Ismail, Maimunah

Universiti Putra Malaysia Institutional Repository

FOR Category F20100: Social SciencesCAREER MOTIVATION OF MALAY WOMENENTREPRENEURS: A MALAYSIAN CASEMaimunah IsmailDepartment of Extension Education, Faculty of EducationalStudiesUniversiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor,¥alaysiaK_eywords: career motivation, women entrepreneurs,gender studies.IntroductionMalaysian women have made remarkable advances in theeconomy over the past three decades, one of which is theparticipation in entrepreneurship. Specific to Malay women,this phenomenon has been the result of the intensification ofMalay's involvement in the various sectors of the economypromoted during the New Economic Policy (NEP) (1971-1990) and post-NEP. There have been affirmative actionstargeted to the segment of the population to transform theirsocio-economic status from a dependent community to oneof an enterprising type. The positive changes towards makingentrepreneurship as a career option for women have alsobeen due to a new self-awareness and willingness amongwomen to take risks in their economic lives as a result oftheir advancement in education (Maimunah, 1996). Thisstudy aims to examine other socio-economic factors moti-vating Malay women to choose entrepreneurship as a career.Materials and MethodsThe data for the study were collected using in-depth inter-views to selected women entrepreneurs. The informants wereselected from the directory of women entrepreneurs of theMinistry of Entrepreneurs Development based on the fol-lowing criteria: (1) they had been in entrepreneurship for atleast five years; (2) the informants were bona fide ownersand managers of the enterprise; and (3) the informants repre-sented diverse type of businesses. All interviews were doneat their working place. A major question posed in each inter-view was: "What motivated you to make decision to ventureinto an entrepreneurship?" An audiotape recorder was usedin an interview, lasted for one to two hours. A transcriptionwas done soon after each interview before another interviewappointment was executed .. Based on the above procedures atotal of 16 women entrepreneurs were taken as the study in-formants. The constant comparative method (Glaser andStrauss, 1967) was done for the formation of data categoriespertaining to motivations of women's entry into entrepre-neurship.Results and DiscussionSix major themes were generated relating to women's deci-sion to venture into entrepreneurship. Family background:In each interview, the informants initially mentioned theirfamily background that covers their childhood up to presentlife. Informants repeatedly mentioned that business, even at avery small scale, was the job of their parents (either father ormother) when they were young. Previous experience inwork and business-related activities: Informants felt thatpast experiences in work and business-related activities af-fected their decisions to venture into entrepreneurship. In-formants revealed similar experiences that their past experi-ences in part-time business as direct selling agents motivated~em to venture into their present enterprises. Previous expe-nences taught them to be opportunistic in business, innova-tive, adventurous, and brave. National and religious values:All informants mentioned that they started entrepreneurshipas a result of their awareness that being a Malay in a multi-racial country of Malaysia, they should participate actively inthe economy. A religious value commonly mentioned by in-formants was, " A Muslim must capitalise the fact that nineout of the ten sources of income in life are in business".Gender awareness: A consensus was reached that the infor-mants started business as a result of their awareness to in-crease women's participation, particularly the Malays, inbusiness. Educational Experiences: Education influenceswomen's decision to choose entrepreneurship as their careerparticularly when their fields of specialisation are related toeconomics, business administration, hotel and catering, mar-keting and finance. Opportunity: The study revealed that op-portunity was related to a time when the informants startedtheir business coincident with other important events such asat the end of economic recession in 1988/89, when someonesuch as parents wanted to hand over business to one of theirchildren, and husbands wanted to find partners in business.ConclusionsThis analysis showed that women ventured into entrepre-neurship were influenced by six inter-related motivationalfactors. Family background was important since it serves asrole models on entrepreneurial interest and desirability ..Educational experience was important in motivating womento start a business as career because tertiary education buildsthe cognitive and affective capacity of women (Maimunah,1997). National and religious values, and opportunity weretwo dimensions of motivations peculiar to Malay businesscommunity in Malaysia (Maimunah, 1998).ReferencesGlaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L. 1967. The Discovery of GroundedTheory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago: Aldine.Maimunah Ismail. 1996. Gender needs analysis of women entrepre-neurs. Pertanika JOUT7Ul1 of Social Science and Humanities. 4(1):1-9.Maimunah Ismail. 1997. Malaysian Rural-Urban Transformation:The role of Higher Education in Developing Professional in En-trepreneurship. Paper presented at SEARCA Fellows AssociationRegional Seminar (Bogor Chapter), 5-6 September, 1997, Bio-trop- Bogor, Indonesia.Maimunah Ismail. 1998. Career motivation of Malay women entre-preneurs: A Malaysian case. JOUT7Ul1 of Adult Education and De-velopment. 51 (Autumn): 9-22.Supported by IRPA Grant 07-02-04-0002353

Career motivation of Malay women entrepreneurs: a Malaysian case

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Career motivation of Malay women entrepreneurs: a Malaysian case

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