Thesis
Entrepreneurial households : the economic organisation of domestic life
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2025
- Thesis identifier
- T17244
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201394714
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- This study explores the economic organisation of the domestic lives of entrepreneurs as a foundation for understanding how entrepreneurs make a living and sustain the economic well-being of their households. To contribute to a greater appreciation of the daily experiences of ‘everyday’ entrepreneurs and their households, the study addresses three core questions. Firstly, it examines whether entrepreneurial households have different patterns of income generation and wealth accumulation compared to non-entrepreneurial households. Secondly, it explores how entrepreneurial households earn their livelihoods, and thirdly, how provisioning is undertaken within entrepreneurial households. The study adopts a qualitative dominant mixed methods design. Answering the first question entailed a secondary analysis of the UK Wealth & Assets Survey to explore the wealth and income distribution among private households in Great Britain. This enabled an understanding of the distinctiveness of economic organisation within entrepreneurial households, in comparison to their employee counterparts. The second and third research questions were addressed through comparative case studies of five entrepreneurial households. Qualitative data enabled a deeper understanding of the economic behaviour and organisation of entrepreneurial households within its real-life context. The secondary analysis uncovered notable differences in wealth accumulation patterns and income sources between entrepreneurial and employee households, indicating variations in their internal economic organisation and behaviour. The subsequent comparative multiple case study analysis went beyond economic determinism and expanded traditional economic and money-metric measures of material living conditions to capture the processual and multi-dimensional nature of provisioning in entrepreneurial households. Through a detailed examination of the lived experiences of the research participants, the study revealed the ambiguity surrounding the dominant business activity within households, asymmetric participation in work, and the variety of earned and non-earned income sources. The findings question the contribution of the business to household livelihood and situated household economic functioning within a broader spectrum of relationships, including other households, the formal economy, and the state.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Dodd, Sarah, 1964-
- Levie, Jonathan
- Carter, Sara (Professor)
- Resource Type
- Date Created
- 2023
Relations
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PDF of thesis T17244 | 2025-02-27 | Public | Download |