NEWSLETTER - EDUCATION
Did You Have a Role Model?
by Dr. Fred L. Fry, Professor of Management
Was there a special person in your life that influenced you to start your own business? If so, who was it? Your father perhaps, or maybe your mother, an uncle, or even a friend or neighbor. Research has shown that approximately 40 percent of entrepreneurs had some sort of role model who either purposely or unconsciously influenced them to begin a business.
A question arises though about just how the role model process works. We know, for example, that many children of small business owners spent their early years at the business, sometimes in a playpen. As the child aged, they were slowly given jobs around the business, and they were often hired for odd jobs as teenagers and full time in the summers during college.
We also know, of course, that many children of business owners decided not to join the ranks of entrepreneurs. We even know that many business owners encouraged their children to pursue other careers instead of joining the family business. And yet, many of those who went to other careers migrated back to the business later or started their own business. Why did that happen?
Currently, research is being done with students at Bradley University and Iowa State University to determine if the students did, indeed, have role models growing up. We have found so far that those whose parents or role models owned a business were likely to influence their children in their career choice. Interestingly, this influence is greater if the parent owned a business than if the parent were, say, a teacher or manufacturing worker. Business owners were also more likely to encourage children to follow in their footsteps than other role models were.
Once the student phase of the project is completed, the researchers will turn their attention to business owners to see if the same results occur. If you have comments about the study, please email us. We would like to hear what you have to say!