Predictors of Multidimensional Well-Being in Women Entrepreneurs in France and the US: Family Business Demands and Sense of Coherence

Women who are entrepreneurs report aspiring to "be" and "do" well in important areas of their lives while meeting demands from multiple sources. Influenced by Frankenhaeuser (1991) and Antonovsky (1987, 1994a, 1994b), this study was designed to partially test a proposed model of multi-dimensional wellbeing applicable to women entrepreneurs (women entrepreneurs) in family businesses that included two salutogenic criteria (quality of life and position on a disease-health continuum related to physical, psychological, interpersonal and social role functioning) and three predictors (environmental demands from family and business sources and sense of coherence or SOC). The SOC construct, referring to a global orientation that the world is meaningful, comprehensible, and manageable, was of particular interest. The study tested elements of a new model of well-being in women entrepreneurs within family businesses adapted from the conceptual framework offered by one resiliency scholar (Frankenhaeuser, 1994). Additionally, the work of several other resiliency scholars (Antonovsky, 1994a; McCubbin, McCubbin, Thompson & Thompson, 1995) influenced the operationalization of variables. Frankenhaeuser, a Swedish psycho-physiological occupational stress researcher, has spent the past twenty- five years examining the impact of stress on workers' health. Recently she has taken a salutogenic orientation which is gender sensitive and recognizes the cumulative effect of work and non-work stress on the individual's productivity and well-being. While she has studies production line workers, support staff, managers, and professionals, Frankenhaeuser has not examined entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs in France and the United States agreed to participate in an anonymous survey. The French data was collected through the Aquitaine Europe Communication. The sample reflected ethnic diversity and representation from sparsely and densely populated areas. Consistent with prior research, the results showed that demands from family and business sources and SOC were significantly associated with both dimensions of well-being. The results of separate hierarchical regressions indicated that the three predictors, in combination, accounted for significant variance in quality of life and disease-health (31% and 60%, respectively). SOC alone accounted for 24% and 40% of the variance, respectively; while environmental demands did not contribute significantly to quality of life when SOC was entered. SOC did not moderate the demands-well-being relationships; however the results suggested that SOC may act as a mediator. Where feasible, women entrepreneurs' levels of well-being, demands, and SOC were examined and comparisons made with other groups of women. Given the evidence, SOC may be an important intervention target. This study was designed to potentially make contributions to psychology in general and the family-owned business, entrepreneurship, stress, and resiliency literatures in particular. Any new knowledge concerning women entrepreneurs will expand this occupational group's sparse empirical base. The focus on well-being honors the merit in using a salutogenic orientation, rather than a pathological one. The selection of two dimensions of well-being reflects the multiple criteria women entrepreneurs use for measuring their "success" and the multi-dimensional nature of well-being. The proposed model of well-being recognizes the contribution that both person and environment make in achieving well-being in the family business. Finally, the study asks the question, "Does sense of coherence act as a moderator in the relationship between environmental demands and well-being of women entrepreneurs in the family business?