, it was very clear that they [bosses] wanted everyone back into the office. And I was not ready to go back. Because I expressed these opinions, there were some feathers ruffled and if I didn’t step in line, there’d be consequences. So, I gave my notice.

The employee who returned to the office and easily worked ten-hour days might have been preferred over the employee (often woman) who expressed disappointment in having to return to the office or work a shift with no breaks. The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on everyone’s careers and family life; however, it seemed to affect the lives of women the most. While data reported a general view of how women’s lives changed (shortened hours, caretaking responsibilities, closed service jobs, and more), women in male-dominated roles, educational roles, and higher educational positions (among others) faced challenges. Women with families juggled helping children learn at home, while attempting to maintain their professional identities and workloads (Aldossari & Chaudhry, 2021; Couch et al., 2020; Raile et al., 2021). Attempting to juggle the demands of work and family proved challenging, as well as impossible at times. In higher education, research, which often encompassed community

62

S. D. RICHARDSON

work and meeting with participants for women researchers and minority researchers, halted during the pandemic. Therefore, employees often had to wait to hear whether or not this would negatively affect their tenure “clocks” due to the inability to continue needed research. Women leaders were expected to return to work as though the rest of their family’s lives returned to normal, yet the women were the main household managers. This greatly affected what they were able to accomplish on the job, with little to no acknowledgment of the inequalities placed on them by organizational leaders. Women explained the stress that came with working from home during the pandemic and the continued stress after the pandemic. There seemed to be no concern from leaders that they: a) Performed more than normal career-related work because they had to prove that they were still working; b) Had to cope with the stress of not receiving needed resources for work (i.e., paying for their own increased internet bandwidth, paying for printer tools such as paper and ink, or paying for technology to pursue research or connection with clients); and c) Dealt with the stress of taking on more house-related and/or childcare work in addition to completing their jobs (Aldossari & Chaudhry, 2021). While work stress appeared gender neutral in national reports, research suggested that it was still gendered, with women shouldering more housework and suffering within their careers. Yet, little to no support from organizational leaders commenced. “Looking professional … has been synonymous with being child-free or an honorary man as a sign of full commitment to work” (Couch et al., 2020, p. 270). The same applied to women in various fields such as STEM and the financial sector. For women employees, stories continued of them being told to remain quiet against sexual harassment, bullying, sexism, racism, or explicit bias in the workplace (Savigny, 2017). As researchers point out, supervisors seemed to judge male employees on potential, but supervisors judged women by what they lacked. To create equality within organizations, mentorship programs and peer support programs have been traditionally established; however, that further exacerbated the problem (similar to some flex-work options): it suggested that the problem was with the woman employee and not the organizational culture of hegemony.

5

GENDER AND THE ENTRE-EMPLOYEE

63

Happiness at Work Some studies suggest that workplaces should concern themselves with employees maintaining healthy work-life balances. A healthy home life seems to contribute to a healthy and productive work life. According to Straub et al. (2019), family-friendly work environments promote positive outcomes for employees, energize them at work, and increase positive moods at home. Areas such as having a supportive supervisor and holding autonomy over work tasks lead to a positive spillover at home and contentment at work. Women unfortunately report more family-work conflict and less support from their spouses compared to men, and they still carry more home responsibilities than men (Fritz & Knippenberg, 2018; Straub et al., 2019). One way to combat this is to look at what individual employees need. Some people prefer integration of job duties with home life, maximizing boundary crossing, or doing a mix of work and family care roles throughout the day instead of during segmented timeframes. A family supportive supervisor can create positive work environments where employees with caretaking roles work better and are more positive in attitudes; unfortunately, that does not always take place. While American women are paid less and take on invisible work compared to their male counterparts, even while holding the same positions, they report being content with their work, overall. Researchers suggests that this might be due to reports by women who value helping others and being available to care for family more so than focusing on pay (Singhapakdi et al., 2012). This could also be because women typically compare their work situations to other women. In other words, if the first woman’s work situation is horrible, it might cause the second woman to rethink her stance on her own work life and see it more positively. However, social constructs of gender also influence this thinking . In terms of job satisfaction, areas such as agency, autonomy, and work-life balance play a part in both men and women being satisfied (Selvarajan et al., 2015; Zou, 2015). When these three areas encompass one’s work, women seem to be more satisfied and loyal to a work organization; however, changing organizational culture and eliminating inequities remain a primary need.

64

S. D. RICHARDSON

Gender Discrimination Historically (and currently), women were judged differently from men within the workplace, due to notions of gender behavior and mannerisms. Leaders tended to view women positively at work when they acted within social guidelines. However, when they displayed characteristics outside of their gender construct, they viewed them negatively. Appearing confident has been suggested as leading to promotions and leadership positions; however, the truth may differ based on gender. Society views men who appear self-confident as trustworthy, while women who exude self-confidence are viewed negatively due to the idea that women should remain quiet and humble, not boastful. Guillen and Karelaia (2018) showed that both men and women in male-dominated fields were seen as self-confident when they had high job performance. However, a selfconfident appearance was not equally rewarded between men and women. For women, their level of influence depended on their self-confident appearance and was tied to them being prosocial (caring about others and wanting to benefit others through their work). In this case, men did not have to appear prosocial in order to be seen as trustworthy and able to lead. Women, however, needed self-confidence and the appearance of being prosocial, plus good job performance to seem capable of leading (Guillen & Karelaia, 2018), as doing so aligned with expectations of women (Taylor et al., 2020). This aligned with the idea of being a good worker or good employee (Acker, 2006; Mahlck, 2012). While the good employee often mirrors stereotypes associated with men, women could often be seen as good employees when they act similarly and incorporate attributes befitting women. Examples may be working from nine to five and performing hidden or silent duties such as clerical work or service work not expected of male employees. Women employees performing care work (whether within their jobs or outside of it) experience positive and negative consequences. If it occurs within work, they are deemed acceptable. If it occurs outside of work, such as leaving work early to pick up a child from school, it is deemed a nuisance that the company has to deal with. Therefore, when the women entre-employees addressed issues such as returning to the office quickly or not receiving pay for invisible work, supervisors treated them as though they were inefficient leaders or workers, nuisances to their companies. “The availability of paid parental leave may impede women’s ability to work, as women are disproportionately responsible for unpaid care work”

5

GENDER AND THE ENTRE-EMPLOYEE

65

(Folberg, 2020, p. 464). As many of the participants mentioned, they suffered discrimination within the workplace based on simply living their lives as women and mothers, and the pandemic made this incredibly clear. For those teaching in higher education, they saw their jobs cut due to the pandemic and students not logging onto the computer. Other participants in different fields strongly advocated for their jobs, which suffered when they had to balance caring for children, along with completing their own jobs. Because some women were the main or sole caregivers during the lockdown, work was almost unbearable. What made this worse was that employers did not take action in a way that benefitted the women employees. Following the pandemic, women employees, especially those who were caregivers, faced another inequity and job stressor: employers wanted them to return to the office, but their lives had drastically changed (Gherardi et al., 2015). As one participant stated, launching her own business was the only option, as her father-in law moved in with her and needed extensive care: My husband is a doctor, so the pandemic increased his work. I took a pay cut because my classes weren’t filling [in community college]. We then sold our house and bought a bigger one so that my father-in-law could move in with us. He didn’t move in, by the way, and now I care for him a few days a week in his senior nursing home, while raising the kids. I still work part-time because that’s all that I could do, but launching a business allows me to work on my terms.

The participant’s story is not uncommon. While times have changed in that women are becoming CEOs and leaders in various industries, there are still reminders that women are suffering in the workplace due to stereotypes, policies, and practices surrounding gender roles. Launching their own businesses allowed the women to have some control over their work and other priorities. In male-dominated fields, women report social exclusion, marginalization, discrimination, and other forms of isolation, especially if organizational cultures support male-dominated customs (Bridges et al., 2023). The success of women seem driven by individual attributes and efforts and not organizational supports or resources. In other words, they succeeded in spite of organizational gendered barriers. This made women’s success difficult to understand, track, and mirror for future women. In another

66

S. D. RICHARDSON

study by Bridges et al. (2022), male-dominated occupations made it difficult for women employees to occupy space due to gender stereotypes, along with the organizational leaders’ lack of ability to drive the cultural change. As a result, the women in the study focused on gaining the skills needed to complete their jobs, successfully, with the goal of eventually establishing their own businesses and employing other women. This aligned with the stories of the women entre-employees. While they enjoyed their work (whether male dominated or not), the expectations around the work remained based on notions of male and female, making success difficult and/or varied in attaining. Organizations often expect women to overcome their own barriers via resilience and creative thinking instead of the organizational culture changing for the betterment of all involved. Aside from organizational culture change, another component of difficulty missing is the lack of mentorship and sponsorship for women employees, along with inclusive leadership and commitment to diversity and belonging (Bridges et al., 2023). During the pandemic, as well as after reevaluating her work situation, another participant shared the following: I pulled out my business plan from 10 years earlier and said, “It’s time.” All these years, I had entrepreneurial inklings and wanted to understand how businesses work because I wanted to know in case I went out [on my own].

Being an entrepreneur allowed for women (caregivers or not) to have more autonomy over their schedules; however, organizational cultural change should not be dismissed. Work-life initiatives could positively influence women’s aspirations for leadership (Fritz & Knippenberg, 2018). In other words, changing the work environment so that more women will want leadership positions, confident that they will not have to sacrifice family time and responsibilities, is of utmost importance; otherwise, they will continue to look for avenues that align with their life values. Creating work-life initiatives can also contribute to higher leadership aspiration for men. Men are taking on more family life responsibilities than in the past decades. As a result, work-life initiatives (environments that value the work-life role of employees) can benefit them as well.

5

GENDER AND THE ENTRE-EMPLOYEE

67

Conclusion While the participants in these studies were primarily caregivers, there were others who were not, yet their stories aligned with each other and the main theme. The shared discrimination experienced and an organizational culture that did not value them and their needs remained prominent in their stories and reasons for becoming entre-employees. Their organizations, before and after the pandemic, expected the women to work as though they had no outside life or responsibilities. While they performed as such, which was a struggle, the pandemic made it almost impossible to do so. This meant that a choice had to be made. While launching one’s own company was the option, so was changing institutions, organizations, and work status from full-time to part-time employment. What the women showed, collectively, was that organizational culture had more work to accomplish in the areas of equity, fairness, compassion, and work flexibility. This also showed the women where their organization’s values truly remained.

References Acker, J. (2006). Inequality regimes gender, class, and race in organizations. Gender and Society, 2(4), 441–464. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27640904 Aldossari, M., & Chaudhry, S. (2021). Women and burnout in the context of a pandemic. Gender, Work, and Organization, 28, 826–834. https://doi.org/ 10.1111/gwao.12567 Bridges, D., Bamberry, L., Wulff, E., & Krivokapic-Skoko, B. (2022). “A trade of one’s own”: The role of social and cultural capital in the success of women in male-dominated occupations. Gender, Work, and Organization, 29, 371–387. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12764 Bridges, D., Wulff, E., & Bamberry, L. (2023). Resilience for gender inclusion: Developing a model for women in male-dominated workplaces. Gender, Work, and Organization, 30, 263–279. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12672 Couch, D. L., O’Sullivan, & Malatzky, C. (2020). What COVID-19 could mean for the future of “work from home”: The provocations of three women in the academy. Gender, Work, and Organization, 28(S1), 266–275. https:// doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12548 Folberg, A. M. (2020). Global perspectives on women and work. Journal of Social Issues, 76(3), 464–483. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12396 Fritz, C., & Knippenberg, D. V. (2018). Gender and leadership aspiration: The impact of work life initiatives. Human Resource Management, 57. 855–868. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21875

68

S. D. RICHARDSON

Gherardi, S. (2015). Authoring the female entrepreneur while talking the discourse of work family life balance. International Small Business Journal, 33(6), 649–666. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242614549780 Guillen, L., Mayo, M., & Karelaia, N. (2018). Appearing self-confident and getting credit for it: Why it may be easier for men than women to gain influence at work. Human Resource Management, 57, 839–854. https://doi. org/10.1002/hrm.21857 Hochschild, A. R., & Machung, A. (1989). The second shift. Working parents and the revolution at home, Viking. Kossek, E. E., & Buzzanell, P. M. (2018). Women’s career equality and leadership organizations: Creating an evidence-based positive change. Human Resource Management, 57, 813–822. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21936 Mahlck, P. (2012). Academic women with migrant background in the global knowledge economy: Bodies, hierarchies, and resistance. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.wsif.2012.09.007 McKie, L., Biese, L., & Jyrkinen, M. (2013). The best time is now? The temporal and spatial dynamics of women opting in to self-employment. Gender, Work, and Organization, 20(2), 184–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12019 O’Hagan, C. (2014). Broadening the intersectional path: Revealing organizational practices through ‘working mothers’ narrative about time. Gender, Work, and Organization, 25, 443–458. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao. 12056 Ortiz, S., & Roscigno, V.J. (2009). Discrimination, women, and work: Processes and variations by race and class. The Sociological Quarterly, 50, 336–359. Peterson, J., & Wiens-Tuers, B. (2014). Work time, gender, and inequality: The conundrums of flexibility. Journal of Economic Issues, XLVII (2), 387–394. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2753/JEI0021-3624480212 Raile, A. N. W., Raile, E. D., Parker, D. C. W., Shanahan, E. A., & Haines, P. (2021). Women and the weight of a pandemic: A survey of four Western US states early in the Coronavirus outbreak. Gender, Work, and Organization, 28(2), 554–565. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12590 Savigny, H. (2017). Cultural sexism is ordinary: Writing and re-writing women in academia. Gender, work orientations and job satisfaction, 24(6), 643-655. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12190 Selvarajan, T. T., Slattery, J., & Stronger, D. Y. (2015). Relationship between gender and work related attitudes: A study of temporary agency employees. Journal of Business Research, 68, 1911–1927. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bus res.2015.01.001 Singhapakdi, A., Sirgy, M. J., Lee, D. J., Senasu, K., Yu, G.B., & Nisius, A. M. (2012). Gender disparity in job satisfaction of Western versus Asian managers. Journal of Business Research, 67, 1257–1266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbu sres.2013.04.004

5

GENDER AND THE ENTRE-EMPLOYEE

69

Straub, C., Beham, B., & Islam, G. (2019). Crossing boundaries: Integrative effects on supervision, gender and boundary control on work engagement and work to family positive spillover. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(2), 2831–2854. https://doi.org/10.1080/095 0017014559267 Taylor, C., Ivcevic, Z., Moeller, J., & Brackett, M. (2020). Gender and support for creativity at work. Creative Innovation Management, 29, 453–464. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/caim.12397 Yu, A., Pichler, S., Russo, M., & Hammer, L. (2022). Family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) and work-family conflict: The role of stereotype content, supervisor gender, and gender role beliefs. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 95, 272–304. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop. 12379 Zou, M. (2015). ). Gender, work orientations and job satisfaction. Work, Employment and Society, 29(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/095001701455 9267

CHAPTER 6

Ethical Leadership and Social Responsibility for Women Entre-Employees

Leadership Challenges When women entre-employees describe reasons as to why they started their businesses and/or where they received their entrepreneurial inkling, they do not often use terms such as ethics or social responsibility. When it comes to entrepreneurship, the women do not tell detailed stories of being taught a family business or being taught elements of business dynamics, whereas, according to research, boys may have been taught these concepts (Bloemen-Bekx et al., 2019). Instead, they describe watching their parents set up their corner store after school, their grandmother run her hair salon, a mother juggle work and make dinner for the neighborhood children and more. With ethics and social responsibility, the same occurs. The entre-employees do not use the terms verbatim; however, they describe those terms within their stories. These stories may describe lessons learned from their parents about giving back to their communities, being kind toward others, remembering those who invested in them or ideas such as “never forget where you came from.” Other stories incorporate significant moments in one’s life that cemented a set of values in them. Stories such as volunteering at church, watching a parent volunteer time at a local school, or remembering the elementary school teacher attending that person’s high school or college graduation stand out as moments displaying ethics or social responsibility. At the same time, negative experiences also contribute to one’s sense of responsibility and © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_6

71

72

S. D. RICHARDSON

values as something not to mirror in life. The quotes listed below came from many of the participants as to ways in which ethical leadership and social responsibility contributed to their lives: I made it a point to hire other women and people of color to be a part of my team. My goal is to see others expand in this work. My mother-in-law was another person who pushed me from the standpoint of “I believe in you and I’m going to invest in you.” My goal is to be as beneficial to as many people as possible. I’ve always been the sole Black female on the leadership team, and usually the only person of color on the team as well. When conversations would turn to finance or supply chain, I would be excluded. So my decision to further my education [and start my business] was because I decided that no one would ever have a conversation around me that I couldn’t be a part of. I want to help and serve others [through my business]. I want to grow [my business], support my family . . . and create opportunities and careers within the community. This all started when I was a child. I think my mom would have different side hustles. She’d make empanadas to sell around the neighborhood, tacos, dinners and deliver them. You know, do what you enjoyed doing as a kid. Learning this and seeing this [from her] was a way to achieve financial stability or stability within your life.

The above quotes express a few of the sentiments of the women entreemployees as it relates to their ethics, influences, and how both influenced their businesses as well as how they conducted themselves as leaders. Components such as service, intentionality, role modeling, and selfrespect are a few tenants that align with ethics, morality, and social responsibility. At the same time, some are additions to the core tenants of ethical, moral leadership, and social responsibility. The participants’ own work and life experiences influenced their ability to lead ethically in their businesses and within their jobs. Some of these experiences were negative, such as one participant describes: I quit my job due to the toxic environment after I had devoted 17 years to it. The structure, the politics, the lack of respect, the want for more money . . . were all reasons that I knew I needed to start a business of my own.

6

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY …

73

Not uncommon to research on job detachment, burnout, and job stress, the participants either changed jobs or detached from their jobs while starting businesses because they felt that their supervisors were unethical leaders. The participants stated reasons such as supervisors creating inflexible work schedules, giving them additional work with no basis for it, not clarifying directions and reprimanding them when they did not perform their work in a certain way and more. As a result, many of the participants disengaged from work life. For them, their mental and physical health was of utmost importance. At the same time, these experiences enhanced their own leadership practices, which involved an ethic of care focus for those who reported to them at work and those who reported to them within their own companies. That ethic of care contributed to their roles as ethical leaders, which then contributed to their commitment to social responsibility. However, it is important to understand what encompass ethical leadership and social responsibility in order to understand how these entre-employees fit within the framework or added to it.

What is Ethical Leadership? There seems to be various interpretations of ethical leadership, but many researchers agree that ethical leadership comes from those who display respect for others, fairness, honesty, trustworthiness, and morality among other attributes (Dust et al., 2018; Hsieh et al., 2020; Ouakouak & Zaitouni, 2020; Valle et al., 2018). “An ethical leader is also a moral entrepreneur who creates new ethical norms” (Kaptein, 2019, p. 1136). Across leadership theory, ethics is a central component of the different leadership types: transformative, authentic, servant, and more. Ethical behavior often aligns with one’s culture and what is deemed moral and appropriate (Eisenbeiss, 2012; Kaptein, 2019). However, researchers often base ethical leadership on Western concepts of ethics, altruism, and morality, which does not encompass holistic worldviews. It is important to understand this when generally labeling one as an ethical leader. Therefore, if a culture views speaking openly about injustice as ethical, then ethical behavior would comprise a leader speaking against unjust practices or not employing unjust organizational practices. Another aspect is to view ethical leadership within context. For example, an ethical religious leader may prioritize aspects of morality differently than an ethical business leader or moral entrepreneur. Therefore, culture, societal tradition and expectations, and one’s position contributes to the nature of an

74

S. D. RICHARDSON

ethical leader. Ethical leadership might also align with proactive leadership in which one initiates social change based on what they see as a need. In this way, an ethical leader leads in the way of values to establish ethical norms and change. There is general agreement that values influence one’s ethical decisions (Fritzshe & Oz, 2007). At the same time, violations by companies suggest that values and their order of preference differ from person to person, which influences organizational decision-making. One’s ethical decisionmaking may not always be a linear, strategic process as suggested by the majority of research (Valentine & Godkin, 2019). White (1999) suggests that ethics is also a component of the mind, body, and spirit. From a feminist theory of ethic of care, ethical leadership and decision-making incorporates components of care or caring for others and the way in which is it displayed. Caring and compassion can be displayed through the way in which one leads and makes decisions within organizations. Making decisions that do not cause harm and choosing to support initiatives that help make the world or one’s community better (i.e. social responsibility) (Saha et al., 2020) relates to ethical leadership and social responsibility as an entre-employee.

Ethical Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) “is a concept that reflects an obligation of the organization to do good things for the benefit of society, and a similar obligation to avoid doing harm where possible” (Tichenor et al., 2022, p. 640). Corporate social responsibility focuses on businesses making the world better through their own production, support of charities, and moral expectations of their employees. People perform CSR through actions such as via philanthropic giving, volunteering with nonprofits, and creating programs within the business aimed at alleviating society’s ills (Latapi Agudelo et al., 2019). The social responsibility of businesses often reflect societal concerns of the decades (ex. pollution, homelessness, labor rights, civil rights, and more). While CSR appears to be new within the past twenty years, the concept emerged more than fifty years ago. This concept goes beyond sole financial commitments and legal requirements, although it is not a bad place to start (Ahmad et al., 2021; Latapi Agudelo et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2019) and much research centers on large companies and the leaders’ involvement with ethics and social responsibility, which does not always end positively.

6

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY …

75

However, in reviewing twenty-first century small businesses, one may notice a common theme that did not always exist: ways in which these businesses help others. The bakery only using ingredients from the local farmer’s market. The apiary supporting bee conservation nonprofits and only producing what their bees can actually make without overproduction. The diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consulting business that supports charities focused on enhancing DEI initiatives. The educational coaching business giving ten percent of the company’s profits to national literacy organizations serves as an example. At the same time, it may be the downtown clothing boutique that adopts an elementary school. On the other hand, companies that seem to violate the rules of social responsibility face backlash, such as the privately Black owned haircare and cosmetic companies that sell their businesses to White investors. While making a financial change is understandable, Black customers may feel betrayed at the changing formulas or the feeling that their money is no longer important. Violations also occur when a woman-owned company that publically dedicates themselves to creating safe products to women sells their business to predominantly male financial investors. True or not, there remains a thought that a company’s social responsibility remains to their community first, whether the community bases itself on location, culture, race/ethnicity, gender, religion, or other categories. Across the U.S., one can find multiple businesses that publically state their values in the name of social responsibility. As a result, the notion becomes that the owners of those businesses also lead ethically, which may not be a stretch to state. The same holds true for women entre-employees, especially if their businesses formed from their values received from childhood role models, current employers, or even traumatic work experiences with little to no display of ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility. In regard to research focused on CSR, one may notice that aside from focusing on large organizations, the focus is often financial. In other words, in what ways did CSR and ethical leadership lead to a positive return on investment? In what ways did it increase company profits? Leaders may assume that if ethical leadership and CSR resulted in positive financial gain, then it was a good thing. Together, ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility can lead to positive outcomes for a company. When genuinely combined, employees perform better and customers invest in companies that display social responsibility and ethics (Saha et al., 2020).

76

S. D. RICHARDSON

One concern with ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility is that while these are two good things to incorporate in any business, they can be costly put together. Investing in social responsibility, while ethical, takes planning. Relieving employees to volunteer their time during the year means loss of profit and productivity if there is not a return on investment. Collaborating with homeless shelters requires time and monies that may be difficult to recoup during a year of inflation. While the intentions by the leader are ethical in nature, poor financial planning can hurt the business later. However, research featuring women entrepreneurs and this study of women entre-employees saw ethical leadership and CSR as something other than whether the return was financial. It is possible that women leaders act ethically and from a lens of social responsibility due to societal expectations of women, but it can be beneficial to an organization. Research has shown that when female leadership increases so does CSR (Tichenor et al., 2022). Studies have found that companies and board of directors “with a higher number of women executives were more [altruistic] generous towards communities and paid more attention to the welfare of natural stakeholders (e.g. communities, employees or the environment)” (Ho et al., 2015; Rao & Tilt, 2016, p. 334). For women entre-employees, ethical leadership and social responsibility is more of a way of life. Whether due to social constructs or societal pressure, living in a way where one helps another betters a community; designing a business that aligns with ethics seems to be akin to living a good life. Often, if an employee identifies with the CSR, then they may find themselves doing more to assist the organization with their CSR goals (Ahmad et al., 2021). A leader displaying ethical leadership along with value toward social responsibility leads to strengthening the community as well as the thoughts, views, and performance of employees. CSR can also expand one’s knowledge about the issue at hand. If the focus of social responsibility is climate change or promoting a more green environment, then those once unaware of the issues become educated of what the challenges are and ways in which one can make positive contributions within the business as well as the community. This view also aligns with the changing way generations choose companies in which to work. Working for a company whose business mission aligns with how one wants to contribute to the world is foundational to living a good life and doing good work.

6

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY …

77

Influence of Ethical Leadership on Employees When a leader makes fair and consistent decisions, sincerely cares for societal and environmental welfare, engages in social responsibility activities, and resolves dilemmas in such a manner that respects followers’ rights and recognizes them as human beings (and not only as production factors), followers are likely to develop beliefs that the leader is reliable and dependable, truly concerned about their well-being, and not trying to exploit them or discriminate against them. (Eisenbeiss, 2012. p. 799)

As a result, followers may emulate their leaders within in their own work and engage in organizational citizenship behavior due to the level of trust developed between the leader and follower. Ethical leaders are seen as moral, trustworthy, honest, and fair in their professional and personal persona; however, unethical leaders can cause stress, frustration, and exhaustion for employees. Working for ethical leaders provides a sense of stability and fairness for employees, thus leading to a happier work environment (Valle et al., 2018). Ethical leadership is known for fostering ethical and moral behaviors of followers (Afsar & Shahjehan, 2018; Yang & Wei, 2016), which can lead to employee moral voice and the ability of employees to speak out about their ideas and/or injustices (Dust et al., 2018; Jha & Singh, 2019). It should foster proactive ethical behaviors among followers. “As a result of the increased attention to the ethical behavior of their leader, followers high in moral attentiveness will be more likely to use their leader’s behavior as a model for the own moral behavior... simply because they are more aware of the moral behavior of others” (van Gils et al., 2015, p. 193). Followers with high moral/ethical attentiveness will likely question the ethical nature of their leaders. Noticing any moral problems combined with their own assessment of personal values contributes to their business foci. Belief that ethical leaders foster critical thinking of ethical issues, self-empowerment, and understanding of why one’s work is meaningful, ethical leaders relate to more empowered employees who feel confident in performing their job responsibilities. Employees reporting to ethical leaders also seem more likely to take on newer tasks with confidence and self-empowerment, overall (Dust et al., 2018). It is possible that ethical leaders not only influence a healthy work environment, but can impact an employee’s family life. If an employee is satisfied in their job (i.e. with their leader), then there is a possibility that

78

S. D. RICHARDSON

he or she will carry that satisfaction and positivity into their other areas of their life. Because leaders, especially ethical leaders, care about employees holistically, they aim to model ethical and moral attributes leading to characteristics employees can use on the job as well as in their personal lives. “The leader’s ethical behavior has a great impact on the work experiences of professionals, which is ultimately reflected in the work-family domain” (Freire & Bettencourt, 2020, p. 321). Seeing that strenuous work demands can negatively affect one’s family life, it is possible that a positive and moral work environment contributes to a positive work-life (family) balance, leading to employee job satisfaction (Prottas, 2013).

Ethical Leadership and Role Modeling Essentially, ethical leaders can influence followers to act more ethically or at least decrease unethical behavior; they also can create a more fair and just work environment (Asfar & Shahjehan, 2018). In order for others to view a leader as ethical, they must also view that person as moral: honest, showing integrity, trustworthy, caring, open to input, respectful, accountable of themselves and of others, and principled in decisionmaking (Brown & Trevino, 2014, pp. 587; 594). One’s ability to lead ethically comes from whether they have seen ethical leadership modeled to them from prior experiences. Having a childhood role model as well as a career role model seems to be significant for others to model ethical or moral behavior (Brown & Trevino, 2014). In addition, those who have career role models seem to be rated as ethical leaders by their direct reports. It is important to note that many employees do not often view high-level organizational leaders as role models. A reason why employees may not view top management significantly as being a role model could be due to the size of an organization and the person’s level of responsibility. If a top executive is acting in an ethical nature, middle, and lower level employees may not have direct access to see this acted out; therefore, the effect on them would be less than someone who directly works with, for example, a Senior Vice President or President of a company. Middle and lower level employees are more likely to look to their direct supervisors for modeling of ethical leadership (or violation of it). Instead, the top-level leaders can shape organizational culture by establishing organizational mission, vision, and ensuring that their direct reports assist in carrying out expectations. Ethical and emotional leadership can enhance employee motivation and

6

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY …

79

organizational citizenship behavior, depending on how much leaders model ethical behavior for others (Ouakouak & Zaitouni, 2020). Doing so shows employees a more ethical organizational culture, which can temper thoughts of quitting in employees.

Ethical Leadership/Moral Manager in the Participants A moral person does what seems right to him/her, makes decisions on the basis of ethical standards, shows concern for others with an open mind, takes responsibility for his/her actions, and is guided by principles of justice and rights. She/he makes decisions based on sound ethical principles guided by characteristics such as integrity, honesty, fairness, and trustworthiness. (Asfar & Shahjehan, 2018, p. 776)

While there are moral/ethical managers, attention should also be paid to moral/ethical employees or people. A moral/ethical person values and displays characteristics such as those listed above (Jha & Singh, 2019; Yang & Wei, 2016). However, the women entre-employees showed that their ethical and moral voice also came from recognizing problems in either the world, their communities, and/or their places of work and having the confidence to tackle those issues. Aligning with previous research, the women entre-employees aligned their businesses with social issues, but those causes and reasons to align their businesses to them were extensions of themselves as moral people. In other words, the causes tackled issues that regularly concerned them. This also influenced their leadership style within the businesses and within their primary places of work. Aside from the core tenants of ethical leadership and being a moral entrepreneur, the participants highlighted other aspects such as service to their communities; aside from cultural communities or location (such as hometown communities), they also emphasized the need to create jobs for others and serve others. Therefore, leading morally and ethically, there appears to be a need to serve others (altruism) not currently served, but also to benefit overlooked populations. That could be a racially minoritized community, a rural community, or a low-income community. For the participants, service to others on a continual bases via providing jobs and/or using one’s business profits for community enhancement aligned

80

S. D. RICHARDSON

with what was modeled for them either from a young age (mom cooking and serving food in the community) and/or from their own leaders in their lives. While ethical leadership, decision-making, and social responsibility seem as though they should be simple, within the context of leadership, they can be quite complex. Managers, middle managers, and executive leaders often have demanding and hectic schedules where tasks are given and decisions need to be made before previous tasks and decisions have been completed (Selart & Johansen, 2010). A reaction to this may be job stress (Hambrick et al., 2005). Whether one is a manager at a company, an entrepreneur, or an entre-employee, being in this type of predicament can complicate ethical decision-making that affects the lives of others, positively or negatively. Stress can negatively affect one’s ability to make ethical decisions on the job by making the person less alert (Ganster, 2005). This can cause one to purposely perform unethically (e.g. cut corners on projects) or do so subconsciously, as stress “can impair memory-retrieval” (Selart & Johansen, 2010, p. 132). With the entre-employees, most of them being middle managers or executives in their field (aside from running a business), they often worked at levels where there was a certain amount of decision-making power, yet other decisions needed approval by supervisors. This caused a level of stress, but not enough for them to make unethical decisions. However, it did make the entre-employees more alert to their own needs.

Consequences of Unethical Leadership and Lack of Social Responsibility “Individuals experience job demands due to unethical leadership that deplete their resources and abilities to cope,” which can also affect one’s personal life as well (Freire & Bettencourt, 2020; Valle et al., 2018, p. 666). Ethical leadership could promote moral voice and proactive employees to work to minimize negative experiences at work (Asfar & Shahjehan, 2018; Jha & Singh, 2019; Velez & Neves, 2016). Unethical leadership can lead to non-commitments from employees. While not all employees will respond to unethical leadership in harmful ways, they can detach themselves from the organization (Jha & Singh, 2019; Valle et al., 2018). Many of the women entre-employees of the study faced unethical leadership and lack of social responsibility at their jobs; however, they

6

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY …

81

handled the situations a bit differently. One participant addressed her work concerns directly with her supervisor. When it was not handled in the way that aligned with her values, she chose to resign from her current position and return to her previous position. Within her business, she emphasized the need for inclusivity and belongingness. Another participant addressed her concerns directly with her organizational leaders as well. When her request for an alternative work situation was denied, she was ready to leave her position, as her values and ethics meant more to her than the company in which she worked. Within her business, she chose to serve women in financially compromised positions. Not everyone has the ability to leave a position or risk returning to a lower paying position, but all of the participants seemed to have a deal breaker when it came to what they were willing to do and not do as an employee. Because the participants’ navigated life by moral codes learned and developed over the course of their lives, they felt compelled to address problems directly with their leaders in hopes of improving the work environment. Nevertheless, that was not all. The participants took their own moral voice and used that to lead in their own businesses. In their businesses, they made sure to lead ethically, but also with care and social responsibility. Ethic of care theorists see people as interdependent and relational instead of independent and self-involved (Held, 2007). “An ethic of care does not promote dependence on others due to power structures, but it emphasizes freedom of choice and action” (Johansson & Edwards, 2021, p. 322). Allowing leadership to function with care for others, according to the others’ own cultures and experiences in the center, is a different way to approach morality and ethics. The leader who practices an ethic of care is not one who enables his or her employees, but one who helps facilitate an employee’s professional and personal growth (Johannson & Edwards, 2021). Within leadership, ethic of care looks to empower and guide individuals from their perspectives and needs, not the leaders’ perspectives and needs. It serves as the antithesis of unethical leadership and social responsibility.

Conclusion While ethical leadership and social responsibility are common in various job titles and types of leadership, with scholars conducting decades of research within organizations, applying the two to women entreemployees remains new to the field. Women entre-employees seem to

82

S. D. RICHARDSON

see these two components as ways of living and those ways of living directly influence how one acts on the job and within her own business. Living ethically means making moral decisions based on what is right, not necessarily what makes everyone feel good. This incorporates speaking out about injustices on the job, addressing moments of unfairness, and even weighing the option to leave a place of employment if it does not align with one’s values, which was evident in the participants’ lives. Ethical living and social responsibility also transferred into the way in which the entre-employees led within their businesses. They valued self-care; therefore, they led from a component of ethics and care. They valued altruism; therefore, they built their businesses based on the concept of contributing to their communities or a particular sector of the population, even if the business was profit-based. What the women entre-employees displayed was that ethical leadership and social responsibility was a mixture of heart and spirit work combined with strategic work, as their business foundations and expansions took strategic methods such as establishing business plans, finding funding streams, and hiring employees.

References Afsar, B., & Shahjehan, A. (2018). The effects of moral efficacy, trust in leader, and leader follower value congruence. Leadership & Organizational Development Journal, 39(6), 775–793. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-01-201 8-001 Ahmad, S., Islam, T., Sadiq, M., & Kaleem, A. (2021). Promoting green behavior through ethical leadership: A model of green human resource management and environmental knowledge. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 42(4), 531–547. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-012020-0024 Bloemen-Bekx, M., Voordeckers, W., Remery, C., & Schippers, J. (2019). Following in parental footsteps? The influences of gender and learning experiences on entrepreneurial intentions. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 37 (6), 642–663. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0266242619838936 Brown, M. E., & Trevino, L. K. (2014). Do role models matter: An investigation of role modeling as an antecedent of perceived ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 122, 587–598. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551013-1769-0 Cardella, G. M., Hernandez-Sanchez, B. R., & Sanchez-Garcia, J. C. (2020). Women entrepreneurship: A systematic review to outline the boundaries of

6

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY …

83

scientific literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1–18. https://doi.org/10. 3389/fpsyg.2020.01557 Dust, S. B., Resick, C. J., Margolis, J. A., Mawritz, M. B., & Greenbaum, R. L. (2018). Ethical leadership and employee success: Examining the roles of psychological empowerment and emotional exhaustion. The Leadership Quarterly, 29, 570–583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.02.002 Eisenbeiss, S. A. (2012). Re-thinking ethical leadership: An interdisciplinary integrative approach. The Leadership Quarterly, 23, 791–808. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.leaqua.2012.03.001 Freire, C., & Bettencourt, C. (2020). Impact of ethical leadership on job satisfaction: The mediating effect of work-family conflict. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(2), 319–330. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07 Fritzshe, D. J., & Oz,. (2007). Personal values’ influence on the ethical dimension of decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 75, 335–343. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10551-006-9256-5 Ganster, D. C. (2005). Executive job demands: Suggestions from a stress and decision-making perspective. Academy of Management Review, 30(3), 492– 502. Hambrick, D. C., Finkelstein, S., and Mooney, A. C. (2005). Executive job demands: New insights for explaining strategic decisions and leader behaviors. Academic of Management, 30(3), 472–491. https://www.jstor.org/stable/ 20159139 Held, V. (2007). The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford University Pres. Ho, S. S. M., Li, A. Y., Tam, K., & Zhang, F. (2015). CEO gender, ethical leadership, and accounting conservatism. Journal of Business Ethics, 127 , 351– 370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-2044-0 Hsieh, H. H., Hsu, H. H., Kao, K. Y., & Wang, C. C. (2020). Ethical leadership and employee unethical pro-organizational behavior: A moderated mediation model of moral disengagement and coworker ethical behavior. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(6), 799–812. https:// doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-10-2019-0464 Jha, J. K., & Singh, M. (2019). Exploring the mechanisms of influence of ethical leadership on employment relations. IIMB Management Review, 31, 385–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iimb.2019.07.010 Johansson, J., & Edwards, M. (2021). Exploring caring leadership through a feminist ethic of care: The case of a sporty CEO. Leadership, 17 (3), 318–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715020987092 Kaptein, M. (2019). The moral entrepreneur: A new component of ethical leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 156, 1135–1150. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10551-017-3641-0

84

S. D. RICHARDSON

Latapi Agudelo, M. A., Johannsdottir, L., & Davidsdottir, B. (2019). A literature review of the history and evolution of corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, 4(1), 1–23. https:// doi.org/10.1186/s40991-018-0039-y Ouakouak, M. L., & Zaitouni, M. G. (2020). Ethical leadership, emotional leadership, and quitting intentions in public organizations. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(2), 257–279. https://doi.org/10. 1108/LODJ-05-2019-0206 Prottas, D. (2013). Relationships among employee perception of their manager’s behavioral integrity, moral distress, and employee attitudes and well-being. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(1), 51–60. Rao, K., & Tilt, C. (2016). Board composition and corporate social responsibility: The role of diversity, gender, strategy, and decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 138, 327–347. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-0152613-5 Saha, R., Shashi, C., & R., Singh, R., and Dauiya, R. (2020). Effect of ethical leadership and corporate social responsibility on firm performance: A systematic review. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27 , 409–429. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1824 Selart, M., & Johansen, S. V. (2010). Ethical decision making in organizations: The role of leadership stress. Journal of Business Ethics, 99, 129–143. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0649-0 Tichenor, J., Green, A., West, J., & Croom, R. (2022). Moving beyond the business case for female leaders: A longitudinal panel study of the impact of female leadership on corporate social responsibility. Business and Society Review, 127 , 639–661. https://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12287 Valentine, S., & Godkin, L. (2019). Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing intention. Journal of Business Research, 98, 277–288. Valle, M., Kacmar, M., & Andrews, M. (2018). Ethical leadership, frustration, and humor: A moderated-mediation model. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(5), 665–678. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-022018-0083 van Gils, S., Van Quaquebeke, N. V., van Knippenberg, D., van Dijke, M., & De Cremer, D. (2015). Ethical leadership and follower organizational deviance: The moderating role of follower moral attentiveness. The Leadership Quarterly, 26, 190–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.08.005 Velez, M. J., & Neves, P. (2016). Shaping emotional reactions to ethical behaviors: Proactive personality as a substitute for ethical leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 29, 663–673. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.06.004 White, J. (1999). Ethical comportment in organizations: A synthesis of the feminist ethic of care and the Buddhist ethic of compassion. International Journal

6

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY …

85

of Value-Based Management, 12, 109–128. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:100 7779604630 Yang, Q., & Wei, H. (2016). The impact of ethical leadership on organizational citizenship behavior: The moderating role of workplace ostracism. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(1), 100–113. https://doi.org/ 10.1108/LODJ-12-2016-0313 Zhang, Q., Lan Oo, B., Lim, T. H., & B. (2019). Drivers, motivations, and barriers to the implementation of corporate social responsibility practices by construction enterprises: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 210, 563– 584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clepro.2018.11.050

CHAPTER 7

Leadership Development of Women Entre-Employees

We, along with other critical scholars, recognize that it is ethically problematic that leadership practices that are meant to ‘care’ by taking account of employees’ satisfaction and well-being, are at risk of being eroded by managerial notions and reduced to the imposition of appropriated behaviours. (Johansson & Edwards, 2021, p. 318)

Ethic of Care Leadership Studies showed that women had a hard time establishing themselves as leaders due to societal views of gender, as well as leadership models based on Western, male concepts (Folberg, 2020). The preference of women’s characteristics in the twenty-first century by those in society aligns with subservience. If women acted the way society historically envisioned them (meek, quiet, obedient, gentle), then they were perceived as likable followers. However, those same people rarely saw them as potential leaders. If women followed stereotypical characteristics of male leaders and acted as they did (upfront, outspoken, aggressive), then they were still not seen as leaders, just people with unappealing characteristics. Therefore, when women did rise to leadership positions, they were often in a difficult situation, trying to create buy-in from those who may not have been willing to follow. Within this study, the women entre-employees seemed to find a way to ethically lead from a care model, display their authenticity within their © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_7

87

88

S. D. RICHARDSON

leadership roles, and at times, challenge organizational norms of women leaders via self-advocacy. This started by acting oppositely of their current or former negative bosses. Then, they continued their leadership development by forming ethical and authentic relationships with their direct reports. Doing so allowed the participants to practice care ethic (Held, 2007; White, 1999), advocacy, and resistance within the workplace and within their business practices. Care ethic, or ethic of care, incorporates the experiences of women as decision-makers and action takers (Antoni et al., 2020; Simola, 2015) from the standpoint of care and community. A deliberate act where a person’s needs are considered and met—i.e. ethic of care—is a feminist theory developed by Carol Gilligan (1982). Ethic of care (EoC) suggests that some women make decisions and take action based on their knowledge of others via interconnected relationships (Antoni et al., 2020; Elley-Brown & Pringle, 2021). For Gilligan, the person using ethic of care sees others as “relational and interdependent, morally and epistemologically” (Held, 2007). Ethic of care theorists see people as relational beings instead of independent and self-involved. “An ethic of care does not promote dependence on others due to power structures, but it emphasizes freedom of choice and action” (Johansson & Edwards, 2021, p. 322). Allowing leadership to function with the care of others, according to their own cultures and experiences in the center, is a different way to approach morality and ethics. The leader who practices an ethic of care is not one who enables his or her employees, but one who helps facilitate an employee’s professional and personal growth (Johansson & Edwards, 2021). Within leadership, ethic of care looks to empower and guide individuals from their perspectives and needs, not the leaders’ perspectives and needs. Often, this serves as an extension of ethical leadership, as those who model the care ethic do so from a value or ethic-based focal point. Ethic of care (Held, 2007) originally focused on caring practices within the medical community, especially among nurses. The theory then emerged in other fields, such as feminist theory, politics, and leadership studies, sometimes sparingly. While this theory worked in viewing relationship building, organizations did not view ethic of care as valuable in the workplace, as leaders focused on demand, not the need of employees. Feminist scholars, however, expanded the notion of ethic of care to include “social organization and practice, such as social policy, economic markets, work organizations, and leadership” (Antoni et al., 2020). This introduced the idea that the theory rested on relationship

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

89

building and interconnectedness in order to enact care to employees and direct reports (Antoni et al., 2020; Atwijuka & Caldwell, 2017; ElleyBrown & Pringle, 2021; Simola, 2015). Therefore, those who subscribe to this theory lead their lives and their organizations through modes of care such as empathy, compassion, concern, active listening, respecting others, accepting others, valuing others, and maintaining and repairing relationships are necessary (White, 1999). While the theory originated via studying women, EoC is not exclusive to women (Antoni et al., 2020; Kropiewnicki & Shapiro, 2001; McClesky, 2016; Simola, 2015). Though this theory is not gender exclusive, especially as leadership has enhanced to include emotional IQ, empathy, and mindfulness, it does have leadership studies researchers viewing ethic of care differently, as it challenges gender and work norms. While the theory values relationships, it purposefully works against more logical and rational thoughts of ways to lead. If traditional leadership theories suggest that leadership is situational and task-based (Aslam et al., 2022) ethic of care suggests that leadership is care induced and wavers between personal and professional life roles. Engaging in EoC means that the leader cares about and for himself or herself (is invested in the mental, emotional, and physical well-being), as well as the members of his or her team; this comprises an efficient team based on the wellness of human beings. This is what the women participants expressed when discussing their developed leadership styles, especially when they did not see this style expressed by their supervisors at work. The thoughts of the participants were that they needed to be better employers and supervisors than their own supervisors. Better meant showing others empathy, caring for others, and having a willingness to offer solutions instead of merely complaints. It also meant valuing each employee as human beings, not simply for what they could do for the business. This translated to how they cared for those employed in their own companies, as well as how they cared for direct reports in their lines of employment. Unlike some of the supervisors that the participants worked for, they felt responsible for their team members; therefore, ensuring that they cared for their colleagues’ mental and physical health (Held, 2007) every day. A participant expressed her sentiments in the following way:

90

S. D. RICHARDSON

I want my employees to take a vacation. If they find a better position, I’ll help them get there. I’ll ask them what they need because that’s what it means to care for people.

While each participant expressed caring in her own way, each understood that caring for another meant that needs had to be met in a way that worked for all, but especially for the one requesting it. This also meant that ethic of care was ethically based, meaning that the participant needed to advocate for her own beliefs, not just that of her direct reports. Advocating for one’s own beliefs meant setting clear expectations and stating what employees and direct reports could expect from them as leaders. Ethic of Care as Inclusive Work Environments Because women, with some exceptions, are primarily caregivers of family members (not just children), they may not always get the respect that they deserve on the job if the role of a caregiver is seen as making an employee subpar. While caretaking is a common role for multiple women, it does not impede their ability to work efficiently and lead in the workplace. The women participants chose to eliminate those stereotypes in their own businesses, by providing flexible work policies (Bullough et al., 2021; Strawser et al., 2021) and seeing the workday outside of a nine to five job. Therefore, their businesses that employed others had multiple work schedules and options for remote work. Within the study and within research, what was important to the women entre-employees revolved around caring for family, caring for self, the community, and minorities/underserved populations. Therefore, their work policies and practices needed to mirror those values. The participants recognized the importance of establishing an ethic of care, completely based on (1) what they believed was the right thing to do and (2) acting oppositely of how they had been previously treated by employers. All of the participants discussed ways in which their leadership style changed due to being an entre-employee and reflecting on their own treatment within their jobs. When the participants realized how difficult navigating the entrepreneurial world was, while working hard at their primary careers, self-care, and expressing care became their first priority. Not only did the participants want to remain physically and mentally healthy, they wanted their direct reports and colleagues to be healthy as well, and that meant letting go of traditional, stringent work conditions.

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

91

Letting go included implementing flexible work schedules and encouraging work breaks and mental health days, with no explanations (within their businesses and within their primary jobs). Emphasizing an ethic of care and creating a healthy work environment was of utmost importance to the participants. One participant explained this when she stated one reason why people were leaving their jobs (i.e. the Great Resignation): People are leaving because there’s a lack of empathy and a lack of care. And if a leader understands that, they will know that in this current season going forward, you have to infuse care and empathy with how you engage with those that you lead. If not, you will be doing yourself and your organization a complete disservice.

Another participant expanded on the idea of taking care of one another in order to create a healthy workspace: If my colleagues are sustained and they’re happy and they’re healthy, then they do their jobs better.

Another participant explained how having an attitude of self-care helped her team [at her primary job] remain mentally healthy: I tell all my staff, “OK, you have two mental health days [that the organization is giving].” I’ve always said that self-care is most important. So, you have sick time. You have vacation time. It’s unlimited. You have mental health days. I want you to verbalize it. It’s okay to take care of yourself. I don’t want you here after a certain time, you know? I mean, actually, you shut your computer down after a certain time. Go home. I wish I had had that in my line of work [from my supervisors].

The ethic of care ideology arose out of the participants understanding their connections to their colleagues and direct reports as human beings. They concluded that in order to be an efficient, inclusive, and conducive team that produced positive results, each person had to work at their best level. For the participants, that meant that each person needed to care for themselves and that, as leaders, the participants needed to care about their colleagues and direct reports (as well as themselves). As leaders, the participants felt responsible for their team members. An ethic of care also meant that the participants had to advocate for themselves and their colleagues and that advocacy looked different depending on the organization or field of work.

92

S. D. RICHARDSON

Ethic of Care Within Social Entrepreneurship Care ethics is connected to moral courage, as a “way to speak truth to power” (Simola, 2015, p. 31). Both moral courage and ethic of care suggests speaking against unethical practices by authorities, when those practices violate ones integrity and/or the integrity of others (Atwijuka & Caldwell, 2017; Simola, 2015). In order to navigate the world as an advocate, one must form relationships with others. Care ethics uses the individual voice to promote a collective (and moral) voice against unethical authorities. Often, the one exercising an ethic of care is showing an extension of herself or himself, ethically. However, researchers argue that ethic of care is not without conflict. Caring for individuals, while meeting a company’s needs can create tension; can one genuinely care for employees and pursue profit in a capitalist society? While some researchers argue that “pursuit of profit may be antithetical to care and compassion” (Antoni et al., 2020, p. 451), that answer depends on how one defines and enacts care, as well as one’s ability to pursue profit, ethically. The participants of the study showed that care and company success was possible without severe conflict. Part of this reasoning was due to the women being social responsible entre-employees, with a focus more on helping people (via work) as an employee and influencing communities instead of meeting profit margins, first, within their businesses. In others words, their values did not differ between spheres. Some experts argue that what one regards as ethical differs based on professional and non-professional spheres. Ethic of care theorists, however, suggest that there is no divide, especially for women. Different from men, women are taught that the public and private sphere should connect. In that sense, what one regards as ethical does not change based on position. Because of this teaching, women’s experiences, more so than men, “in the private sphere are taken as a normative model for behavior in the public sphere” (Antoni et al., 2020, 452). Similar to the women entre-employees, practicing ethic of care did not change from one setting to the other, and the basis for moral courage remained the same for the participants. As an example, one of the participants, who valued the right of a mother to nurse, had no qualms with nursing at her place of employment. Seeing it as a natural part of motherhood, she and her colleagues advocated for breaks in the work day to express milk, along with a sacred

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

93

place for other mothers to do so within their organization. This act translated to how she operated her business, making sure that her employees, especially those who were parents, had what they needed to feel cared for and to work efficiently. For the other participants, modeling ethic of care on the job greatly influenced the way in which they operated their businesses. Stemming mainly from gaining confidence on the jobs, as well as within entrepreneurship, the participants integrated ethic of care aspects into their roles as business owners. This included recognizing challenges for employees and providing solutions. Therefore, they incorporated remote work (for those who could), permitted and encouraged mental health days, assisted employees in advancing their skills and careers, allowed employees to choose their preferred projects, and gave their direct reports permission to rest when they needed to (and modeled it). By doing these things, participants recognized that their actions served as an act of resistance against the negative effects of capitalism in the workplace (Folberg, 2020). This resistance (i.e. ethic of care) meant that the participants could be their authentic selves within their businesses, which enhanced their authenticity at their places of work (Atwijuka & Caldwell, 2017).

Self-Advocacy Self-advocacy became part of each participants’ stories that enhanced their leadership practices. Scholars define self-advocacy as power use and influence attempts for the self, as well as having one’s needs met during a challenging situation (Hagan et al., 2018; Wade, 2001). While selfadvocacy was mentioned in terms of entrepreneurial activities (starting businesses, finding mentors, securing a client or contract, etc.), the practice actually began at the workplaces of the participants. Women advocating for themselves did not always have positive results, especially if they continued to advocate after a request was denied. Often, advocating women are viewed as being pushy and unlikeable (JanoffBulman & Wade, 1996; Wade, 2001). “Women are expected to be unselfish, caring, able to devote themselves to others, eager to soothe hurt feelings, helpful, kind, emotionally expressive, and interpersonally sensitive” (Janoff-Bulman & Wade, 1996, p. 145). All of the participants discussed the negative actions within the workplace once they self-advocated. For example, some participants mentioned being seen as

94

S. D. RICHARDSON

aggressive when they felt that they were advocating for fair work practices, such as not responding to emails after seven o’clock in the evening. By self-advocating, the participants risked no longer being viewed as a team player. These social constructions based on gender discrimination conflicted with the identities of acting as women, especially women entre-employees. Specifically in the workforce, women had to regularly consider advocating for a reasonable wage, comparable work conditions to their male counterparts, and/or flexible work schedules for caretaking duties or other obligations. What made self-advocacy take place for women was when a request made of them by others did not align with their values. As each participant clearly defined her work/family/business values, advocating for those areas became of utmost importance. A participant described self-advocacy with the following example: The company created a new way to apply for flex schedule [after COVID lockdowns]. My [moral] compass is important to me. When the pandemic hit, they [leaders] wanted to bring us back into the workplace, but now I was homeschooling. I just was not ready to go back and work [the way I did before].

In the example above, the participant, like many of the others, was not in a position to leave her child elsewhere while she returned to the office. The tension increased when the participant considered her own feelings around returning the office, while the United States was still on lockdown. She not only wanted to advocate for herself, but also for others in the company who were facing similar obstacles. Aligning with research, the women entre-employees carefully strategized ways in which they would self-advocate, as they did not want to create challenges for themselves or their colleagues (Wade, 2001). Another participant explained the conflict that she experienced with an uncaring boss, which led to her stepping down from her position and securing another position as a way to advocate for her values: You know, I was doing my work, but also doing other people’s work [because it was incorrectly completed.] I was tired and working late and no one seemed to care. When I said something to my boss about it, she shrugged as though that’s the way it is. I had to go.

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

95

Similar to the previous participant, this entre-employee addressed her concerns in a professional, yet clear way to her supervisor and then executive team, as to avoid harming work relationships (Cook, 2020; Giacalone & Riordan, 1990). Her goal was to take a different position in the company and not lose her job, yet express the injustice she experienced so that it did not happen to others. The result involved her looking for and securing a position with a different company. For other participants, advocating for themselves resulted in changing work roles, moving to other departments within their places of work, and even moving from one organization to a different one. Doing so reduced stress, provided flexibility within work hours, and allowed the participants opportunities to grow their own companies, in a more manageable way. Another participant expressed her move to step down from a position, due to a hostile work environment. For all of the participants, expressing selfadvocacy proved successful, as the end results aligned with their values. Self-advocacy within ethic of care emphasized freedom of choices and action, and not following rules based on power structures or even gender roles within power structures. Operating within an ethic of care and selfadvocacy leadership model translated into the participants leading their own businesses differently. For them, the skills and confidence gained within the workplace translated to the way they led in their businesses. The participants discussed the way in which they led their employees and engaged with their customers, based on wanting the best for them. In this case, they were able to lead authentically and in line with their values.

Authentic Leadership Scholars describe authentic leaders as those who align their values with their actions and behaviors. Authentic leadership arose as an answer to leaders who concealed needed information and appeared to deceive others in order to achieve goals and outcomes for a company (Iszatt-White et al., 2021). Leaders originally viewed the concept as a fix-it solution for organizational problems, but it is far from it. The authentic leader is seen as a moral leader, looking to build relationships built on trust and intimacy with others through transparency. This leader is morally and intrinsically good, but not perfect; however, the authentic leader is constantly working on doing good work (Ford & Harding, 2011). Some scholars see the theory as an invalid concept, while others argue that there is no true definition since one’s authenticity changes based on the person (i.e. race,

96

S. D. RICHARDSON

gender, class, sexuality, etc.) (Einola & Alvesson, 2021; Gardiner, 2016). Historically, authenticity was questioned simply by society’s standards. If a man is judged based on accomplishments and a woman is judged based on her social reputation, how does one measure authenticity? Therefore, authentic leadership is complex and ever changing. To be authentic, one should embody four characteristics: 1. Self-awareness: being fully aware of oneself (thoughts, actions, biases, values); 2. Balanced information processing: being able to reflect on one’s experience and understand what is felt; 3. Relational transparency: sharing both strengths and weaknesses, positives and flaws with others; and 4. Internalized moral perspective: remaining consistent with one’s own values, judgements, and actions (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). However, one’s lived experiences and relationships, which could greatly influence one’s leadership style, is missing from this list. Therefore, diversity of gender and culture are missing from historical notions of authentic leadership and ethics. Is Authentic Leadership Real? “Authentic leaders must be prepared to reveal themselves through their practices and behaviors, and the self that is revealed must be the authentic self. Persons who would be leaders must therefore know themselves” (Ford & Harding, 2011, p. 469). While one’s authenticity is questioned as representing the true self, one’s authenticity seems to lie with the individual person, regardless of how others perceive the leader. Researchers argue that authenticity is actually impossible, since one has to give up a form of his or her true self for the good of the company in which they work (Ford & Harding, 2011; Iszatt-White et al., 2021). While authentic and ethical leaders guide the organizations, their followers model their leadership styles, which result in higher levels of productivity and profit; however, it is difficult to prove that the leaders are truly authentic and ethical (Cavazotte et al., 2021; van Gils et al., 2015; Yang & Wei, 2016). It is also difficult to measure authentic and ethical leadership, quantitatively (Einola & Alvesson, 2021). It is, however, important to understand

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

97

that experiences with other people shapes one’s authenticity; therefore, authentic leadership is a collaborative effort. Given that fact, it is important to consider ways in which authentic leadership remains possible and of value. Cultural Views of Authentic Leadership Other scholars argue a different view of authentic leadership: a nonWestern and non-homogenous view of it. For authentic leadership, Spiller (2021) incorporated the idea of interconnectedness and oneness with one another. Looking to an Indigenous Collectivist Mindset, a mindset of interconnectedness, a mindset of belonging and care, and similar mindsets across various cultures that recognize the relationship of all things, Gambrell (2017) and Spiller (2021) suggest that authentic leadership consider these aspects. In this case, the authentic leader does not look inward and only inward, but outward to be authentic. In other words, our ability to learn from one another informs our authenticity. Ladkin (2021) argues that when looking at authentic leadership from a minortized and intersectional viewpoint, the theory does not fully work for everyone either. Authenticity means “being true to one’s core beliefs and values and exhibiting authentic behavior; the unobstructed operation of one’s true, or core, self” (Gardner et al., 2021, p. 345). Because the theory suggests that one show up as their true self, it ignores the idea that followers have to see themselves in the one doing the leading. When leaders are normally viewed as Western, White men, those who pose opposite of that (e.g., African American, LGBTQ, non-able bodied, woman, etc.) have to wrestle with how they choose to show up, as that identity and body needs to gain followers in order to create buy-in and successfully lead. Instead, scholars suggest that the focus should be on leadership as a role that is socially constructed; therefore, how one shows up as a leader will shift over time. Not only would the role shift, but also followers would need time to see themselves in the leader, thus allowing the leader time to show their true self (in terms of ethics and authenticity). This could also be true for many leadership theories that do not consider various types of people as leaders.

98

S. D. RICHARDSON

Authentic Leadership and Entre-Employees Authentic leadership, as it has been argued, is a hegemonic theory. It presumes that anyone can act according to its’ traits and be successful; however, it should not be dismissed. Like all other leadership theories presented from a Western, hegemonic view, none of them work once they are presented from a diverse body/identity (gender, race, class, religion, non-able bodied, etc.). Viewing authentic leadership from a cultural and diverse perspective (i.e. multicultural, feminist, critical race theory, womanism, disability/ability, religious, etc.) changes how one performs authenticity within an organization and shows that it could work. The entre-employees, who identified in one more multiple ways, did not see themselves as extensions or representations of their organizations. They also regularly practiced self-reflection after years of working in environments that disrespected their work ethic or performance. For the participants, their ability to model authentic leadership came from reflecting on whom they were (from a conflicting socially constructed and interconnected view) and what they had learned from others from childhood into adulthood that shaped them in order to remain authentic. That authenticity as leaders emerged by them connecting with their employees, actively listening to their needs, and making changes if needed. The authenticity also emerged as the women were willing to leave the organizations in which they worked if they felt that their ethics and ability to remain true to themselves were threatened. Viewing authentic leadership from a multicultural and diverse perspective suggests that leaders model the practice when acknowledging that people are fluid, not static, and imperfect beings. Therefore, one could operate authentically from their current values, cultural identities, and perspectives, with the understanding that those values and perspectives will change via (1) interactions and collaborations with others, (2) personal life experiences, and (3) ongoing critical self-reflection. Being an authentic leader might only work if the leader is: 1. Willing to accept that they were a changing and evolving being who could learn from others (i.e. peers, supervisors, and followers); 2. Undergoing constant self-reflection and learning; and 3. Staying aware of biases and remaining open to change.

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

99

Being an entrepreneur and navigating life as an entre-employee made the participants experts at finding their voices as leaders. While an ethic of care and authenticity became an ideology that the participants ascribed to, they were not meek, mild, or silent. Instead, they unapologetically advocated for themselves and their teams due to taking charge of themselves as entre-employees and understanding the needs of a successful team. One participant spoke to self-advocacy as she worked to help her colleagues in her organization’s department. This meant no longer hiding what she valued: I realized I can be who I’ve always been [as a result of entrepreneurship]. You know, it’s almost like I’ve had to kind of mask some of the things that I like to do [as a leader], like, advocating for my team. I don’t have to do that [mask herself] anymore.

Another participant also found herself advocating for her direct report’s happiness, because of starting her own business, which increased her own happiness: You know when one of my staff members come to me and says “I really want to move on”, I’m like, what do you want to do next? Because I know what should be done, and that’s been something a lot of the other leaders have always frowned upon [helping someone else move to new careers].

One participant also explained how she found her voice through entrepreneurship. Starting her own business and having to make decisions that could help or hinder her business contributed to her speaking aloud in her leadership role at her organization. Within her role as a businessperson, she learned to speak to a range of people in various settings in order to get them interested in her business. Those experiences helped her deconstruct the word ‘professional’, as well as the way she formerly presented herself, which improved her leadership. Being an entrepreneur, I feel like I found my voice now. It took me having to actually start my business where I found my voice getting stronger. I felt more comfortable just being me and being in my full essence, and I’m acknowledging to myself and to others that I operate from a full range. I’m not static. I can show up and be professional, which I’m still professional, right? But then I can also get down with the best of them and talk about

100

S. D. RICHARDSON

other things. I think that all of those things have made me more relatable as a leader.

Hearing this caused another participant to add to the conversation. Merging entrepreneurship with her role as an employee, who is also a leader, helped her understand the need for compassion and empathy in leaders: I think I’ve become more empathetic with how I choose to show up and support other people, so if people are having a hard time, I give them space. I give them time, I give them grace. I acknowledge that that’s needed now more than ever, and I think the ways in which we used to do things no longer serve us as we move forward.

Not only did the participants describe what it meant to advocate as a leader, they saw themselves as authentic, ethical leaders who advocated for themselves and others because it was the right way to live. When one spoke about actively resisting a capitalistic system and giving her colleagues permission to rest, other participants immediately nodded in agreement. For them, their own leadership served as an example of advocating for others and openly resisting traditional work cultures, which required people to overwork, dismiss their own needs, and eventually burnout (Cook, 2021; Wingfield, 2020). Exhibiting ethical and authentic characteristics allowed the participants to change their work environments, as well as establish a new culture in their businesses.

Conclusion As shown in Fig. 7.1, research on ethics of care, self-advocacy, and authentic leadership suggest that the three have no relation, as they prescribe to different tenants of leadership. However, the entreemployees, through their own stories, along with prior research, proved that the three were related to one another in an indirect way. Through running a business, women learned to speak openly and freely about their values and expectations, while modeling them for employees and customers. This directly influenced what they were confident enough to speak and model within their roles as employees. While that sometimes led to the participants changing their jobs, for others, it led to them voicing their morals in a way that modeled a different form of leadership. At the

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

Fig. 7.1 Leadership styles among women entre-employees

101

Ethic of Care

Authentic Leadership

SelfAdvocacy

time of this study, the results of these actions were not clear such as a job promotion or a job demotion; however, the participants shared the level of confidence in being true to oneself as a good result.

References Antoni, A., Reinecke, J., & Fotaki, M. (2020). Caring or not caring for coworkers? An empirical exploration of the dilemma of care allocation in the workplace. Business Ethics Quarterly, 30(4), 447–485. https://doi.org/10. 1017/beq.2020.1 Aslam, S., Saleem, A., Kumar, T., & Parveen, K. (2022). New normal: Emergence of situational leadership during COVID-19 and its impact on work motivation and job satisfaction. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1–5. https://doi. org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022/919941 Atwijuka, S., & Caldwell, C. (2017). Authentic leadership and the ethic of care. Journal of Management Development, 36(8), 1040–1051. https://doi.org/ 10.1108/JMD-12-2016-0331 Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 315–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.03.001 Bullough, A., Guelich, U., Manolova, T. S., & Schojoedt, L. (2021). Women’s entrepreneurship and culture: Gender, role expectations and identities, societal

102

S. D. RICHARDSON

culture, and the entrepreneurial environment. Small Business Economics, 58, 985–996. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00429-6 Cavazotte, F., Mansur, J., & Moreno, V. (2021). Authentic leadership and sustainable operations: How leader morality and selflessness can foster safety performance. Journal of Cleaner Production, 313, 1–11. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.clepro.2021.127819 Cook, A. (2020). Using an inclusive therapeutic theatre production to teach selfadvocacy skills in young people with disabilities. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 71, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2020.101715 Cook, I. (2021, September 15). Who’s driving the great resignation? Harvard Business Review. https://www.hbr.org/2021/09/who-is-driving-the-greatresignation Einola, K., & Alvesson, M. (2021). The perils of authentic leadership theory. Leadership, 17 (4), 483–490. https://doi.org/10.1177/174271502 11004059 Elley-Brown, M. J., & Pringle, J. K. (2021). Sorge, Heideggerian ethic of care: Creating more caring organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 168(1), 23–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04243-3 Folberg, A. (2020). Global perspectives on women and work. Journal of Social Issues, 76(3), 464–483. Ford, J., & Harding, N. (2011). The impossibility of the ‘true self’ of authentic leadership. Leadership, 7 (4), 463–479. https://doi.org/10.1177/174271 5011416894 Gambrell, K. M. (2017). The case for an Indigenous collectivist mindset. In J. L. Chin, J. E. Trimble, & J. E. Garcia (Eds.), Global and culturally diverse leaders and leadership: New dimensions, opportunities, and challenges for business, industry, education and society. International Leadership Association. Gardiner, R. (2016). Gender, authenticity and leadership: Thinking with Arendt. Leadership, 12(5), 632–637. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715015583623 Gardner, W. L., Karam, E. P., Alvesson, M., & Einola, K. (2021). Authentic leadership theory: The case for and against. The Leadership Quarterly, 32, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lequa.2021.101495 Giacalone, R. A., & Riordan, C. A. (1990). Effect of self-presentation on perceptions and recognition in an organization. The Journal of Psychology, 124(1), 25–38. Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard University Press. Hagan, T. L., Gilbertson-White, S., Cohen, S. M., Temel, J. S., Greer, J. A., & Donovan, H. S. (2018). Symptom burden and self-advocacy. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, 22(1), 23–30. https://doi.org/10.1188/ 18.CJON.E23-E30

7

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN ENTRE-EMPLOYEES

103

Held, V. (2007). The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford University Press. Iszatt-White, M., Stead, V., & Elliott, C. (2021). Impossible or just irrelevant? Unravelling the ‘authentic leadership’ paradox through the lens of emotional labour. Leadership, 17 (4), 464–482. https://doi.org/10.1177/174271502 1996928 Janoff-Bulman, R., & Wade, M. B. (1996). The dilemma of self-advocacy for women: Another case of blaming the victim? Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15(2), 143–153. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1996.15.2.143 Johansson, J., & Edwards, M. (2021). Exploring caring leadership through a feminist ethic of care: The case of a sporty CEO. Leadership, 17 (3), 318–335. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715020987092 Kropiewnicki, M. I., & Shapiro, J. P. (2001, April 10–14). Female leadership and ethic of care: Three case studies [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association, Seattle, WA. Ladkin, D. (2021). Problematizing authentic leadership: How the experience of minoritized people highlights the impossibility of leading from one’s “true self.” Leadership, 17 (4), 395–400. https://doi.org/10.1177/174271502199 9586 McClesky, J. A. (2016). Emotional intelligence and the ethic of care. The Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 21(4), 117–132. https://doi. org/10.9774/GLEAF.3709.2016.oc.00007 Simola, S. (2015). Understanding moral courage through a feminist and developmental ethic of care. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(1), 29–44. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2203-y Spiller, C. (2021). ‘I am’: Indigenous consciousness for authenticity and leadership. Leadership, 17 (4), 491–496. https://doi.org/10.1177/174271502199 9590 Strawser, J. A., Hechavarria, D. M., & Passerini, K. (2021). Gender and entrepreneurship: Research frameworks, barriers and opportunities for women entrepreneurship worldwide. Journal of Small Business Management, 56(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2021.1965615 van Gils, S., Van Quaquebeke, N. V., van Knippenberg, D., van Dijke, M., & De Cremer, D. (2015). Ethical leadership and follower organizational deviance: The moderating role of follower moral attentiveness. The Leadership Quarterly, 26, 190–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2014.08.005 Wade, M. E. (2001). Women and salary negotiation: The costs of self-advocacy. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25, 65–76. White, J. (1999). Ethical comportment in organizations: A synthesis of the feminist ethic of care and the Buddhist ethic of compassion. International Journal of Value-Based Management, 12(2), 109–128.

104

S. D. RICHARDSON

Wingfield, A.H. (2020, October). Women are advancing in the workplace, but women of color still lag behind. The Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/essay/women-are-advancing-in-the-workpl ace-but-women-of-color-still-lag-behind/ Yang, Q., & Wei, H. (2016). The impact of ethical leadership on organizational citizenship behavior: The moderating role of workplace ostracism. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 39(1), 100–113. https://doi.org/ 10.1108/LODJ-12-2016-0313

CHAPTER 8

Reimagining Quiet Quitting

What is Burnout? The percentage of Millennials in the workforce increased during the twenty-first century and this generation will soon dominate the workforce out of every generation (Kohll, 2018). However, their need for worklife balance has not changed from previous generations. It has simply enhanced, which costs companies in upward of billions of dollars to fix. “The enduring results of workplace stress cost more than 300 billion dollars every year to US businesses due to decreased employee productivity, absenteeism, staff turnover, and insurance” (Yener et al., 2021, p. 1891). An employee who is disengaged is more likely to consider leaving his or her position and is more likely to follow through on their intention to do so (Santhanam & Srinivas, 2020). Comparing careers, blue collar, and labor-intensive jobs have produced the highest turnover rates compared to white-collar jobs, and most employees are staying in their positions for two to four years at a time. Yet, research also shows this taking place in areas such as education and other front-facing positions as well. There is a significant relationship between employee engagement and productivity, organizational citizenship behavior, reduced burnout, and decreased intention to leave a job (Gabriel & Aquinis, 2022; Santhanam & Srinivas, 2020). For employees with burnout who stay at their organization, low productivity, low organizational citizenship © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_8

105

106

S. D. RICHARDSON

behavior, and low job commitment ensue. Where previous generations looked for ways to balance life around work, younger generations look for ways to balance work around life. Therefore, if scholars remove the generational label, it becomes clearer to see what is taking shape: employees continue to wrestle with finding companies that share their values and commitments to making the world better, as well as improving personal well-being (especially for the employees). Well-being means many things, but it has a strong focus on decreasing chronic work stress. Employees who feel overworked leads to employees who experience characteristics associated with burnout: low energy, anxiety, digestive problems, aches and pains, insomnia, and even depression (Kohll, 2018). Employees who experience this consistently began looking for other employment opportunities, especially if they have organizational leaders who do little to mitigate the causes of burnout. “Burnout is viewed as an affective reaction to prolonged stress in work situations whereby individual’s intrinsic energy resources are depleted over time” (Kilroy et al., 2020, p. 52). Scholar also describes burnout as a “work-related phenomenon that is characterized by a combination of low energy (exhaustion) and low identification (cynicism)” (Virga et al., 2019, p. 388). Burnout could lead to forms of job withdrawal such as “decreased organizational commitment, job dissatisfaction, and increased turnover and absenteeism” (Schult et al., 2018, p. 490). In order to avoid burnout or reduce the possibility of burnout, employees would need to find ways to detach from work when they go home. Of course, this is harder to do for employees with non-traditional work hours (such as second and third shift workers, middle managers, and some executive leaders). Detachment may also be difficult for women with children, as they may travel home to perform household work and childcare responsibilities, not being able to take needed time to detach, psychologically. Burnout could occur across various job profiles; however, it does not automatically mean that one is unfulfilled on the job. In other words, the first appearance of burnout could still occur in someone who finds his or her work fulfilling and purposeful. Over time, though, the burnout can lead to a loss of fulfillment, resulting in disengagement. In many ways, burnout occurs when an employee feels as though their employer does not value them. It also affects those whose jobs are becoming more customer service focused such as those in education, business, financial advising, and more.

8

REIMAGINING QUIET QUITTING

107

Disengagement with Organizational Values Within research, an unhappy and unfulfilled employee slowly leads to a disengaged employee. A disengaged employee is a once engaged organizational employee who has lost interest, thereby engagement with the company. Sounding a lot like quiet quitting, this is a person who has mentally and emotionally stopped engaging at work, but may still be physically present, performing the requirements of the job contract and nothing more or less (Aslam et al., 2018; Pech & Slade, 2006). The phenomenon is not new to research. A 2006 study suggested that 83% of employees were performing work tasks, while “their energy [was] unavailable to the organization” (Pech & Slade, 2006, p. 21). For those who engaged with their work, they were willing to do extra work in order to meet company needs and invest themselves emotionally, mentally, and physically. However, research shows that reports in employee disengagement have taken place since the late 1980s and there continues to be a link between one’s disengagement and lack of trust in an organization’s leaders. Employees who are often disengaged at work are those who view their workplaces as inequitable and/or unjust environments (Aslam et al., 2018), where violations occur; violations by an organization (or organizational leaders) have the potential to lead to an employee feeling distrustful of leadership, resulting in disengagement (Aslam et al., 2018; Azeem et al., 2020). Everything from firing a well-liked employee with little to no explanation, to placing additional duties on employees (with no additional human resources or financial benefit), to mistrust of leaders contributes to employees disengaging with their work. Perch and Slade (2006) suggest that three areas relate to an employee feeling engagement at work: 1. Feeling safe about revealing one’s true self at work without retribution; 2. Having one’s values align with the purpose and meaning of the work being done; and 3. Believing that one has the physical, emotional, or cognitive resources to engage at work. An organizational cultures can also fit into one of three categories listed below, with the last category producing the most disengagement from

108

S. D. RICHARDSON

employees: (1) innovative work culture, (2) supportive work culture, and (3) bureaucratic work culture (Aslam et al., 2018). For employees who disengage long-term, the result often incorporates leaving a place of employment (i.e. turnover). It is possible that an organization’s culture, values, and standards influence one’s disengagement, as stated with the three characteristics of employee engagement (Bazzoli & Probst, 2022; Hejjas et al., 2019). For example, if an organization is results and performance driven, an employee may become disengaged quicker versus an employee who works at an organization that values the well-being of the person or group. When promises by leadership are broken/violated, employees’ energy and satisfaction on the job diminishes. This then leads to detachment and disengagement due to feelings of distrust and skepticism about an organization’s values. “When employees feel that their organization has betrayed them and that their efforts are not reciprocated, they may interpret this as a lack of appreciation of their contributions, which enhances their intention to leave that organization” (Azeem et al., 2020, p. 1293). Outside influences such as family life, financial insecurity, and/or a pandemic can also contribute to one disengaging at work, assuming that there is already trouble at the workplace. So where is disengagement most likely to occur? Research, as well as the entre-employees of this study, suggests that jobs in customer service, or positions that act similarly to customer service roles (aka front-facing positions) have high rates of disengagement, leading to quiet quitting. Because the entre-employees work as leaders or middle managers in white-collar jobs, they offered a different perspective as those jobs took on a customer service and the customer is always correct approach to work.

Disengagement and Customer Service Roles Customer incivility is the most common occurrence at work and cause for stress among customer service employees (and those in front facing, non-hospitality positions) (Han et al., 2016). However, most research about customer behavior assumes that customers always act in a civil manner and do not incorporate aspects such as emotional labor and surface acting on the part of employees (Gu et al., 2020; Hochschild, 1979). Employees who consistently manage customer incivility, with little supportive resources, face burnout, and negative attitudes at the job. Han et al. (2016) found that there was a positive relationship between employees experiencing customer incivility and burnout. At the

8

REIMAGINING QUIET QUITTING

109

same time, recognizing and addressing coping mechanisms for negative emotions relieve the stress coming from surface acting in customer service roles. In front-facing positions and customer service positions, employees experience emotional exhaustion as a result of catering to demanding customers, all for the sake of organizational performance (Kashif et al., 2017). In customer service organizations, leaders expect employees to go beyond limits to take care of the customer, (i.e. the customer is always right). Even higher educational institutions implement the customer service approach, where organizational leaders require faculty and staff to view students as customers in need of superior service, and faculty and staff are expected to perform extra duties to meet student and guardian needs. Contrary to some studies (Han et al., 2016), teachers have been known to have more job stress and burnout than those in other human service professions (Way et al., 2020). Abuse by customers, plus job stress, can lead to turnover of employees. For those who cannot leave their jobs, they became disengaged (i.e. quietly quit). Researchers discovered that customer abuse, by itself, did not likely cause job stress and detachment; however, abuse connected with other factors (such as leadership violations) did lead to job stress and disengagement (Kashif, et al, 2017). It is possible for employees in customer service roles to become disengaged with the work, yet still provide efficient customer service. However, the customers may notice a change in the interaction with employees. The change may not result in rudeness or poor service, but simply a feeling of emotional difference. While it is possible to be physically present on the job and emotionally detached, while doing the minimum job required (i.e. quiet quitting), customers or colleagues may experience a difference in the detached employee (Shoshan & Sonnentag, 2020).

Other Reasons for Burnout While individual burnout among employees have been widely studied, collective burnout (perceptions about burnout among a group of employees) is more recent. Collective burnout occurs “due to employees coming in regular contact with others in their workgroup who are emotionally exhausted, weary, worn out, and irritable” (Way et al., 2020, p. 560). When it comes to collective group burnout, supervisors who do not use a collaborative approach, involving the needs and autonomy of others into the decision-making process, cause stress and eventually

110

S. D. RICHARDSON

burnout among employees as well as any other type of leader. Not using a collaborative approach in decision-making suggests that the employees lack autonomy in correcting or solving work crises on their own. However, another form of stress and burnout occurs through technostress, especially during the twenty-first century and the pandemic: when job demands increase due to the use of technology. Issues such as poor eyesight from sitting in front of a computer all day, interfaces breaking down, or other technical difficulties cause undue stress on employees. In this way, technology by itself is not the stressor, but a stress creator (Yener et al., 2021). In turn, this burnout among employees is “associated with feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, nervousness, exhaustion and fatigue” (p. 1891). While technological disruptions at work influence stress, the effect that a disruption has on one’s ability to complete an assignment also influences the amount of stress incurred. Employees who see themselves as organizational talent are those who believe that a company values their well-being, contributions, and performance. When one views himself or herself in this manner, the likelihood of quiet quitting decreases, unless other stress creators arise. Employees who perceive[d] themselves as talent were likely to possess more organizationally beneficial attitudes, were more confident about their career progression, had higher job satisfaction, had higher justice perceptions, exerted more work effort and had higher perceptions of organizational support and affective commitment. (Malik & Singh, 2020, p. 20)

While one could argue that all employees contribute talent to an organization (inclusive approach), some people believe that there are a select few employees contributing to the success of an organization (exclusive approach). When it comes to intentions to quit, some reasons relate to high performers having competing offers and low performers not having opportunities for advancement within an organization (Ouakouak et al., 2020). However, many of the entre-employees relayed that disconnecting from work, or intending to quit a former job, was due to values misaligning between them and the organizational leaders and/or unethical behavior by the organization’s leaders. Other variables that contribute to burnout are negative or insecure attachments that lead to job turnover. Secure attachment styles (i.e. low levels of anxiety and job avoidance) influence low chances of burnout

8

REIMAGINING QUIET QUITTING

111

and job turnover. However, anxiety and exhaustion from work can affect job performance, leading to burnout and eventually job quitting, if not addressed. Insecure attachments also lead to health issues and quiet quitting, further affecting one’s performance on the job.

So, What is Quiet Quitting? Writings and news segments about quiet quitting began during and post the coronavirus pandemic; however, the phenomenon is not new. Quiet quitting is not just mentally quitting one’s work. It is self-reflection on the part of the employee that leads him or her to focus on what is most important in life, which may not be an organization’s performance numbers (Pittman, 2022). Quiet quitting occurs when an employee no longer performs more than what is required and only completes job tasks in line with the job description because of work detachment and disengagement (Harter, 2022). The not so new phenomenon served as an alternative during the Great Resignation for those who could not afford to leave their jobs, or for those who did not want to leave their jobs, but also no longer wanted to sacrifice personal or family time for an organization (Scheyett, 2022). During the coronavirus pandemic and shortly after, approximately 50% of the workforce participated in quiet quitting due to work issues such as lack of clear job expectations, feeling as though organizational leaders did not care about the well-being of employees, feeling disconnected to the organizational mission or culture, or more (Harter, 2022). While news reporters and employers portrayed quiet quitting as employee rebelliousness or lazy behavior, it actually needed to be reimagined as an elevated form of work-life balance that previous generations strived to attain. Furthermore, for employers with vague job descriptions and work responsibilities, quiet quitters challenged employers to specify job expectations clearly. In addition to quiet quitters, there were also loud quitters: those who voiced their discontent with an organization to other people, publically. Not feeling cared about or feeling as though one did not belong to a company resulted in feelings of detachment and discontent, exhibited in quiet or loud quitting, and there were those who had suggestions to curb this from taking place. As older generations seemed to be leaving the workforce for retirement, and younger generations no longer remained in one position for extended amounts of time, Howard (2022) suggested companies consider ways to quell quiet quitting and high turnover rates.

112

S. D. RICHARDSON

These suggestions included rehiring those entering retirement as consultants or part-time employees and sanctioning early quits. Different from other scholars, Howard’s approach (2022) seemed more punitive than others did, but they also showed how some employers viewed solutions to a growing problem. Other scholars chose to focus on finding the root causes of quiet quitting, such as understanding employee burnout and root causes of job stress. Such causes could be examined in the words and experiences of women entre-employees.

A Closer Look at Quiet Quitting The entre-employees of this study took their own approaches to quiet quitting, with reasons mirroring prior research: detachment, disengagement, company violations, and burnout. Prior to quietly quitting, the participants’ schedules looked like an overview of typical managerial/organizational leadership schedules, with general periods in which to complete work. However, this did not mirror what was truly taking place. The participants had work responsibilities taking longer than expected, with more work duties being completed outside of standard work hours. While some of this is expected in any career where one performs as a leader, this was occurring regularly for the participants. Adding sexism, racism, and inequitable work policies to the entre-employees’ experiences increased episodes of job stress and anxiety. As entre-employees, the entrepreneurial side took place at various hours as well, which is to be expected also. By reflecting on their (1) job roles, (2) the time the women already gave to their employers, and (3) the life that they wanted to lead, many of the participants took the stance to only do what was required of them in order to achieve the proverbial work-life balance. As one participant stated: I’ve been so busy doing extra work [for the primary job] that I haven’t had time to do what I was actually hired to do.

Women have been trying to find work-life balance for decades. Some felt that it was possible to have it all (career and family at the same time), while others believed that one could have it all, just not at the same time. The dream of creating a work-life balance has remained just that for some: a dream. During the 1970s and 1980s, work-life balance emerged as Baby Boomers looked to stabilize having a career and family (Kossek et al.,

8

REIMAGINING QUIET QUITTING

113

2010). Generation Xers endeavored to find more of the balance side, as work was already achieved. This generation, along with Millennials and Generation Zers, moved the concept forward to expand their ideas of balance and focus on work-life integration: the blending of work and the rest of life, resulting in a wish for more remote work options and flexible work schedules. However, for the entre-employees in managerial and leadership positions, quiet quitting seemed to provide the real balance. By taking more control of their work schedules and focusing solely on their job descriptions, entre-employees found better ways to enjoy the multiple identities they held. As an example, below represents the new schedule of an entre-employee who utilizes the concept of quiet quitting: While this schedule (Table 8.1) may still present itself as ideal and not a reality, entre-employees use quiet quitting; identifying that work will always be present and many components of it can (and should) be saved for the next day. Therefore, they stop working at a reasonable time to enjoy their other roles: entrepreneur, parent, spouse, friend, and more. Entre-employees reimagining quiet quitting in terms of work-life balance means that they gain more autonomy over their lives, holistically, not just logistically. The participants showed that quiet quitting fit work into a more realistic period (50–60 scheduled hours vs. random hours throughout the day equating to 70 + hours per week). As a result, participants gained more control over work expectations and could still lead effectively, while building their businesses and saving time for other areas of life in a more suitable way. Prior to quiet quitting, participants navigated their workdays in a semischeduled way. For example, they knew that they had to work from 9am–6 pm or 7:30am–4:45 pm, but the blocks within the day were not Table 8.1 Work schedule of entre-employee post quiet quitting Time

Activity

7:30 am–9am 10–12 pm 12p–1p 1–2p 2–3:30p 3:30–4:30p 4:30–5:30p

Travel, read and respond to emails Staff meeting and report writing Working lunch Board meeting Block time: complete reports; catch up on emails and phone calls Meetings Plan for next day and wrap up last minute emails and reports

114

S. D. RICHARDSON

fully planned due to unclear work expectations, not necessarily work interruptions (although those remained present). As a result, the participants did what was asked of them at random, instead of what was planned for the day, mostly. When an emergency occurred, they often stopped what they were doing to take care of said emergency (even if it was not an emergency in their work areas). As a result, the work that they were supposed to complete for the day moved to late night or weekend work, which interrupted the rest of their lives. As one participant explained: I have a full time job, take care of my children, care for my elderly parents, and I have my business. Plus, I still want some time for friends and a life. What has helped me get things done was getting more disciplined in my time management. I schedule everything. I live by my calendar.

Starting businesses, along with reflecting on their work treatment over the pandemic, allowed the participants to consider better ways to work. In order to grow a business, work effectively at the primary job, and still have time for family, the entre-employees realized that their schedules and expectations needed to change. This led to them reimagining quiet quitting. While still managing to perform their job duties, which included leadership duties, the participants rescheduled their workdays so that they would have time to develop their businesses in the evenings and on weekends, without sacrificing their well-being. They also asked for clearer and well-documented job expectations, which served as a needed challenge to the workplace culture. While leadership duties could not be scheduled, scheduling the rest of their job duties allowed them to make better use of their time as leaders (i.e. caring for direct reports, advocating for employees, managing projects, etc.).

Conclusion Quiet quitting did not reveal itself to be as new as some may have believed. Instead, it was a direct extension of job stress, burnout, and organizational mistrust, to name a few. These areas remained present in the lives of entre-employees; yet, their passion and purpose for their lines of work remained intact. As a result, they did not want to leave their fields of work, but they did want more autonomy over their lives. This included making time for other aspects of their lives such as their businesses, families, friends, and simple life enjoyment. Quiet quitting became

8

REIMAGINING QUIET QUITTING

115

the best option for them; however, employers need not view it as a passing phase. The root causes of quiet quitting are in past descriptions of job stress, detachment, and disengagement. Therefore, organizations might fare better in working with entre-employees (and all employees) in order to provide needed solutions to a growing work and life challenge.

References Aslam, U., Muqadas, F., Kashif Imran, M., & Rahman, U. U. (2018). Investigating the antecedents of work disengagement in the workplace. Journal of Management Development, 37 (2), 149–164. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD06-2017-0210 Azeem, M. U., Bajwa, S. U., Shahzad, K., & Aslam, H. (2020). Psychological contract violation and turnover intention: The role of job dissatisfaction and work disengagement. Employee Relations: THe International Journal, 42(6), 1291–1308. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2019-0372 Bazzoli, A., & Probst, T. M. (2022). COVID-19 moral disengagement and prevention behaviors: The impact of perceived workplace COVID-19 safety climate and employee job insecurity. Safety Science, 15, 1–11. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105703 Gabriel, K. P., & Aguinis, H. (2022). How to prevent and combat employee burnout and create healthier workplaces during crises and beyond. Business Horizons, 65, 183–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.02.037 Gu, Y., You, X., & Wang, R. (2020). Workplace surface acting and employee insomnia: A moderated meditation model of psychological detachment and dispositional mindfulness. The Journal of Psychology, 154(5), 367–385. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2020.1657595 Han, S. J., Bonn, M. A., & Cho, M. (2016). The relationship between customer incivility, restaurant frontline serve employee burnout and turnover intention. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 52, 97–106. Harter, J. (2022, September 6). Is quiet quitting real? Gallup. https://www.gal lup.com/workplace/398306/quiet-quitting-real.aspx Hejjas, K., Miller, G., & Scarles, C. (2019). It’s like hating puppies!: Employee disengagement and corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 157 , 319–337. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3791-8 Hochschild, A. R. (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology, 85(3), 551–575. https://www.jstor.org/sta ble/2778583 Howard, J. G. (2022, November). Managing in an era of higher staff turnover and quiet quitting. Business in Vancouver.

116

S. D. RICHARDSON

Kashif, M., Braganca, E., Awang, Z., & De Run, E. C. (2017). You abuse but I will stay: The combined effects of job stress, customer abuse, and emotional intelligence on employee turnover. Journal of Management Development, 36(7), 899–914. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-06-2016-0095 Kilroy, S., Bosak, J., Flood, P. C., & Peccei, R. (2020). Time to recover: The moderating role of psychological detachment in the link between perceptions of high-involvement work practices and burnout. Journal of Business Research, 108, 52–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.busres.2019.10.012 Kohll, A. (2018, Mar. 27). The evolving definition of work-life balance. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alankohll/2018/03/27/the-evolvingdefinition-of-work-life-balance/?sh=679681c59ed3 Kossek, E. E., Lewis, S., & Hammer, L. B. (2010). Work-life initiatives and organizational change: Overcoming mixed messages to move from the margin to the mainstream. Human Relations, 63(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0018726709352385 Malik, A. R., & Singh, P. (2020). The role of employee attributions in burnout of “talented” employees. Personnel Review, 49(1), 19–42. https://doi.org/ 10.1108/PR-02-2018-0064 Ouakouak, M. L., Zaitouni, M. G., & Arya, B. (2020). Ethical leadership, emotional leadership, and quitting intentions in public organizations: Does employee motivation play a role? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 41(2), 257–279. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-05-2019-0206 Pech, R., & Slade, B. (2006). Employee disengagement: Is there evidence of a growing problem? Handbook of Business Strategy, 21–25. https://doi.org/ 10.1108/10775730610618585 Pittman, M. (2022). Quiet quitting: A missed opportunity in messaging. Musical Merchandise Review, 18. Santhanam, N., & Srinivas, S. (2020). Modeling the impact of employee engagement and happiness on burnout and turnover intention among bluecollar workers at a manufacturing company. Benchmarking: An International Journal, 27 (2), 499–516. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-01-2019-0007 Scheyett, A. (2022). Quiet quitting. National Association of Social Workers. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swac051 Schult, T. M., Mohr, D. C., & Osatuke, K. (2018). Examining burnout profiles in relation to health and well-being in the Veterans Health Administration employee population. Stress and Health, 34, 490–499. https://doi.org/10. 1002/smi.2809 Shoshan, H. N., & Sonnentag, S. (2020). The effects of employee burnout on customers: An experimental approach. Work & Stress, 34(2), 127–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2019.1577312 Virga, D., Schaufeli, W. B., Taris, T. W., Beek, I. V., & Sulea, C. (2019). Attachment styles and employee performance: The mediating role of burnout.

8

REIMAGINING QUIET QUITTING

117

The Journal of Psychology, 153(4), 383–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/002 23980.2018.1542375 Way, K. A., Jimmieson, N. L., & Bordia, P. (2020). Supervisor conflict management climate and emotion recognition skills: Implications for collective employee burnout. International Journal of Conflict Management, 31(4), 559–580. Yener, S., Arslan, A., & Kilinc, S. (2021). The moderating roles of technological self-efficacy and time management in the technostress and employee performance relationship through burnout. Information Technology & People, 34(7), 1890–1919. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-09-2019-0462

CHAPTER 9

Ways Organizations Can Support Women Entre-Employees

Ways to Support Women Entre-Employees I absolutely love my career and I love my business as well. As long as I enjoy both [work and business], I will continue both. I like the security of my job and I enjoy my business. I have twenty years in [my field of work] and I want to extend parts of that into my business. I just need to learn how to do it to achieve my goals.

Researchers on women entrepreneurship consistently view ways in which governments support them in terms of policy and financing initiatives. However, there is little to no research on ways in which employers support women entre-employees or new entrepreneurs. In terms of women employees, there is research on ways organizations support them, but it is often from the perspective of pay equity and flexible workplace practices. While these suggestions are helpful, they do not speak to the newness of the women entre-employee. Looking at research, along with the words of the participants in this study, there are a few areas in which support can be given. It is important to understand that the type of support needed is not to entice women to leave their places of work. Instead, the types of support needed can have a positive influence on gender equality, reinforcement of social responsibility and social entrepreneurship, and narrow the pay gap and organizational © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_9

119

120

S. D. RICHARDSON

inequalities between men and women. The goal of these support mechanisms is to encourage entre-employees within their places of work, enhance the organizational workplace, and contribute to the businesses of entre-employees, positively effecting surrounding communities. Autonomy on the Job One way that employers can assist women entre-employees is by offering or continuing flexible work options. Autonomy was one area that women entre-employees emphasized as a benefit to having their own businesses. The need to have more control over one’s work hours, time with family, time for community obligations, and time for self-care increased during the pandemic and having flexible work options allowed employees to hold autonomy without decreasing the work that they completed. They actually emphasized completing more work than they expected. While some scholars view flexible work options as gendered and not necessarily equitable, they are still valuable to those employees who need this arrangement for a variety of reasons. Flexible work practices provide more autonomy over one’s job and emphasizes the idea that the completion of an employee’s work is more important than the amount of hours located in an office setting. Of course, this view and request for flexible time differs based on the position held, which leads to gender and class challenges. Therefore, policies such as flex-work scheduling should be implemented in a non-punitive way that shows that an organization truly understands the underlying needs for a flexible work schedule. It should take caregivers into consideration, not just women, and should adjust the way in which requesting time off is completed (Nash & Churchill, 2020). Within research, voicing one’s opinion or request for job autonomy seemed to work only if the person had a middle level or high-level position within the company (Cooper et al., 2021). Not all flexible options or needs for autonomy are similar; therefore, there are different ways to implement them in the workplace. The goal is to attain a more equitable organizational culture that values all employees and their needs for work-life balance. Highlight Learned Skills and Talents Another way to support entre-employees is to highlight their entrepreneurial work or skills, especially if it is benefitting the company.

9

WAYS ORGANIZATIONS CAN SUPPORT WOMEN …

121

As women entrepreneurs are more social entrepreneurs or socially responsible leaders (Hechavarria et al., 2017), looking to better the world in a particular field, it would be possible that an employee’s business could be beneficial to the company in which she works for, assuming that it is not in conflict with the company’s mission. One participant teaches at a university and operates a financial coaching business. That business could easily collaborate with the university to provide services to students and the surrounding area. In this way, the entre-employee not only grows her list of clients, but she also gives back to an institution that she already invests herself in (and that invests in her). Another way to highlight new skills or talents is to take notice of enhanced leadership skills. As the participants shared, their own leadership skills greatly developed in their primary job roles due to how they learned to lead in their businesses. From authentic leadership to selfadvocacy to ethic of care within ethical leadership, the participants learned to emphasize self-care and well-being for their direct reports while also expecting excellent work. Doing so was not simply something that they learned from their entrepreneurial endeavors. They also implemented it within their jobs as well. When employers take notice of these leadership enhancements, there is more opportunities for middle managers and leaders as they contribute to creating an environment of employee engagement, organizational citizenship, and reduced job stress (Khan et al., 2020). Help Employees Start and Grow Their Businesses Entrepreneurial learning or training occurs as a “primary way of learning for entrepreneurs to meet the complex demands and performance associated with the changing world of work” (Shen et al., 2021, p. 3). Most entrepreneurs, even those not categorized as social entrepreneurs, tend to create their businesses from the lens of social value, yet women seem to do so more than men (Brieger et al., 2021; Hechavarria et al., 2017). Entrepreneurship among women could reduce income inequality and promote social fairness and justice (Martinez-Rodriquez et al., 2022). It would help to invest in entrepreneurial education for all employees. One element of success for entrepreneurs is their level of preparedness and knowledge of the economic environment. Customer service learning, financial education in business, technology education, policy learning and more remains beneficial to entrepreneurs as well as

122

S. D. RICHARDSON

employees (Shen et al., 2021). Therefore, providing professional development and training benefits entre-employees, their own businesses, and the companies which employ them. As companies look for employees with an entrepreneurial and initiative driven mindset, the reality is that some companies do not provide resources such as professional development to train those in having said mindset. Collaborating with small business centers, citywide small business education centers, grant funders, and nonprofits that provide entrepreneurial training not only equips people for entrepreneurial work as employees, but also as future business owners. From a gendered perspective, social entrepreneurship and social responsibility has the potential to empower women to serve as change agents, positively transforming their communities. Women, more so than men, act within the guidelines of care ethic as employees as well as entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurship among women is often described as extensions of themselves (i.e. values, ethics) (Borquist & de Bruin, 2019). Values such as having a duty to making the world better, creating equality within communities, connecting to one’s faith, and considering those left out of the conversation (tenants of DEI) contribute to one’s approach of social entrepreneurship and social responsibility. While women have been change agents for centuries, assisting them in doing so via entre-employeeship could positively affect their businesses as well as the organization in which they work. Establish Equitable Workplace Policies and Practices Gender inequality often intersects with class and racial inequality. Scholars viewed work-life balance as a win–win for both “improving working lives and boosting organizational performance” (Warren, 2021, p. 525). COVID also changed the way in which employees involved themselves in the workplace. While there were complaints of Zoom-fatigue, holding meetings at various times via the platform allowed diverse groups to participate, regardless of their location. Continuing this use, when proving useful, could contribute to equitable workplace practices (Siegrist, 2022). However, there are constraints when discussing worklife balance. To promote a healthier work environment, the focus should be more holistic and non-punitive practices, addressing larger systemic inequities. While the initial thought was to make work and life easier for parents (i.e. middle and upper level women leaders), the focus needs to expand to those who work in various wage and class levels and to those

9

WAYS ORGANIZATIONS CAN SUPPORT WOMEN …

123

who take on multiple roles, not just as parents, but as overall caregivers, for example (Foley Cooper, 2021; Warren, 2021). A way that employers can support entre-employees is through equitable workplace policies. This may begin by restructuring and rewriting job descriptions so that they are less vague for the applicant and show clearer ways that an employee would be evaluated on the job. For private companies, and even public ones, transparency of salaries could also prove productive in establishing equity. Oftentimes, companies create workplace policies and practices for the mythical employee: Single, heterosexual, male with little to no responsibility outside of work. In reality, all employees regardless of identity are multifaceted, hold many interests, are responsible for others, and/or have out of work obligations. Changing workplace policies and practices that are inclusive of a diverse workforce benefits everyone. Address Gender Pay Gaps and Equitable Work As women age, their pay gaps widen to the point where they have earned approximately 75% of what men make close to the end of their careers (DiStasio, 2022). Not only that, but women are still less represented in leadership positions compared to men. Often gendered work (visible and invisible) results in unequal pay between men and women, which is not an individual issue but a systemic issue (Wagner & Teigen, 2022). Despite comparable educational and skill levels, it is important for organizations to question why a wage gap continues to exist among their male and female employees. Even more, why (if so) does a wage gap exist pertaining to race and other identities? When gender inequality of any kind is perceived in an organization, men and women tend to speak less about it and are consulted less about perceived inequalities, even when they have a problem with it (Cooper et al., 2021). The women entre-employees often emphasized having to justify the ways in which they valued their employment, by staying in the office later than normal work hours to show dedication to the job and/or risking time with family to prove their commitment to work. At the same time, taking on additional work or staying late did not result in increased resources such as additional staff assistance or pay increases; therefore, there seemed to be no benefit to them aside from the ability to keep their jobs. Addressing inequality in the workplace in terms of wages and resources, along with establishing clear career paths, can lead to more equitable work practices and evaluation systems (Foley & Cooper, 2021).

124

S. D. RICHARDSON

Organizations addressing pay gaps early in one’s careers and correcting those gaps can also influence pay equity for everyone. The result could be an entre-employee who is less detached or disengaged from work and less likely to quietly quit or leave altogether. Clearly Address Discriminatory Practices Another reason women employees began their own businesses was due to a lack of accountability of discriminatory practices at work. Within their own companies, they made a sincere effort to ensure that (1) any issues of employee discrimination were immediately heard and addressed and (2) clear employee expectations were viewed and discussed. However, within their places of employment, it was much harder to voice their thoughts either individually or collectively with others, aligning to other studies on voice in the workplace (Cooper et al., 2021). One way employers can relieve work detachment and episodes of quiet quitting is to address episodes of discrimination and inequality in a quick and fair manner, especially if they occur between an employee and their supervisor. “Black women do not feel that their whole selves are valued or included at work, and therefore manage their identities by shifting or code-switching” (McCluney & Rabelo, 2019, p. 144) or identity-shifting (Dickens et al., 2022) “to downplay their race and gender” (McCluney & Rabelo, 2019, p. 144). Often, supervisors told Black women and women of color to perform certain duties in order to succeed on the job such as selfpromote or involve themselves in projects (instead of appointing them to projects). However, gender and racial discrimination is the problem of the one exhibiting discriminatory practices, not the one receiving discriminatory practices. Holding organizational leaders, including boards of directors accountable for diversity hiring, training, and belonging, as well as investing in the talent of Black women and other women of color is one way to provide support without placing the responsibility on the employees. Another way to support women entre-employees in the workplace is through mentorship and sponsorship (Chow, 2021; McCluney & Rabelo, 2019). While mentorship is between the mentor and the mentee, sponsorship is often between the person of influence and the greater audience in support of the mentee or one receiving sponsorship. Women of color, especially, often receive less sponsorship compared to White men, White women, Black men, and other racially minoritized males. At work (but

9

WAYS ORGANIZATIONS CAN SUPPORT WOMEN …

125

also through entrepreneurship), mentorship and sponsorship initiatives could narrow the wealth gap between women and men, as well as Black women and other groups. Most of the participants did not feel comfortable voicing sexist and/or racist discrimination in the workplace if it had to go through their supervisors and/or if it involved their supervisor. Therefore, providing training and fair pipelines to report abuse on the job could lead to less job stress, disengagement, and turnover, making work and business positive experiences. Provide DEIBJ Training Our society and organizations have developed- consciously and unconsciously- cultures, which stratify across social identities … The result is preferential treatment for certain identities and organizational skepticism by those who do not possess those identities, particularly when a critical mass of diverse persons is absent. (Gentle-Genitty et al., 2021, p. 383)

During tumultuous times in the U.S., many organizations created diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) missions and statements for their companies. Yet, some leaders did not hold DEI trainings to enforce the mission or they did not hold ongoing trainings. At the same time, other organizations enhanced their missions, statements, and trainings. In order to support entre-employees and all employees, organizations should consider (1) revising outdated DEI missions and statements, (2) enhancing trainings to include belonging and even justice (DEIBJ), and (3) ensuring that trainings and workshops occur at various levels of the organizations. In other words, prosocial, ongoing, actionable, and evaluative trainings should be the focus for a diverse and inclusive work environment (Esquierdo-Leal & Houmanfar, 2021). It is important for organizations to remember that diversity and inclusion are not the same and should not be used interchangeably. While there exists various definitions for both across scholarship, in short, diversity refers to ensuring that a variety of identities are represented within organizations, while inclusion ensures that the voices of those diverse identities are included or situated at the decision-making table (Adamson et al., 2021). Offering trainings and workshops on inclusion, microagressions in the workplace, current issues within DEI research and programming, tokenism, retention, invisibility, and hypervisibility, microaffirmations,

126

S. D. RICHARDSON

and cultural competencies are just a few topics to cover within organizations (Olzmann, 2020). Creating buy-in by making the trainings optional can make the requirement of the workshops easier to enforce in later years. While discrimination on the job is an ongoing issue, it is also important that top organizational leaders continue to provide education to employees, leaders, and stakeholders invested in the organization. Not doing so assumes that everyone at an organization has the education and skills needed to act in a justice oriented way; however, this causes hardships when violations occur. As the entre-employees shared in their stories, there were multiple instances when they felt discriminated against within their places of work and they had to make choices as to whether they should voice their concerns. Whether they did or did not voice their concerns, they worked to build equitable practices within their own places of work to ensure that their employees and customers received fair treatment. Yet, not every employee is comfortable addressing those concerns within their own places of work. This is where education and training can prove helpful. Ongoing DEIBJ training could help entre-employees remain engaged at work and contribute their knowledge and talents to the organizations, while also growing their businesses. Employees who believe that they are in a supportive environment where leaders establish dedication to equity, diversity, and inclusion are more likely to engage in work and contribute to bettering their organizational culture (Gentle-Genitty et al., 2021). Openly Support Entrepreneurship There remain many forms of entrepreneurship within the workplace: professors who serve as consultants. Bankers who sell paintings at craft fairs. Vice presidents who conduct national trainings. Presidents who operate nonprofits. There are many examples of entre-employees; however, there is also a key difference. Some entre-employees have the support of their organizational leaders, while other entre-employees operate their businesses quietly. For those who have support from their leaders, they seem to hold more autonomy over their work schedule when they need to. They also have encouragement from their leaders. As one participant stated:

9

WAYS ORGANIZATIONS CAN SUPPORT WOMEN …

127

The great thing about my [place of work] is that they allow me a lot of wiggle room for me to explore my creative side. My VP said, “You’re so talented” [with my business] “that I want you to be able to do both” [work and business].

However, many entre-employees did not feel that they had this type of support. While they could find no company policy that discouraged operating a business, organizational culture implied that anything outside of devoting oneself to work was unacceptable. Therefore, organizational leaders who openly support entre-employees could help change the culture. Recommending an entre-employee with a specific talent (gained through their business) to serve on committees or to represent the departmental unit could serve as encouragement to the employee, but also to other entre-employees. Allowing employees to discuss openly what they have learned through their businesses and how that learning contributes to organizational goals is another way to support entre-employees, publically. As entre-employees express ways to integrate their lives more, having organizational support is one way to achieve this, collaboratively.

Conclusion While there remain additional ways to assist women entre-employees in the workplace, starting by creating an equitable organizational culture remains a key strategy. As mentioned before, entre-employees are not looking to leave their primary places of work for their launched businesses. They are navigating both roles; yet, there are needs to fill at their places of employment. Investigating reasons why the entre-employees launch their own companies revealed common challenges at work: lack of autonomy, unequitable pay for equal work, gender, and racial discrimination, perceived lack of voice, and an environment of organizational mistrust are just a few. Addressing the challenges not only assist entreemployees, but improve organizational culture and performance, and can aid in reduced job stress.

128

S. D. RICHARDSON

References Adamson, M., Kelan, E., Lewis, P., Sliwa, M., & Rumens, N. (2021). Introduction: Criticallyinterrogating inclusion in organisations. Organization, 28(2), 211–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508420973307 Borquist, B. R., & de Bruin, A. (2019). Values and women-led social entrepreneurship.International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 11(2), 146–165. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-08-2018-0093 Brieger, S. A., De Clercq, D., & Meynhardt, T. (2021). Doing good, feeling good? Entrepreneurs; social value creation beliefs and work-related well-being. Journal of Business Ethics, 172, 707–725.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551020-04512-6 Chow, R. (2021, June 3). Don’t just mentor women and people of color. Sponsor them. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/06/dontjust-mentor-women-and-people-of-color-sponsor-them Cooper, R., Mosserio, S., Vromen, A., Baird, M., Hill, E., & Probyn, E. (2021). Gender matters: A multilevel analysis of gender and voice at work. British Journal of Management, 32, 725–743. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551. 12487 Dickens, D. D., Hall, N. M., Watson-Singleton, N. N., Mitchell, C., & Thomas, Z. (2022). Initial construction and validation of the identity shifting for Black women scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 46(3), 337–353. https://doi. org/10.1177/03616843221089330 DiStacio, C. (2022, September 27). Inspiring and supporting women entrepreneurs. ADP Spark. https://www.adp.com/spark/articles/2022/09/ inspiring-and-supporting-women-entrepreneurs.aspx Esquierdo-Leal, J. L., & Houmanfar, R. A. (2021). Creating inclusive and equitable cultural practices by linking leadership to systemic change. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14, 499–512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-02000519-7 Foley, M., & Copper, R. (2021). Workplace gender equality in the post-pandemic era: Where to next? Journal of Industrial Relations, 63(4), 463–476. https:// doi.org/10.1177/00221856211035173 Gentle-Genitty, C., Merrit, B., & Kimble-Hill, A. C. (2021). A model for crafting diversity, inclusion, respect, and equity (DIRE) policy statements toward catalyzing organizational change. American Chemical Society Central Science, 7 , 383–391. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsentsci.0c01533 Hechavaria, D. M., Terjesen, S. A., Ingram, A. E., Renko, M., Justo, R., & Elamn, A. (2017). Taking care of business: The impact of culture and gender on entrepreneurs’ blended value creation goals. Small Business Economics, 48, 225–257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-016-9747-4

9

WAYS ORGANIZATIONS CAN SUPPORT WOMEN …

129

Khan, M. A., Ismail, F. B., Hussain, A., & Alghazali, B. (2020). The interplay of leadership styles, innovative work behavior, organizational culture, and organizational citizenship behavior. SAGE Open, 1–16,. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 2158244019898264 McCluney, C. L., & Rabelo, V. C. (2019). Conditions of visibility: An intersectional examination of Black women’s belongingness and distinctiveness at work. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 113, 143–152. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.jvb.2018.09.008 Martinez-Rodriquez, I., Quintana-Rojo, C., Gento, P., & Callejas-Albinana, F. E. (2022). Public policy recommendations for promoting female entrepreneurship in Europe. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 18, 1235–1262. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-021-00751-9 Nash, M., & Churchill, B. (2020). Caring during COVID-19: A gendered analysis of Australian university responses to managing remote working and caring responsibilities. Gender, Work, and Organization, 27 , 833–846. https://doi. org/10.1111/gwao.12484 Olzmann, J. A. (2020). Diversity through equity and inclusion: The responsibility belongs to all of us. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 31, 2757–2760. Shen, Y., Wang, Q., Hua, D., & Zhang, Z. (2021). Entrepreneurial learning, selfefficacy, and firm performance: Exploring moderating effect of entrepreneurial orientation. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/ fpsyg.2021.731628 Siegrist, F. (2022). Supporting women entrepreneurs in developing countries: What works? Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi). https://we-fi. org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/We-Fi-Evidence-Paper.pdf Wagner, I., & Teigen, M. (2022). Egalitarian inequality: Gender equality and pattern bargaining. Gender, Work and Organization, 29, 486–501. https:// doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12774 Warren, T. (2021). Work-life balance and gig work: Where are we now and where to next with the work-life balance agenda? Journal of Industrial Relations, 63(4), 522–545. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221856211007161

CHAPTER 10

Conclusion and Further Research

What We Now Know About the Woman Entre-Employee Through this research and the participants’ stories, we now know that women entre-employees are different from sole entrepreneurs, employees, those who hold side gigs, and those who work multiple jobs; they encompass both worlds of employee and entrepreneur. They enjoy their work, yet a separate passion to help society leads them to launching their businesses. They are often morally and socially responsible people, which directly influences their business ventures and they have plans to serve and create jobs to other overlooked populations. Women entre-employees hold different identities where owning a business can prove flexible. Many of them are caregivers, employees, and community volunteers. They are leaders within their fields of work and many hold intentions of moving forward within their places of employment. Financially, they fund their own businesses, but that is not entirely by choice. Funding models and requirements do not yet prioritize startups in a helpful way or needs-based businesses that profit lower amounts of money. This makes it difficult for entre-employees to secure grants and/or business loans. Therefore, while funding a business out of pocket is a less risky move, it is usually because it is the only option. While they face challenges as entrepreneurs, the benefit of autonomy, investing

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8_10

131

132

S. D. RICHARDSON

in one’s creativity, and filling a community-based need outweighs the consequences of entrepreneurship. Within their places of work, there are many reasons that speared the entre-employees need for starting a business. As leaders and middle managers, others report to them and the entre-employees lead in the way that is most ethical and authentic to their true selves. They learned leadership attributes from role models and the attributes cross over from their places of work to their own businesses, which is most natural to them, as there is no division between the public and private sphere. They care for their direct reports and want them to be well, holistically. However, the entre-employees do not always get that same care and consideration from their own leaders, which cause them to voice their values and self-advocate for themselves. Facing discrimination in racist and/or sexist work environments, the women entre-employees experienced organizational violations from their leaders, but not from others in their fields of expertise. In other words, quiet quitting became an option to escape the stress imposed by their supervisors; yet, their fields of employment and their businesses remained fulfilling. For those who did not want to stay at their organizations, they were not afraid to leave their places of work when the values of those organizations no longer aligned with their own morals, and they had no problem securing employment elsewhere due to having twenty or more years of work experience and expertise behind them. This also made it easier for them to continue operating their businesses. Therefore, being an entre-employee provided the most beneficial balance on time, energy, and overall well-being.

Further Research Needed This study is important because it contributes to the body of research surrounding women within work and society; however, it places special emphasis on women middle managers and women leaders as entre-employees. This emphasis is not apparent in the literature on entrepreneurship, and research about entre-employees is almost nonexistent. At the same time, there are limitations to this study. Geographically, the women in this study lived in various areas of the U.S., with very few of the participants being first generation Americans. With a growing body of research focused on migrant women and immigrant women in the U.S., understanding how they might navigate work and business as entre-employees could be the next step, especially when connecting

10

CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH

133

it to funding policies and models for small businesses, microbusinesses, and startup businesses. While there are some impressive start up grants available, many of them remain problematic with their eligibility requirements, making it almost impossible for many women-owned businesses to attain funding, let alone businesses by entre-employees. Viewing the entre-employee from various identities serves as means to getting a fuller story of challenges faced by them. This study also incorporated women who were caregivers, whether they cared for children, elderly family members, and non-able bodied family members or all. When discussing work policies such as flexible work time and remote work, scholars situated the policies as benefitting caregivers, especially parents. As I delved deeper into research, it was not surprising to see that the work policies were also gendered, focusing on ways in which to assist women who served as caregivers; however, not all entre-employees are caregivers needing time away from the office for their children. While many work environments favor traditional notions of male work, that model does not encompass an equitable work lens. Instead, the focus should be on establishing equitable work practices and policies for the various employees involved with an organization. In addition, viewing women entre-employees from a non-caregiving standpoint could help further the conversation around what equitable work practices entail. As people are delaying having children and some are opting not to have children at all, this does not mean that all employees want to spend their hours in the office. Therefore, what does that mean for the entre-employee in a diverse and inclusive work environment that reduces disengagement, burnout, detachment, and maybe quiet quitting, even? There are more opportunities for research in these areas. Finally, researching entre-employees from different identities and leadership lenses would prove beneficial to the study of organizations, leadership, and business. Diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice (DEIBJ) are hot topics in many companies and professional organizations. While there is a focus to limit the discussion of DEIBJ in some areas, there is no question that multiple organizations want to create diverse and inclusive environments for all stakeholders. This is especially important as the country continues to deal with episodes of racism and sexism. While this study is on women entre-employees, women are not the only entre-employees present. Therefore, collecting stories of entre-employees from people of different identities makes for a richer and broader understanding of a growing segment of the workforce. What challenges do

134

S. D. RICHARDSON

other people face working in organizations and leading in their businesses? How are employers assisting in helping others start and grow their businesses? More stories are needed to understand the entre-employee and why they venture into the world of entrepreneurship, while also choosing to work for someone else. At this point, the possibilities are endless.

Index

A African American, 8, 14–16, 21, 24, 36, 38, 45–48, 51, 53, 97 African American women, 8 authentic, ix, 5, 6, 9, 48, 73, 88, 93, 95–98, 100, 121 authenticity, 46, 87, 93, 95–99 authentic leader, 95, 97, 98 authentic leadership, 5 autonomy, 9, 20, 23, 35, 50, 52, 58–60, 63, 66, 109, 113, 114, 120, 126, 127

C caregiver duties, 31 Caregiving, 31 caretaking, 5, 61, 63, 90, 94 childcare, 30, 32, 33, 62, 106 code switching, 47 Collective burnout, 109 Coronavirus pandemic, 24 corporate social responsibility (CSR), 74–76 COVID-19, 24, 29–31, 33–37, 52, 58, 61, 94, 122 customer service, 106, 108, 109

B barriers, 21, 46, 50, 65 belonging, 21, 25, 46, 49, 66, 97, 124, 125, 133 Black, 13, 16–18, 24, 31, 33, 45–48, 50, 51, 72, 75, 124 burnout, 9, 73, 100, 105, 106, 108–110, 112, 114, 133

D DEIBJ, 125, 126, 133 Detachment, 106 discrimination, 6, 9, 14, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, 25, 45, 47–51, 53, 58, 65, 67, 94, 124–127 disengaged employee, 107 diverse, 9 diversity, 4, 18, 36, 37, 45, 48, 49, 66, 96, 124–126

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 S. D. Richardson, Making the Entrepreneurial Transition, Palgrave Studies in Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization in Business, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29211-8

135

136

INDEX

diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), 75, 122

E entre-employees, vii, ix, 2, 3, 5–9, 13, 22–25, 29, 30, 34, 35, 38, 40, 45, 50, 53, 54, 60, 64, 66, 71–76, 79–81, 90, 92, 94, 95, 98–100, 108, 110, 112–114, 119–127, 131–134 equitable, 9 equity, 4, 25, 45, 49, 67, 119, 124, 126, 133 ethical leadership, 7, 9, 73–76, 82, 88, 96, 121 Ethic of care, 7, 81, 88, 92 care ethic, 5 ethics, 71–76, 81, 82, 88, 92, 96–98, 100, 122

F family-friendly, 59, 60, 63 family-friendly policies, 19, 59 female entrepreneurship, 21 flexibility, 20, 23, 29, 34, 58–60, 67, 95 flexible work, 35, 54, 59, 90, 91, 94, 113, 120, 133 funding, 2, 5, 6, 22, 24, 35, 36, 38, 40, 82, 133

G gender, 6, 8, 13–18, 22–25, 36, 46, 47, 49–51, 53, 57–62, 64–66, 75, 87, 89, 94–96, 98, 119, 120, 123, 124, 127 gendered, 16, 19, 20, 40, 57, 62, 65, 120, 122, 123, 133 gender equality, 8, 23, 25, 46, 60, 119

gender inequality, 122 gender inequities, 58 Great Resignation, 31, 91, 111 H Hispanic, 18 hypervisibility, 5, 48, 125 hypervisible, 47, 48 I identities, viii, 9, 46, 49, 50, 61, 94, 98, 113, 123–125, 133 identity shifting, 46–48 identity switching, 47 inclusion, 4, 17, 45, 48, 49, 125, 126, 133 inequitable, 57–59, 107, 112 Invisibility, 48 J job stress, 47, 73, 80, 109, 112, 114, 121, 125, 127 justice, 16, 49, 79, 110, 121, 125, 126, 133 L Latinas, 17 leaders, 3, 4, 46, 53, 59–62, 64, 65, 72–74, 76–78, 80, 81, 87, 88, 90, 91, 94–100, 106–108, 110, 114, 121, 122, 125, 126, 131, 132 leadership, ix, 5, 6, 9, 15, 18, 32, 46, 50, 53, 54, 57, 58, 61, 64, 66, 72–81, 87–90, 93, 95–100, 107–109, 112–114, 121, 123, 133 lockdown, 29, 30, 32, 37, 38, 61, 65, 94 loud quitters, 111

INDEX

M marriage bar, 13 microaggressions, 49, 53 middle-class women, 14 moral entrepreneur, 73, 79 moral person, 79 mothers, 3, 15, 17, 19, 30, 33, 58, 65, 93

N narrative inquiry, 7 Narrative research, 7 necessity-driven business, 37 needs-oriented businesses, 5 Networking, 6, 34

O Online, 34 organizational citizen, 46 organizational culture, viii, 5, 57, 62, 63, 66, 67, 78, 107, 120, 126, 127 organizational leaders, viii, 9, 59, 62, 66, 81, 106, 107, 110, 111, 124, 126, 127 Organizations, 17, 30, 59, 66, 124

P pandemic, 8, 24, 25, 29–37, 39, 40, 46, 51, 52, 58, 60, 61, 65–67, 94, 108, 110, 111, 114, 120 participants, viii, 3, 5, 7–9, 34, 37–39, 45, 47, 49, 50, 52–54, 60, 62, 65, 67, 72, 73, 79, 81, 82, 89–95, 98–100, 112–114, 119, 121, 125, 132 part-time, 2, 3, 13, 19, 29, 31–33, 65, 67, 112

137

Q quiet quitting, 9, 107–115, 124, 133

R racial inequality, 122 racially minoritized, 17, 22 racism, 17, 45, 49, 53, 62, 112

S Self-advocacy, 5, 93, 95 Self-employment, 35 sexism, 8, 17, 53, 62, 112 sexual harassment, 62 small businesses, 5 social constructions, 13 social constructs, 61, 63, 64, 76 social entrepreneurs, 6, 37, 38, 121 social entrepreneurship, 6 social justice, 25 social media, 34 social responsibility, 3, 6, 71–77, 80, 81, 119, 122 Strikes, 15

T technostress, 110

W well-being, 7, 20, 46, 89, 106, 108, 110, 111, 121 woman entre-employee, vii–ix, 3, 4, 7, 8, 23, 24 women, vii, ix, 1–5, 7–9, 13–25, 30–40, 45–51, 53, 57–67, 71, 72, 75, 76, 79–81, 87–90, 92–94, 100, 106, 112, 119–124, 127, 132, 133 women entrepreneurs, 2, 20, 22, 24, 34, 36, 37, 40, 51, 76, 121

138

INDEX

women entrepreneurship, 36, 119 women of color, 8, 13, 15, 17, 21, 24, 37, 46, 50, 124

women-owned businesses, 20, 36, 51, 133 workplace policies, 46, 58, 60, 123 work stress, 60, 62, 106