Applications are invited for a full-time PhD studentship (Oct 2013- Sept 2016) based in the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship under the supervision of Professor Sara Carter and Professor Jonathan Levie. This studentship - 'The Rewards of Entrepreneurship: Constructing Economic Wellbeing within Entrepreneurial Households' - is part of the Enterprise Research Centre programme (See article.) and explores how entrepreneurial households construct economic wellbeing and the potential impact of entrepreneurial households in their support or curtailment of business growth ambitions.
Applications should be submitted according to the Hunter Centre’s normal PhD application procedures and timescale, with a deadline of January 31 2013.
Entrepreneurs have considerable managerial discretion in determining the form, value and timing of their financial rewards, including direct rewards, such as drawings, net profit, shareholder dividends and equity sales, and a range of indirect benefits, not least goods and services owned by the firm but used for personal and household consumption. The extraction of financial rewards from a business is adjustable, and may be varied to suit both the prevailing business conditions and the entrepreneur’s personal requirements. The close, often inseparable, relationship between the entrepreneur and the firm suggests that decisions about financial rewards are seldom based entirely on business logic, but usually also take into account personal and family needs.
Although business and household have been traditionally regarded as separate spheres, there has been a growing realisation that the two institutions are inextricably linked, coupled with persuasive calls to embed entrepreneurship research within the context of the family. Research that focuses on the structures and processes of the financial rewards of entrepreneurship immediately highlights the centrality of the entrepreneurial household as a key influence on firm-level decision-making. The influence of the family and household can be seen in a number of ways, including: the management of uncertain and irregular rewards; the negotiation of low earnings, consumption and savings patterns; providing a subsidy for entrepreneurship through waged employment; and household subsidies for business sustainability and growth plans. How uncertain and irregular rewards are managed, and their potential effects within the household has yet to be explored. It is likely that individual entrepreneurial households perceive and attend to the management and negotiation of entrepreneurial rewards differently, but the precise dimensions that underpin variations between households are unknown.
This study will focus on the interaction between the household and the firm, addressing: