“How do entrepreneurial parent role models influence their children’s professional career decisions in Poland?”

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“How do entrepreneurial parent role models influence their

children’s professional career decisions in Poland?”

A multiple case study by Marcin Gaudnik, August 2018

Student name: Marcin Gaudnik

University: University of Amsterdam & Vrije University

Faculty: Economics and Business Administration

Program: M.Sc. Entrepreneurship (2017-2018)

Document: Master’s Thesis

Student ID UvA: 11660724

Student ID VU: 2629661

E-mail: mgaudnik@gmail.com

Telephone number: (+48) 781 320 196

Supervisor: Dr. Karen Verduijn

Supervisor’s e-mail: karen.verduijn@vu.nl

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Preface

The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, Marcin Gaudnik. The author is solely responsible for the content of the thesis, including mistakes. The university cannot be held liable for the content of the author’s thesis.

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Abstract

While studies on the topic of role models have experienced widespread recognition through the prism of psychological and sociological academic research, studies from a business standpoint about parental role models and their influence on children’s career decisions in the context of entrepreneurial families have not received considerable attention. Nonetheless some academic authors have made an attempted to investigate this phenomenon, although in most cases the results of their work contained a register of research gaps that essentially would require further investigation in order to fully understand the topic in its complexity. Thus, this study has made an attempt to fill out several of the afore mentioned gaps by answering the research question “How do entrepreneurial parent role models influence their children’s professional career decisions in Poland?”, while checking for three variables that could have potentially manipulated with this influence including the family’s social environment, children’s personal characteristics and the geopolitical location of the study. Due to the nascence in literature on the investigated topic, this thesis has established a qualitative approach of a multiple case study comprising a sample of four distinctive entrepreneurial families from Poland. The goal of this thesis was to build theory upon the gaps discovered in extant literature findings, while being closely guided with a set of four predetermined study propositions inspired by the above mentioned gaps and the literature review on the topic of investigation. The thesis has effectively concluded with extensive new theory and the productive discussion ultimately lead to presenting the novel findings through a list of future study suggestions, which would accordingly verify the most significant conclusions of this study as well as guide future researchers into what is imperative when studying this social phenomenon.

Keywords: entrepreneurial parents, role models, career decisions, family’s social environment, children’s personal characteristics, transition economy, Poland

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1. Introduction

This thesis examines the complexity behind the influence entrepreneurial parents have on career decisions of their children. Keeping in mind that numerous variables influence people’s decisions and that parents influence their children’s behavior in a variety of ways, the focus of this study is strictly to investigate the role model relationship between entrepreneurial parents and their children. This study will investigate how entrepreneurial parents as role models influence their children’s professional career decisions in Poland, while also checking for variables that might influence this relationship such as a family’s social environment, personal characteristics/identity of children and the geopolitical location. To clarify, this thesis adopts an approach of a qualitative multiple case study analysis, with a goal of theory building inspired by research gaps identified in extant literature. The introduction begins with a justification of the topic’s relevance, and continues with describing the research gaps, contribution to literature, setting context, research objectives, research question, and the outline of the thesis structure.

1.1 Relevance of the topic

Academic research reveals that in majority of cases, children of entrepreneurial parents are more likely to pursue a self-employment vocation rather than employment and that role models are an important factor in career decision making of individuals, though reasons for such phenomenon are ambiguous and the generalized extant research findings lack the much-needed details (Hoffmann, Junge & Malchow, 2014; Nauta & Kokaly, 2001). A child which has entrepreneurial parents is 30 to 200 percent more likely to become an entrepreneur in comparison to one with employed parents, however there is no consensus in extant research findings as to the roots of this intergenerational exchange of entrepreneurial ambitions (Lindquist, Sol & Van Praag, 2015). The explanation behind individuals becoming self-employed, which is one of the most commonly used determinants of entrepreneurship, has been a fundamental question of entrepreneurship research since the early commencement of the study field (Chlosta, Patzelt, Klein & Dormann, 2010). Attention and relevance attached to this topic is backed by the significance entrepreneurial activities have on the state of practically all world economies (Chlosta et al., 2010).

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4 Extant research has recognized that a person’s decision making is influenced by three important incentives, which are the environment, sociopsychology and identity (Blau, Gustad, Jessor, Parnes & Wilcock, 1956). Furthermore, secondhand learning has been identified as a crucial part of the career decision making process, where a person forms an appeal or a disapproval towards a specific career track based on reinforcements received through a particular model, such as a role model (Krumboltz, Mitchell & Jones, 1976). It has also been acknowledged that a professional career choice and its development, is a process which is initiated during childhood and in which family plays a central role (Paloş & Drobot, 2010). All these arguments ascertain that studying role model influence on career choices of individuals in a family context is appropriate, especially taking into account how the surrounding environment and identity of the individuals affects their role model relationships and their career decision making process.

Studies on social capital and entrepreneurial parent role models have been existent only to a limited extent, as most researchers figure that entrepreneurial parents increase the chances of their children in pursuing self-employment through, firstly, financial backing and secondly, the transfer of human capital in form of a professional network and an entrepreneurial know how (Lafuente & Vaillant, 2013; Kim, Aldrich, & Keister, 2006; Lindquist et al., 2015; Paloş & Drobot, 2010). Although, thanks to the recent increase in researchers underlining the high relevance of social capital in a career decision context, studies tackling role models in entrepreneurship are becoming more frequent in manifestation (Bosma, Hessels, Schutjens, Van Praag & Verheul, 2012; Lent, Brown & Hackett, 1994; Hoffmann et al., 2014).

The role model construct itself has been present in a wide range of extant psychological and sociological academic papers, however a lack of consistency in terms of its meaning has been repeatedly addressed (Gibson, 2004). Nevertheless, some researchers who focused on this construct in the entrepreneurial context and in recent years have made an effort to define it, such as Hoffmann et al. (2014) who claim that role models represent “a transfer or imputation of preferences and abilities for a given occupation or lifestyle through observation and social interaction between individuals” (Hoffmann et al., 2014). Hoffmann et al. (2014) was one of the most prominent academic authors who acknowledged that social-capital in form of role models is a vital factor having an effect on an individual’s decision-making process, especially concerning parental role models and the career decisions of their children.

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1.2 Research gap and contribution to literature

This thesis is inspired by several academic authors who indicated gaps in literature about role models and how they influence decisions of individuals, also within the context of entrepreneurial parent role models and their children’s career decisions. Besides gaps in literature another inspiration was a finding by Chlosta et al. (2010) who summarizes extant research on the topic of inquiry as vastly contradictious, where some studies show a positive connection between children having entrepreneurial parents and choosing a self-employment career, and other studies show the exact opposite (Chlosta et al., 2010). The identified gaps in research found below are mostly concerning the in-depth understanding of the outcomes resulting from a role model and observer relationship, as well as about the understanding of how different variables influence this relationship in a given context. The gaps identified by researchers mentioned below, motivate what will later be investigated in this thesis.

Before presenting particular gaps in extant research about how entrepreneurial parent role model influence their children’s professional career choices and other closely related themes, it is important to mention that a considerable amount of entrepreneurial research has been widely criticized on the broad-spectrum in terms of the most commonly used quantitative methodologies. Various critics have underlined the lack of refinement and consistency to building a body of knowledge and developing theories within the scope of entrepreneurial research (Scherer, Adams, Carley & Wiebe, 1989). The same critics mention that the heavily used descriptive statistics only suggest relationships between variables and are lacking in terms of evaluating associational strength or causal arrangement amongst variables (Scherer et al., 1989). While a majority of studies have documented that role model stimulations are related to professional career choices, they have not focused on the specific means that endorsed this influence (Nauta & Kokaly, 2001; Bosma et al., 2012). One of the reasons for this and the diminishing in studies about role models could be the lack of theoretical instruments designed for measuring these effects, as well as the confusion of role models with distinct constructs such as mentors (Nauta & Kokaly, 2001). Consequently, this study will make an effort to highlight, with the use of multiple case studies, the depths of how entrepreneurial parent role models influence the career decision making of their children and how various variables influence this role model relationship, by using an inductive theory building strategy.

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6 There have been multiple calls to further the depths of theoretical knowledge about role models, more particularly parental role models and their influences on the professional choices of children from entrepreneurial families. This paragraph will present calls for research from various authors whom already addressed this topic. Scherer et al. (1989) noted that new theories should be developed in the context of parental role models and entrepreneurial career choices of their children, especially focusing on: the extent to which children identify themselves with their entrepreneurial parents, family dynamics, how children value their parents achievements and why some children of entrepreneurial parents choose not to enter entrepreneurship. Nauta and Kokaly (2001) mentioned the lack of research targeting the personal characteristics/identity of children who are taking part in the career decision making process, especially focusing on the notion of openness. Gibson (2004) indicated a gap in terms of studies only concentrating on singular instead of multiple role models, how individuals choose their role models and if individuals uphold role models over time. Segal, Borgia and Schoenfeld (2005) mentioned the lack of studies about the negative influences role models and various other entrepreneurial motivators have on the career decision making of individuals. Chlosta et al. (2010) indicated the negligence in studies about why some children do and some do not determine their entrepreneurial parents as role models. They also identified gaps in terms of investigating the influence various variables have on the relationship between entrepreneurial parent role models and their children, such as: children’s personal characteristics/identity, children’s prior involvement in family business, potential family conflicts, parents involvement in the family business, entrepreneurial family communications, and state of entrepreneurial household dynamics (Chlosta et al., 2010). Finally, Chlosta et al. (2010) identified the need to differentiate in the exact career path chosen by children who are affected by the relationship with their entrepreneurial parents as role models. Bosma et al. (2012) specified a deficiency of research on entrepreneurial role models being push factors in terms of a self-employment occupation, and a deficiency regarding the usefulness of role models in terms of their observers business performance. Hoffmann et al. (2014) mentioned the shortage of consensus in terms of gender differences when it comes to career decisions of individuals effected by the role model relationship, as well as the specificity of career decision that children from entrepreneurial families choose to pursue. Lastly, Lindquist et al. (2015) indicated that past studies on the topic of inquiry have frequently omitted the type of role models which originates far from intimate social relationships, and they suggest more in-depth studies about the variety of factors influencing the relationship between entrepreneurial parent role models and their children.

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7 It is important to note that due to time constraint, only several above mentioned gaps will be addressed by this study. The chosen focus of the study, based on the afore mentioned gaps is described in subsection called Study objectives and research question of this chapter.

1.3 Transition economy- Poland

This study is based in the contextual setting of a transition economy market of Poland. A more in-depth description of Poland’s state of economy and entrepreneurial background, as well as the justification of choosing a transition economy as a research setting can be found in the next chapter titled Literature Review. Although the purpose of this thesis isn’t to compare results about the role model influences on career decisions of their observers between different regions, the arguments below act as an identification that focusing a case study analysis in the context of a less researched setting of a transition economy, can be beneficial toward existing literature.

Some academic research has proposed a connection between entrepreneurial intentions and the role model relationship in the setting of developed economies, however little is known regarding the influence entrepreneurial role models have over career choices of their observers in a transition economy circumstance (Lafuente & Vaillant, 2013). A lot of research describes role models as an influencing factor in the career decision-making process of an individual, but only few studies underline the specificity of this influence under different regions, all with different environments and cultural backgrounds (Van Auken, Stephens, Fry & Silva, 2006; Chlosta et al., 2010). An enquiry that arises in this respect is, whether entrepreneurial research under political conditions of transition economies is distinctive from research based in mature free-market economies, in which external environmental and societal surroundings are more stable and established in comparison to transition economies (Smallbone & Welter, 2001; Hoffmann et al., 2014).

In terms of Poland, there has been a marginal amount of studies investigating the development of entrepreneurial predispositions of Polish individuals, therefore researchers call to pursue with in-depth studies about entrepreneurship in this Central European country (Jones et al., 2011). Poland, offers exceptional conditions for pursuing entrepreneurial activity such as governmental benefits, competitively priced and a highly educated workforce, central positioning within the European Union and a big indigenous market (Por and White, 1991).

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8 The key aspect in Poland’s uniqueness is however the change from public to private ownership that the country experienced during the collapse of communism, initiating the process of re-privatization of publicly owned companies and consequently igniting entrepreneurship in its specific shape and form (Socha & Weisberg, 2002).

1.4 Study objectives and research question

The objective of this thesis is to investigate the influence entrepreneurial parents have on career decisions of their children. Keeping in mind that various factors influence career decision making of individuals and that parents encourage their children’s career decisions in a variety of ways, the focus of this study is targeted precisely at how entrepreneurial parents influence their children’s career decisions as their role models and what effect do specific variables have on the children’s perception of their parents as sources of social capital in the setting of Poland a Central European transition economy. The exact objectives of this study are based on the gaps in extant research findings presented in one of the previous subsections of this chapter. The identified scope of research themes found in the paragraph below is accurately connected to propositions revealed in the Literature Review chapter.

This study will focus on four general themes in relation to the topic of children’s career decisions and their parents entrepreneurial role exemplar. The subject case of the study are children whose parents are their entrepreneurial role models. Firstly, I will analyze each case in terms of the state of family relations, children’s evaluation of their childhood, children’s evaluation of their parent’s accomplishments, signs of family conflict, similarities or dissimilarities between siblings, and the parental involvement in family life compared to the family business, all in order to better understand how a family’s social environment influences the role model relationship between entrepreneurial parents and their children, as suggested by Scherer et al. (1989) and Chlosta et al. (2010). Secondly, I will focus on the personal characteristics/identity of the studied children, their identify, their openness towards other individuals, if they consider many or singular role models and how they choose them, as well as their educational and professional backgrounds; all in order to better understand how their comprehensive personal profiles influence the role model relationship between them and their entrepreneurial parent role models, as suggested by Nauta and Kokkali et al. (2001), Gibson (2004) and Chlosta et al. (2010). Thirdly, to find out how entrepreneurial parents as role models

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9 influence their children’s career decisions, I will analyze the children’s direct justification of career choice, differentiate between various specific career paths, investigate why some children of entrepreneurial parents choose not to enter entrepreneurship, why some children of entrepreneurial parents choose not to observe their parents as role models, and investigate the children’s involvement in the family business prior decision making, as suggested by Scherer et al. (1989), Segal et al. (2005), Chlosta et al. (2010) and Hoffmann et al. (2014). Lastly, I will look into the specificity of the setting to see how Poland as a transition economy has influenced the role model relationship between entrepreneurial parents and their children, through having a direct or an indirect effect on the family business development, as suggested by Van Auken et al. (2006), Chlosta et al. (2010), Lafuente et al. (2013) and Hoffmann et al. (2014).

Basing on the above mentioned study objectives as well as the fact that this study has a qualitative multiple case study approach due to its theory building nature, the research question of this thesis asks:

“How do entrepreneurial parent role models influence their children’s professional career decisions in Poland”

1.5 Outline of thesis structure

After this introduction, the Literature Review chapter will provide clear definitions of key constructs relevant to this study, descriptions of various relevant theories, a more thorough breakdown of the nature of entrepreneurship in a Poland as a transition economy and finally it will present study propositions together with the conceptual model. The following chapter titled

Methodology will describe the research design, research context and data collection tactics, as

well as the approach to data analysis and the style used to report the findings. After that, chapters Results and Analysis and Discussion and Conclusions will follow with a comprehensive in-depth analysis of the collected data and the research deductions based on the study findings. The thesis will close with a References chapter, as well as the Appendix chapter which predominantly contains the case study database.

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2. Literature Review

This literature review offers a theoretical background about how entrepreneurial parent role models influence the career decisions of their children. Firstly, the literature review defines the role model construct and the process of an individual’s career decision making. Secondly, the literature review brings up extant research findings about how role models influence people’s decisions in general. Thirdly, the literature review concentrates on the conclusions of previous studies targeting entrepreneurial parent role models and how they influence their children’s career decisions. Finally, the review provides a detailed justification of why it is beneficial to conduct this study in the context of a transition economy, as well as a short description of the state of entrepreneurship in Poland. The literature review ends with a conclusion and a relevant list of study propositions, which direct the scope of this thesis and define the borders of what exactly will be examined.

2.1 Role models and career decision making

Role modeling has been defined numerous times, by many authors, from various study fields over the course of several decades. An example of a definition, based on social learning theory, which is commonly referred to when studying this topic, is that role modeling encompasses a process of behavioral observation and further adaptation of the observed information acquired by a learner, through example rather than through direct experience (Bandura, 1977). Lately, the concept of role modeling has been picked up by entrepreneurship research where the dominantly psychological theories have been applied to various entrepreneurial analyses (Bosma et al., 2012). Although the notion of role models has been widely and diversely defined by many authors, certain similarities in these definitions are vibrant. Most definitions lead to an assumption that role models are individuals who, either through sharing inspiration or being openly admirable, have an impact on their observers (Nauta & Kokaly, 2001). The concept of role models in research has been often noted to diminish in usefulness, explanatory and descriptive power due to the common understanding of its functionality amongst people (Jung, 1986). Nevertheless, researchers still believe that studying this concept is critical to apprehend the process of people’s growth and development (Gibson, 2004; Bosma et al., 2012).

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11 Research on role models draws on two principal theoretical constructs, which include the notion of role (identifying with other people that occupy authoritative social roles) and the notion of modeling (psychological pairing of cognitive skills and behavioral patterns between a person and the observer) (Gibson, 2004; Van Auken et al. 2006). The first role identification theory, highlights the conception that people are appealed to other people in which they observe some similarity in terms of attitudes, behaviors, goals, or social status, and are then driven to improve that resemblance through observation and imitation (Gibson, 2004). The second, social learning theory, suggests that individuals attend to dummies because they can be beneficial in attaining new skills and standards (Gibson, 2004). Social learning theory, is very commonly used in studies about role models, where it strongly recommends that one-way learning emerges via the observation of behaviors in others referred to as models (Bandura, 1977).

Role models can be confused with mentors or behavioral models, but in fact they are considerably different as they usually exclude from a constrained relationship context and setting (Gibson, 2004). The two acknowledged paths through which an individual can identify a role model are either via an imposed access to a certain environment or via the process of external selection and monitoring, regardless of various physical boundaries (Gibson, 2004). Recently, a comprehensive study of entrepreneurial role models indicated that role models perform four key functions: inspiration and motivation, increasing confidence and self-efficacy, learning by example through guide lines, and learning by getting advice (Bosma et al., 2012). There have also been multiple attempts done in other to differentiate between different types of role models. Butcher and Sterling (1977), proposed five separate kinds of role models that comprise of: partial (covering only particular attributes), charismatic (admirability), stage (specified by time and context) and negative (discouragement) role models (Nauta & Kokaly, 2001). Another example of differentiation of role models, provided by Gibson (2004), distinguishes between two different dimensions. Firstly a cognitive dimension, which characterizes role models as positive versus negative (motivation versus discouragement) and global versus specific (observer selecting multiple versus few attributes). Secondly a structural dimension, which characterizes role models as cross vs distant (depending on location) and up versus down role models (specified by hierarchy structure and social status) (Gibson, 2004).

When it comes to career decision making, it has been defined as a process, which covers a significantly long period of time and involves a great deal of social and personal history (Scherer et al., 1989). A person’s career decision has been recognized as a result of three key

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12 stimuluses, which are environmental, sociopsychological and personality based (Blau et al., 1956). Secondhand learning has been identified as a crucial part of the career decision making process, where a person forms an appeal (or a disapproval) towards a specific career track basing on reinforcements received through a particular model (e.g. role model) (Krumboltz, Mitchell & Jones, 1976). It has been identified that professional career choice and development is a process which is initiated during childhood and in which the family plays a critical role, connecting variables such as family structure, role division, relationship building, system of values and attitudes, and behaviors (Paloş & Drobot, 2010). Career decision making is usually divided into either self-employment, which has been commonly assimilated with definitions of entrepreneurship, and becoming an employee (Douglas & Shepherd, 2002). There are two dominant explanations why an individual chooses to become self-employed versus becoming an employee. They include the diversity of an individual’s personality and identity such as cautiousness, and behavioral characteristics of an individual such as considering role models (Chlosta et al., 2010). An alternative explanation proposed by motivational research, is that the decision between a career of self-employment versus working for others is based on three consecutive steps: comparing the desirability of both options, assessing the required knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the tasks and activities, and finally determining risks of choosing one route over the other (Segal et al., 2005).

2.2 How role models influence people’s career decisions

Different established entrepreneurial and business studies about occupational decision making have been trying to answer the question of why some people become entrepreneurs and why some prefer other options of a professional vocation. Many researchers believe that entrepreneurs have a specific personality profile and a unique identity, allowing this differentiation to be used as a starting point in the determination of a career choice process, especially the extent of an individual’s openness (Zhao & Seibert, 2006; Scherer et al., 1989). As mentioned in the previous section, personality and an individual’s identity are one of the key aspects that are rooted within the relationship between role models and career decisions of their observers (Chlosta et al., 2010). According to Holland (1985), Rauch and Frese (2000), Hunt and Adams (1998) and Cervone (2000), personality and identity determines how individuals sense, interpret and act on information about stimuli from their environment (Chlosta et al., 2010). Besides considering personality, Lafuente and Vaillant (2013) list three

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13 separate strands of literature that seek to provide an explanation as to how role models influence the career decisions of their observers especially in terms of the entrepreneurial choice, basing on multiple examples of study findings in academic literature. First, the decision to become an entrepreneur is positively correlated with having entrepreneurial parents, through experience, financial support and even genetics (Lafuente & Vaillant, 2013). Secondly, networks and peer groups influence career decisions by encouragement or discouragement, this including the concept of role models, mentors and behavioral models (Lafuente & Vaillant, 2013). Thirdly, the surrounding environment, infrastructure, and available resources are all factors that play a role when it comes to an individual’s occupational decision (Lafuente & Vaillant, 2013).

Aging theories form the fields of psychology and sociology, also tried to explain the process of socialization and role model effects. The two most predominantly referred to in recent literature on the topic include the social learning theory by Bandura (1977), which explains why people imitate behavior, and a cognitive theory by Kohlberg (1966), which explains who people choose to imitate and why (Dryler, 1998).

Studies by Krueger (2000); Kuratko and Hodgetts (2004); Hisrich, Peters and Shepard (2005), demonstrate that role models do influence the decision-making process of career intentions, and that entrepreneurial intentions can be learned (Van Auken et al., 2006). Career decisions relate to a process in which mindsets, objectives as well as beliefs change basing on the reasoning with different forms of knowledge, experiences and views (Lent et al., 1994). Role models play a significant function in this process by providing positive as well as negative experiences for the observing individuals (Lent et al., 1994). When a person is connected with a role model, who in most cases is superior in a significant field to the observer and feels that the superior’s accomplishments are attainable, they feel positive stimuli about the interaction and through that gain inspiration and motivation (Lockwood & Kunda, 1997). Although positive effects of role models usually outweigh the negative, there is still a substantial risk that the observer feels inferiority and anything that follows this negative and discomforting state (Collins, 1996).

It is clear from literature that role models are deeply embedded in the entrepreneurial career choice. A recent study about entrepreneurship and role models by Bosma et al. (2012), implicates that that role models compensate for a lack of entrepreneurial experience (Bosma et al., 2012). Their findings show that 54% of entrepreneurs from their sample possessed an entrepreneurial role model, and from that result 81% of entrepreneurs possessed a role model

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14 before starting the business, which shows that a majority of entrepreneurs are influenced by the power of role modelling during the phase of career decision making (Bosma et al., 2012). The same study identified that a significant majority of entrepreneurs at the time of start-up, would not have pursued with their venture without a role model (Bosma et al., 2012). This particular study has also delivered introductory evidence that entrepreneurs and their role models resemble each other in terms of various features such as identity, gender or nationality, which goes in pair with the literature findings mentioned throughout this subsection.

This and the previous subsection presenting extant research findings about the construct of role models and the process of people’s career decision making, indicate that a lot of studies have focused on the notion of people’s personality, hence many extant studies on this topic have been of quantitative nature as mentioned in the Introduction chapter. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the aim of this study isn’t to pin point a specific personality of children whose parents are entrepreneurs which in turn influences their career decisions, but it focuses on the social aspects of the children’s identity (personal characteristics) and if this identity has any influence on the role model relationship the children have with their entrepreneurial parents.

2.3 Entrepreneurial parent role model influence on children’s careers

While the concept of role models entails any individuals serving as an example for an observer to consider without any contextual boundaries, in the case of children and young-adults it is the parents who in particular have the biggest influence on their decision making (Scherer et al., 1989; Chlosta et al., 2010). In existing literature, works of i.e. Van Auken et al. (2006), Scherer et al. (1989), Bosma et al. (2012), Sorensen (2007), Chlosta et al. (2012) or Lindquist et al. (2013), provide many different bits of evidence that point to an effect parental role models have on the career decision making process of their children, including those from entrepreneurial families (Hoffmann et al., 2014). Throughout this career decision making process, family typically represents the fundamentals of support and stability (Bryant, Zvonkovic & Reynolds, 2006). The realization of vocational development needs information collection, and this collection and transfer of information highly depends on parents, their availability, time they can afford to set aside, and also their communication skills as well as attitudes which can be subjective due to many variables (Bryant et al., 2006).

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15 Research has frequently proven that having self-employed parents positively guides the career decisions of their children into the track of an entrepreneurial vocation rather than employment (Scott & Twomey, 1988; Scherer et al., 1989; Carroll & Mosakowski, 1987). Growing up in an entrepreneurial household exposes children to a specific lifestyle and environment which offers a learning experience and access to insight into a life of self-employment, building a specific pro-business attitude (Carr & Sequeira, 2007; Chlosta et al., 2010; Dunn & Holtz-Eakin, 2000). Some of the ways children from entrepreneurial families are pulled into an entrepreneurial career include the parents providing them with financial resources, a business network, work experience, cultural/social/human capital and an entrepreneurial mindset (Kim et al., 2006; Lindquist et al., 2015; Hoffmann et al., 2014). According to Menaghan and Parcel (1995) research has demonstrated that parental work experience follows up with vital consequences on children’s career choice since children learn from their parents experiences, adopting them as norms of behavior (Chlosta et al., 2010). Korunka (2003), Davidsson and Honig (2003), Mueller (2006) and Wang and Wong (2004) discourse that social learning from parental role models is the fundament that impacts entrepreneurial children’s professional positioning (Chlosta et al., 2010).

Research targeting parental role models has not received the desirable attention in comparison the investigations about role models on the broad-spectrum. Nevertheless, several studies which did approach this topic have exposed significant differences between the effects of paternal and maternal entrepreneurial role models. Usually, the same gender parent-child role model relationships are much stronger then the mixed gender relationships, paternal role models alone have a stronger effect on children’s career decision making over maternal role models, and contradictory to this finding Mothers involve themselves more intensely in the career planning of their children (Chlosta et al., 2010; Hoffmann et al., 2014; Paloş & Drobot, 2010; Lindquist et al., 2015). Previous studies on parental role models from entrepreneurial families also have identified that openness plays a key role in the entire transition of information form a parent to the child, making the influence of parental role models less significant since the child is open to other role models outside of the domestic setting (Chlosta et al., 2010). Lindquist et al. (2015) has conducted a study about why entrepreneurial parents have entrepreneurial children, stating that the probability of an own-birth child becoming an entrepreneur is as high as 60% and that the post-birth (nurture) rather than pre-birth (nature) factors are what shapes the career decisions of children from entrepreneurial families predominantly (Lindquist et al., 2015).

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16 Extant study findings on the topic of entrepreneurial parent role models influencing the career decision making of their children can be concluded with three explanations as to why there is an apparent correlation of children from entrepreneurial families choosing an entrepreneurial career over employment. The first explanation is that the family provides financial capital as well as material backing in forms of various physical resources and tacit knowledge, reducing the children’s entrepreneurial risks (Paloş & Drobot, 2010). The second explanation is based on the human capital and more explicitly on skills and talents that parents have at their disposal providing their children with this capital and skill so that the they can grow in terms of entrepreneurship (Paloş & Drobot, 2010). And finally the social capital explanation, defined as the parent-child relationship of interactions offering a social support network, delivering the child with a setting favorable to personal development, as well as leading a child’s vocational aspirations and options towards self-employment (Paloş & Drobot, 2010). Overall, parents seem to give their children psychosocial support rather than take concrete action that would facilitate their children’s decisions regarding career paths and plans (Paloş & Drobot, 2010).

2.4 Entrepreneurship in a transition economy, example of Poland

The following subsection is going to underline the specificity of entrepreneurship in a transition economy and the unique entrepreneurial environment of Poland, a Central European transition economy, since Poland it is the setting of this multiple case study.

The decision-making process for many individuals is dependent on a large number of variables, one of them being culture which in turn is highly dependent on location and family traditions (Van Auken et al. Silva 2006). This cultural influence plays a substantial role in the career decision making processes of individuals, including those who actively acknowledge role models (Van Auken et al., 2006). A famous study about entrepreneurial parent role models and their effects on children’s career choices written by Chlosta et al. (2010), indicates that the results acquired from the study could be highly conditional to the variable of a geographical location and the type of society/culture represented by the setting of a German research sample (Chlosta et al., 2010). The reason for such declaration lays in the specificity of people’s attitudes, openness, governmental infrastructure, bureaucracy and cultural gender stereotypes known to be different in various economies, especially comparing transition economies to free-markets (Chlosta et al., 2010). Lafuente and Vaillant (2013), based on their literature review of

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17 studies about entrepreneurship in transition economies, concluded that as a result of the liberalization process and institutional reforms in these transition economies (most Central and Eastern European nations), a majority of academic research has focused on the assessment of the impact of credit limitations and the protection of property rights over other entrepreneurial activities (one exception being a study of Djankov (2005), where amongst other factors, he identified a positive effect of role models, from family and social circles, on business activities of entrepreneurs in Russia) (Lafuente & Vaillant, 2013). Various regions are different in their entrepreneurial tendencies, since they mature with different common cognitive perceptions, hence their acceptance of entrepreneurial activity is socially embedded (Lafuente, Vaillant & Rialp, 2007). The impact of role models over the likelihood of individuals to partake in entrepreneurial actions has been empirically established to be different across regions with different socio-cultural backgrounds (Lafuente et al., 2007).

The empirical findings of the paper by Smallbone and Welter (2001), show that entrepreneurship in transition economies takes on a variety of forms. The types of entrepreneurial paths identified in these economies include: regular self-employment, categorized businesses, part-time ventures, SME’s mainly working within the formal sector, and companies operating completely beyond formal boundaries (Smallbone & Welter, 2001). The same study concluded that in transition economies, the leading factor influencing the nature and the development of entrepreneurship is the external environment, which, in case of transition economies emerges as hostile in economic, political and social terms (Smallbone & Welter, 2001). In such an unstable and unbalanced environment, informal social networks (including role models) play a significant part in helping and shaping the characters of young individuals (Smallbone & Welter, 2001). In the case of countries that experienced the transition from a centrally planned economy to a free-market, the cultural traits of society may take a long time to regulate (Hoffmann et al., 2014). There is a need for greater investigations, which would identify if results of various studies about entrepreneurship set in ‘Western Economies’, are different for countries that experienced transition in market policies (Hoffmann et al., 2014).

A literature review by Jones et al. (2011), identified that there is a minimal number of studies investigating the development of entrepreneurial tendencies of Polish students, therefore they call researchers to pursue with in-depth studies about entrepreneurship in Poland (Jones et al., 2011). The results of their study have shown that Polish students have a diversified attitude towards pursuing an entrepreneurial career as well as that Polish students career decisions are

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18 very gender specific (Jones et al., 2011). With the help of the European Union, the Polish economy is growing since the adoption of free-market economics in the post-communist era (Jones et al., 2011). Countries like Poland, offer numerous benefits for conducting business including a competitively priced and a highly educated workforce, central positioning within the European Union and a big indigenous market (Por & White, 1991). A transition from a central economic system to a liberalized free-market economy caused a change from public to private ownership, initiated the process of re-privatization and consequently enhanced entrepreneurship (Socha & Weisberg, 2002; Giffin, 1994). These three things pushed people towards entrepreneurship but at the same time, they created highly challenging conditions for business, like for example Eastern and Central European countries facing significant competition with the Western European markets (Socha & Weisberg, 2002; Giffin, 1994). Other challenges which are specific to entrepreneurial conditions in Poland, include large unemployment (causing unintentional entrepreneurial actions), corruption, bureaucracy and the outbound migration of the skilled workforce (Smallbone & Welter, 2001; Kostera, 1995).

While these issues remain as a continuing concern the situation is improving with the help of foreign direct investment and the support of the European Union (Smallbone & Welter, 2001; Kostera, 1995). Coleman (1997) and Jones (2008), indicate that Poland has a strong entrepreneurial culture with highly skilled entrepreneurs that share long-term work experiences, multilingual skills and an innovative approach to business operations (Jones et al., 2011). They also conclude that the academic research of nascent entrepreneurs in Poland is still very narrow (Jones et al., 2011). According to the data gathered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in 2017-2018, Poland is identified as an efficiency driven economy with a current population of 38 million and a GDP of $474.9 billion (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, 2018). The GEM report for 2018 has Poland globally ranked as the 4th country according to the Entrepreneurship Spirit Index (GESI), which is related to entrepreneurial awareness, opportunity perception, and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor website, 2018). The same report identified Poland as a country with a highest level of opportunity motivated females 90.7%, a country with an SME contribution to GDP in 2015 at the level of 52%, and a country which in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Rating in 2017, placed 24th_{globally (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor website, 2018).}

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2.5 Propositions and conceptual model

The literature review indicates several key assumptions that are important for the progress of this thesis. Initially this subsection presents the general conclusions of the literature review and afterwards it showcases a list of propositions along with a visualization of this study’s conceptual model which are going to set a precise scope of this investigation. The reasons behind the choice of using propositions is explained in the Methodology chapter of this thesis.

Studies about role models have been widely addressed by researchers dating back decades, especially from the perspective of behavioral psychology. Only since recent years academic research about role models has been picked up, but strictly in correlation with studies about entrepreneurship and business, indicating the role model relationship as a highly significant factor justifying the multiplicity of people’s behavior in a professional context. Parental role models among many other considerations, have been acknowledged as a critical influencer of their children’s learning and personal development, which leads to an assumption that parental role models are relatively connected to their children’s career decision-making process. The decision-making process targeting occupational pronouncements of an individual has been recognized as deeply embedded in the individual’s identity/personal characteristics, as well as highly influenced by the surrounding environment of the individual. Identity and personal characteristics are essentially shaped throughout the history of one’s social interactions starting from the early period of childhood, therefore this specifies that family relations as an environmental surrounding have a critical role in modeling of an individual’s character. Another factor noted as relevant to the relationship between role models and their observers was found to be the context of a geopolitical location and all of its different features.

While it has been proven that role models do in fact influence the decision-making process of individuals, the outcomes of studies presenting such named effect have been subject to contradicting results and lacking in in-depth explanations. In fact, several authors that already targeted the specificity of entrepreneurial parent role models influencing their children’s career decisions, have identified gaps in research suggesting and underlining the necessity for further in-depth theoretical development concerning this phenomenon. The need of further in-depth analyses about this phenomenon is usually brought down to the fact that it is influenced by a great number of unprecedented variables. This study will attempt to progress in clarity of

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20 research findings about entrepreneurial parent role models and their relationship with their children in the context of career decision making, while considering key variables influencing this relationship including the identity (personal characteristics) of individuals, the state of the family’s social environment and the geolocation positioning. This will be done through analyzing four case study samples of entrepreneurial families established in a transition economy of Poland. Closing off with the introduction and literature review, four propositions have been listed below as a scope of this ‘theory building’ study. The propositions are inspired by the literature review from this chapter and correspond to the four general theme objectives that this study will cover, as mentioned in the Introduction chapter. The propositions will be returned to during the analysis of data and the reporting of case study findings.

Proposition 1: The state of family affairs in an entrepreneurial household influences the role

model relationship between parents and their children.

Proposition 2: The personal characteristics of children influence the role model relationship

they have with their entrepreneurial parents.

Proposition 3: Entrepreneurial parent role models have a heterogenous effect on specific

career decisions of their children.

Proposition 4: Poland as a transition economy creates a distinct environment, shaping the role

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3. Methodology

As previously stated in the Introduction chapter, the goal of this study is to investigate how entrepreneurial parents influence their children’s career decisions as their role models, and to find out how several variables influence this relationship. Furthermore, the Introduction chapter specified that this study has an inductive qualitative approach where multiple case studies set in Poland will be thoroughly explored to gather relevant insight on the topic of inquiry. All the previously mentioned choices such as the research objectives, research question and the research approach, have been grounded on the gaps in literature discovered by academic authors whom already pursued in studying the subjects of role models, career decisions and entrepreneurship. These gaps listed and comprehensively described in the Introduction chapter are ranging from appeals for more theory building qualitative methods in entrepreneurial research, call’s for resolving the nascence in literature findings and their contradictions on the topic of inquiry, all the way to appeals for more emphasis on research about entrepreneurship in the evaded geopolitical context of transition economies. This chapter will consequently overlook on the previously mentioned theoretical motivations from earlier chapters of this thesis to avoid repetition, and it will effectively concentrate on describing the methodology of this study, justifying its appropriateness of fit from a technical perspective.

3.1 Research design

The purpose of this thesis is to answer the research question and ‘theory-build’ upon the research findings. Theory-building is an advantageous and interesting tactic due to its high probability of initiating new ideas, the ease of emergent concept testability, and great empirical validity (Eisenhardt, 1989). The essential idea in theory building begins with case studies, which act as sources of data for an inductive research, and continues in recognizing patterns in the research findings, describing relationships between constructs and highlighting the relevant logical arguments (Yin, 2009). Theory building with the use of multiple case studies is very dependent on replication logic, where each separate case example is a unit of analysis standing on its own but also is relevant to the other cases in context, so that they could be comparable in analysis (Eisenhardt, 1989; Yin, 2009). Theory building from case studies is progressively becoming noticed as a vital research strategy deeply embedded in rich empirical data (Eisenhardt & Greabner, 2007).

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22 The research question of this thesis is based on the Literature Review chapter which underlines the nascence of in-depth findings and the Introduction chapter which showcases the gaps in discoveries about the topic of investigation. The explorative research question of this thesis asks, “How do entrepreneurial parent role models influence their children’s professional

career decisions in Poland?”. The case study approach has the potential to work with a variety

of situations as it enables the researcher to ask the “how” and “why” types of questions, figuring out how a phenomenon is influenced by the context in which it is positioned (Baxter & Jack, 2008). The choice of a case study is appropriate if the research question seeks to explain how and why a social phenomenon functions (Yin, 2009). Research questions unfold along literature review conclusions, and follow-through with a theory-building inductive analysis if nascence in literature is discovered (Eisenhardt & Greabner, 2007; Edmondson & McManus, 2007).

This study is exploratory, inductive and directed through a qualitative approach, with a goal to build theory and propose study suggestions that could be further tested in the future. A qualitative research approach through analyzing case studies, explores situations which have no clear set of outcomes (Yin, 2009). Qualitative data such as interviews or physical artefacts is useful for understanding the foundation behind the studied relationships and it effectively suggest theories for further quantitative analysis (Eisenhardt, 1989). Several scholars define qualitative research accurately as something more than just the type of data collected, example being Gephart et. al. 2004 who defined the qualitative approach as a “multimethod research that uses an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter and addresses questions about how social experience is created and given meaning” (Eisenhardt & Greabner, 2007).

As previously mentioned this thesis is an analysis of multiple case studies. A case study analysis is a qualitative method where the examiner explores a measured structure, through a comprehensive variety of collected data, and reports the findings in form of thorough descriptions (Creswell, 2013). Creswell (2013) mentions that specifically with multiple case studies, it is important to clearly identify the scope of investigation as well as the appropriateness of case study examples to allow for comparisons of results in form of a cross-case analysis (Creswell, 2013). Baxter and Jack (2008) mention that cross-case studies allow the researcher to explore people and organizations via complex relationships, and that according to Yin (2003) a case study approach should be chosen when the goal of the research is to answer the “how” and “why” questions, the context as a variable is taken into consideration, and when the margins are not clear between the phenomenon and context (Baxter & Jack, 2008).

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23 This study is strongly dependent on the propositions listed in the Literature Review chapter, which have been based on the findings as well as the gaps in extant research on the investigated topic. Propositions, which are commonly outsourced from literature prior to conducting research are helpful in any case study as they increase the probability that the researcher will be able to restrict the scope of the analysis and increase the feasibility of the project (Baxter & Jack, 2008; Eisenhardt, 1989). According to Eisenhardt (1989) the researcher can use several propositions to guide data collection, analysis and eventually the discussion. Yin (2009), suggests that returning to propositions which originally shaped the conceptual model of a study, safeguards that the investigation is practically in range specifying structure for the final report. Yin (2009) also states that multiple case studies benefit from prior development of theoretical propositions, as they guide data collection, data analysis, and they help generate more robust theory since the propositions are grounded in empirical evidence. Below can be found a graphic representation of the research design.

3.2 Data collection and research context

There are four separate case samples undergoing investigation in this thesis. The data for each case will be gathered through carrying out in-depth semi-structured interviews with an addition of collecting a copy of the interviewees curriculum vitae. The CV’s are an additional source of

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24 data which will act as a backup and will verify the information derived from the interviews, ultimately creating the case study’s data triangulation. The interviews will last for approximately an hour, they will be recorded and later transcribed. The interview questions, interview transcripts and CV’s can be found in the Appendix. The four separate interviewees, which are the key subjects of each case, will be chosen based on proximal contacts and professional affiliations, therefore the sampling could be described as non-random. Each case study will be based in Poland. The reasons behind this geopolitical location are listed in the chapters Introduction and Literature Review. Each one of the four interviewed individuals will come from a different region in Poland. The choice of each interviewee will base on several guidelines including: Age, to be equivalent of being early graduates with a Bachelor’s degree figuring out next steps of professional life; Nationality, ought to be Polish; And family, where at least one parent of the interviewed individual has to be or used to be an entrepreneur. The definition of an entrepreneur used for setting the guidelines of case selection was based on Richard Cantillon’s work from the 1720’s which stated that entrepreneurs are people who pursue self-employment, people who are bearers of uncertainty, and people who acquire and use resources while accordingly welcoming the risk of enterprise (Long, 1983). The definition of a role model used in analysis and data collection is based on Bandura’s social learning theory, which can be found in start of the Literature Review chapter. Each case will be a replication of the previous ones in terms of context so that the findings will be coherent, and the cases will not be chosen with a motivation to obtain predictable results. The propositions from the

Literature Review chapter set the scope for both data collection and data analysis.

There is no standard for quantity of case study examples in a multiple case study research (Eisenhardt, 1989). It is typical for multiple case studies to have on one hand no less than four cases in order to generate convincing theory with needed complexity, and on the other hand not more than five cases in order to not drown in large volume of data (Creswell, 2013; Yin, 2009). Pettigrew (1988) states that while cases may be chosen at random, random selection is neither necessary nor advised as it makes sense to choose ones which are likely replicated in context, ones likely to extend the emergent theory and ones that are transparently observable (Eisenhardt, 1989). In order to prevent drawbacks with a multiple case study research, such as making the objectives of the study too broad, researcher propose to set boundaries for case selections like time, place, activity investigated or by definitions (Baxter & Jack, 2008). Multiple case studies are comparable to multiple experiments, although they require replication logic and not a sampling one which means that each case must be prudently selected so that it

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25 forecasts similar or opposing results but for anticipatable intentions (Yin, 2009). An important step in case replication procedure as well as selecting what is to be studied, is the development of a rich theoretical framework that could be presented in a form of propositions (Yin, 2009). Using multiple source of data in a case study analysis has been known to be a key strategy as it involves examining of the information from various perspectives and allows comparison of data for an improvement in quality of research findings (Baxter & Jack, 2008). Triangulation in data increases the study’s validity, develops meeting lines of inquiry and provides strong substantiation of constructs and study propositions (Yin, 2009; Eisenhardt, 1989). In terms of the semi-structured in-depth interviews, they are useful since they provide with a range of information, don’t force limits and rules and they yield facts as well as opinions form an interviewee (Yin, 2009; Eisenhardt & Greabner, 2007).

Below are short descriptions of the chosen cases.

Case Study 1 Short description

Przemysław W.

Age/Location: 23/Macikowo, Poland Entrepreneur parent: Both parents Family business: GP., 1993-2017 Industry: Animal feed

Business size: Top 3 Poland/hires 250 people

Aleksander L.

Age/Location: 23/Mława, Poland Entrepreneur parent: Both parents Family business: CD., 1991-Active Industry: Poultry production

Business size: Nr.1 Europe/hires 7500 people

Marcin W.

Age/Location: 22/Elbląg, Poland Entrepreneur parent: Father

Family business: MW., 1986-Active Industry: Furniture production

Business size: 3 factories/hires 1500 people

Lisa C.

Age/Location: 22/Warsaw, Poland Entrepreneur Parent: Father

Family business: ET., 1998-Active Industry: Taxi services

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3.3 Data analysis and reporting

The examination of the collected data is going to consist of within-case analyses for each separate case, followed by a cross-case analysis of all cases together, as suggested for a multiple case study research by Eisenhardt (1989). The within-case analyses are going to describe each case precisely in accordance to the previously mentioned propositions from the Literature

Review chapter, while the cross-case analysis will consist of a table summarizing each case also

in accordance to the previously designed propositions. The analysis and reporting will be presented in the following order. Firstly, the Results and Analysis chapter will be divided into different subheadings for each separate within-case analysis and a distinct subheading devoted to the cross-case analysis; Secondly, the Discussion and Conclusions chapter will be divided into this study’s conclusions, research limitations, contributions to extant literature, and a list of suggestions for further studies showcasing the theory build from this study.

Yin (2009) has identified that an important practice during the analysis stage of any case study is the return to propositions, since by including them the study findings turn out to be more concentrated and relevant (Baxter & Jack, 2008). The analysis of each case should vaguely take the format of storytelling as it embraces the data while keeping structure (Yin, 2009). Analyzing data in a theory building approach is the most important part of the whole research process, therefore it is crucial to utilize the predetermined propositions and form summary tables to keep the findings organized and logical (Eisenhardt, 1989).

Besides Eisenhardt (1989) who presented the tactic of within-case analysis followed by cross-case analysis, Yin (2009) also has underlined that identifying information within each separate case and then looking for common themes to transcend the cases is the recommended strategy for a multiple case study analysis with a theory building goal. Within-case analysis seeks in understanding the data and starts with theory generation from and early stage, while a cross-case analysis forces investigators to look beyond impressions and notice evidence through a wider lens (Eisenhardt, 1989). Gersick (1988) and Pettigrew (1988) mention that although there is no standard for a within-case analysis, it should take form of descriptions (Eisenhardt, 1989).

With cross-case analysis the technique is exclusive for multiple case studies. It is recommended to conduct such analysis by using the help of summary tables which display the data from each

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27 individual case according to some uniform outline, simplifying the process of pattern matching for theory building conclusions (Yin, 2009). The selected uniform framework for the cross-case analysis can also be based on the predetermined propositions form the literature review (Yin, 2009). Cross-case analysis aims to encourage investigators into going beyond initial impressions which is especially useful due to the compound nature of qualitative data, improving accurateness of analysis, consistency and probability of emergent theories to occur (Eisenhardt, 1989). To conclude there is no single approach to conducting a multiple case study analysis, as such analysis can also be improvised by the researcher according to his beliefs and habits, however it is important to keep in mind that each case should be analyzed individually and a comparison between cases should act as a filling for the findings (Eisenhardt, 1989).

When it comes to reporting of the multiple case study findings, the goal of the paper is to make the reader feel like they have been a part of the examination and can clearly express their own opinion in regard to the findings (Baxter & Jack, 2008). There is no appropriate way to present findings of a case study, but usually a good idea is to recognize the context of the case and follow through with a story describing each case chronologically or by following predetermined propositions (Baxter & Jack, 2008). Propositions provide the analysis with an appropriate flow and their use is the primary tool which creates the scope that is much needed in qualitative research as it may get disordered in process (Creswell, 2013). Yin (2009) describes a method of reporting a multiple case study research as “multiple-case version of the classic single case”, where the report contains multiple narratives covering each case individually (usually presented as separate sections) and in addition the report would also contain a separate section covering the cross-case analysis (Yin, 2009). After the individual case descriptions and the cross-case analysis, a summary report should be present in the discussion and conclusions chapters, which would show why and how a specific proposition was demonstrated or not (Yin, 2009). The research discussion and conclusions should include a comparison of research findings to the extant research findings from the literature review, a summary of the emergent theory, and suggestions for future studies (Baxter & Jack, 2008). Generally, comparing the emergent theory to extant research findings enhances the generalizability, validity, and theoretical level of a case study research (Eisenhardt, 1989). The final product of building theory from case studies may turn out to be disappointing, where there could be no clear patterns and important insight extracted from the data (Eisenhardt, 1989).

“How do entrepreneurial parent role models influence their children’s professional career decisions in Poland?”