Family Support And Psychological Empowerment: Women Entrepreneurs In The UAE

Abstract

Being an entrepreneur can be challenging irrespective of gender and age. Women’s entrepreneurial journey is ridden with many more complexities of time, circumstance and access. This research paper aims to examine the relation between family support and psychological empowerment among female entrepreneurs residing in the UAE. It also examines the impact of family support on psychological empowerment. The extent of psychological empowerment across different age groups has also been examined. The sample size consists of 80 respondents who were administered the Psychological Empowerment in the Workplace scale by Spreitzer & Gretchen (1995) to measure psychological empowerment and Perceived Social Support Family Scale by Procidano & Heller (1983) to measure family support. It has been hypothesized that there is a positive correlation between psychological empowerment and family support. Secondly, it has been assumed that female entrepreneurs have high levels of psychological empowerment irrespective of the age group. Lastly, it has been hypothesized that family support positively impacts family support residing in the United Arab Emirates. Purposive sampling was used to connect with subjects, thereafter a snowball sampling method was used to create the research cohort. Findings suggest that there is a strong positive correlation between psychological empowerment and family support among female entrepreneurs residing in the U.A.E. Secondly, family support also positively impacts psychological empowerment among female entrepreneurs in the U.A.E. Third, psychological empowerment increases with age. Future researchers could replicate similar studies for male entrepreneurs residing in the United Arab Emirates. A comparative study may be a good extension in future, conducted across different parts of the world to identify, analyze and explain similarities and differences across societies with regards to the family support received by entrepreneurs.