The proportion of businesses owned by women is on the increase in many countries. These female-run firms tend to be less successful in financial terms than businesses run by men, and yet limited evidence suggests female business owners are just as satisfied with their careers as their male counterparts - a phenomenon dubbed: "the paradox of the contented female business owner".
Gary Powell and
Kimberly Eddleston surveyed 201 business owners in America (43 per cent were female) and found fresh evidence for this paradox. Compared with the male owners, the female business owners reported that their firms were less successful than rivals', in terms of traditional measures such as growth and profit. And yet, the female owners reported being just as satisfied with their business success as the men.
One explanation for the paradox is that female business owners have lower expectations for success because they recognise that they're bringing less to the business in terms of working hours and experience. However, no evidence for this explanation was found. For example, the female owners reported being better educated than the men and had been in their current position just as long.
An alternative explanation is that female business owners value business outcomes that aren't related to the traditional objectives of growth and sales. It's possible for example that female entrepreneurs are more concerned by achieving their own work-life balance, or by ensuring customer loyalty and satisfaction. Preliminary support for this explanation was found. The male business owners reported placing a much higher value on achieving business success than did the women, and for men, but not women, satisfaction tended to be higher, the greater their own business success.
Powell and Eddleston said more research was needed to uncover the values held by female business owners, but they argued their findings have immediate implications for the current "one size fits all" approach to business education. "It should not be assumed that all business owners seek to grow their businesses, or that business success necessarily leads to business owner satisfaction," they wrote.
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G POWELL, K EDDLESTON (2008). The paradox of the contented female business owner Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73 (1), 24-36 DOI: 10.1016/j.jvb.2007.12.005
译文:
女性业主“小成就，大满足”背后的秘密
女性企业主的比例在许多国家中呈不断上升的趋势。这些由女性经营的公司在经济地位上似乎比男性所经营的公司略逊一筹，然而，一些证据显示，女性业主们对她们的工作和那些男性同僚们同样满意——这种现象被戏称为：“女性业主的满意矛盾论”（"the paradox of the contented female business owner" ）。
盖瑞·波维尔和金伯利·爱德斯顿在对美国201名企业主（其中43%为女性）的调查中，发现了这一矛盾论的新证据。与男性业主相比，女性业主们承认在一些传统的计量标准，如产品增长和盈利上，确实不如自己的竞争对手，但她们对商业成功的满足感却丝毫不亚于男性。
一种对这一矛盾论的解释是女性业主对自己成功的期待值较低，因为她们认识到自己在经营时间及经验上的投入相对较少。然而，这一解释并没有证据支持。例如，女性业主们的受教育程度要优于男性，在职时间也不比他们短。
另一种解释是，女性业主在衡量商业收益上，与传统的可观增长和销售量并没有直接联系。例如，女性企业家们可能更关注她们自己事业与家庭的平衡程度，或是客户的忠诚度和满意度。这种解释还是有一定根据的。男性业主在对自己的商业成就上有着更高的要求，似乎对自己企业的满意度越高，商业成就也就越大，而这与女性业主是截然不同的。
波维尔和爱德斯顿表示，对于揭示女性业主的商业价值观还需要投入更多的研究，但他们认为他们的发现对于当前“一视同仁式”（"one size fits all"）的商业教育模式而言有着潜在的迅速影响。他们这样写道，“毫无疑问，所有的企业主们都在寻求着自身的商业增长，而商业成就也必然会诱发他们的满足感。”
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G·波维尔（G POWELL），K·爱德斯顿（K EDDLESTON）（2008） 女性业主的满足矛盾论
职场活动报（Journal of Vocational Behavior）