Women in Management Review: Article Information

Women in Management Review
Work-family conflict of women entrepreneurs in Singapore

Jean Lee Siew KimChoo Seow Ling
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Jean Lee Siew KimChoo Seow Ling, (2001),"Work-family conflict of women entrepreneurs in Singapore", Women in
Management Review, Vol. 16 Iss 5 pp. 204 - 221
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Scott L. Boyar, Carl P. Maertz, Donald C. Mosley, Jon C. Carr, (2008),"The impact of work/family demand on work-family
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Introduction
Work-family conflict of Until the late 1970s, women remained
women entrepreneurs virtually invisible as managers and
in Singapore entrepreneurs, and their absence was generally
considered as non-issue. Systematic
investigation of women's progress in
Jean Lee Siew Kim and
management is relatively new. It began in
Choo Seow Ling North America, primarily in the USA, in the
1970s, in Western Europe in the early 1980s,
and in Asia toward the mid-1980s.
Research on women entrepreneurs is
The authors relatively recent. Studies on entrepreneurs in
Jean Lee Siew Kim is an Associate Professor and western countries has focused on three major
Choo Seow Ling is a Research Assistant, both at the areas: background factors and personal
Organizational Behavior Department, Faculty of Business characteristics, psychological attributes and
Administration, National University of Singapore, Singapore traits, and situational factors (Nelson, 1987;
Gregg, 1985; Dugan et al., 1990). In the
Keywords Singapore context, research on women
entrepreneurs is at an exploratory stage.

Women, Entrepreneurialism, Conflict, Stress,
Studies have focused mainly on creating an
Job satisfaction, Singapore
understanding of these women (see, for
example, Lee and Tan, 1993). Some have
Abstract
attempted to profile Singapore women
As long as the society continues to emphasise a woman's entrepreneurs (Teo, 1996), while others have
basic role as that of mothering, working women will face focused on the needs of these women and the
role struggles. As married working women, many women changing patterns in their businesses (Lee,
entrepreneurs have to assume multiple roles in the family 1996). This study aims to examine work-
in addition to their careers. They must bear major family conflict of women entrepreneurs in
responsibility for household chores and childcare. These Singapore.
responsibilities give rise to work-family conflict, which The dilemma of work and family can be
becomes an obstacle in managing their business. This serious for women entrepreneurs as they are
research studied the work-family conflict among married responsible for the success of their own
Singapore women entrepreneurs. The work-family conflict business venture and the welfare of their
was divided into three parts: job-spouse conflict, job-parent
employees. Business success means personal
conflict and job-homemaker conflict. The data for this study
success for them. Therefore, their
came from 102 married Singapore women entrepreneurs
commitment to their work is much greater
who responded to a self-administered questionnaire. From
than that of married women employees
the discussion of the findings, several implications arose.
(Hisrich, 1989; Carter and Cannon, 1992).
There is a need for greater spouse support, flexible work
Research studies on women entrepreneurs
schedule, and full-day school in order to alleviate work-
have reported that married women
family conflict. Maintenance of good marital relations are
entrepreneurs do face work and family
important in reducing spouse conflict and increasing well
conflict, which has a negative effect on their
being in women entrepreneurs.
job satisfaction, marital satisfaction and life
satisfaction (Arora et al., 1990).
Electronic access
As a working wife and mother, married
The research register for this journal is available at women entrepreneurs have to assume
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers multiple roles both in relation to family and
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is business. Teo (1996) reported that Singapore
available at women entrepreneurs have to do some
http://www.emerald-library.com/ft household chores, while other research
studies also reported that they have to bear
major responsibility for household chores and
Volume 16 . Number 5 . 2001 . pp. 204±221 Recieved February 2001
# MCB University Press . ISSN 0964-9425 Revised/accepted March 2001
204
Work-family conflict of women entrepreneurs Women in Management Review
Jean Lee Siew Kim and Choo Seow Ling Volume 16 . Number 5 . 2001 . 204±221
childcare (Longstreth et al., 1987; Lee- Framework of work-family conflict

Gosselin and Grise, 1990; Loscocco and
Leicht, 1993). These domestic Work-family conflict arises from factors
responsibilities have made the process of within the work domain and family domain.
setting up and running the business more These work characteristics and family
difficult for women entrepreneurs (Goffee characteristics were analysed for their
and Scase, 1983; Collerette and Aubry, 1990; relationships with work-family conflict
Siu and Chu, 1994). (Figure 1). As married couples usually play
more than one role in the family, work-family
conflict is separated into three sub-categories,
namely job-spouse conflict, job-parent
Focus of study
conflict and job-homemaker conflict. Work-
This research analyses work-family conflict family conflict can affect the well-being of a
experienced by Singapore women person, influencing a person's satisfaction
entrepreneurs. The study aims to determine: with his/her job, marriage and life. These
. the relationship between the sources of outcomes were analysed in this research.
work and family conflict and the Hypotheses were generated to test the
different types of work and family association between these sources, as well as
conflict; outcomes, and work-family conflict.
. the relationship between the different

types of work-family conflict and the well- Work characteristics
being of women entrepreneurs; Time pressure
. the source(s) of work-family conflict, One work characteristic that leads to work-
which has the most influence on the family conflict is time pressure. Time pressure
different types of work-family conflict; and is related to time-based work-family conflict,
. the type of work-family conflict, which which occurs because time devoted to one
has the most influence on the well-being role makes it difficult to meet the
of Singapore women entrepreneurs. requirements of another role (Greenhaus and
Beutell, 1985). As time is a limited resource,
Work-family conflict is divided into three parts, the more time a woman entrepreneur spends
namely, job-spouse conflict, job-parent conflict on her business, the less time she will have
and job-homemaker conflict. The antecedents with her family. Research studies have
of work-family conflict studied are work hours, consistently shown that entrepreneurs work
schedule inflexibility and work stressors (work longer hours than employees (Jamal, 1997;
characteristics), as well as number and age of Chay, 1993; Lewin-Epstein and Yuchtman-
children, and family support (family Yaar, 1991).
characteristics). The outcomes of work-family Time pressure can be measured by the
conflict studied are job satisfaction, marital number of hours worked and schedule
satisfaction and life satisfaction. flexibility. Schedule flexibility refers to the
Research studies on women entrepreneurs ability to alter one's work schedule to meet
have focused on the women entrepreneurs' work and non-work pursuits, including the
individual characteristics, their motivation for family (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). Past
business formation, their management styles, research studies have shown that long hours
business problems faced, and success factors worked and work schedule inflexibility are
(Brush, 1992). However, few research studies related to high work-family conflict. Arora et
have been carried out on the work and family al. (1990) studied the effect of time pressure
conflict of women entrepreneurs (Arora et al., on work-family conflict of women
1990). In Singapore, studies have investigated entrepreneurs. A majority of the women
the personal and business characteristics, entrepreneurs agreed that their long working
leadership styles, networking and motivation hours deprived them of the time that they
of women entrepreneurs (Gow et al., 1994; would have liked to spend with their families.
Seah et al., 1995; Yip, 1995; Teo, 1996). This Work schedule conflict is a major conflict
study aims to contribute to the current level of dimension for women entrepreneurs. Aryee
knowledge of women entrepreneurs by (1992) reported positive relationships between
gaining an understanding of work and family the number of hours worked as well as
conflict faced by women entrepreneurs. schedule inflexibility, and work-family conflict
205
Figure 1 Framework on work-family conflict
for Singapore women professionals. In their also has a negative influence on the job
studies on dual career couples, Holahan and satisfaction and the health of entrepreneurs
Gilbert (1979) found a positive relationship (Rahim, 1996; Jamal, 1997). Research studies
between the number of hours worked and job- have shown that work role conflict is positively
spouse conflict, as well as job-parent conflict. related to work-family conflict (Boles et al.,
Based on these research findings, the 1997; Aryee, 1992, Frone et al., 1992; Jones
following hypotheses are generated: and Bulter, 1980).
In addition, entrepreneurs have higher job
H1. Number of hours worked is positively
demands than employed workers (Chay,
associated with work-family conflict.
1993). Boyd and Gumpert (1983) reported
H2. Work schedule inflexibility is positively that entrepreneurs usually do all the work and
associated with work-family conflict. do not delegate much, as employees could not
Work stressors be trusted with the well-being of the
Work stressors can produce strain symptoms company. Singapore women entrepreneurs
such as anxiety, frustration, tension and are also involved heavily in running their
irritability (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). business, doing almost everything (Teo,
These negative emotions can spill over from 1996). Hence, entrepreneurs face role
work to family contributing to work-family overload (a form of work role conflict), which
conflict (Bartolome and Evans, 1980). Jones is related to strains and poor health for
and Fletcher (1996) confirmed that work entrepreneurs (Chay, 1993; Rahim, 1996).
stressors affect family life in the form of Another work stressor is business problems.
unpleasant moods that have spilled over from Financial aspect of business start-up and
work to family. Job characteristics and work role management is the biggest obstacle for
pressure have a positive relationship with work- women business owners (Brush, 1992).
family conflict. Role overload, role conflict and Several studies confirmed that financial
role ambiguity are positively related to work- problems, such as lack of start-up capital,
family conflict (Aryee, 1992; 1993). making business profitable, and difficulty in
An entrepreneur has a boundary-spanning getting bank loans, are some of the major
role, which requires dealing with people within problems for women entrepreneurs.
and outside of the company such as partners, Singapore women entrepreneurs have cited
employees, business associates, and customers financial problems as a major business
simultaneously. Hence, an entrepreneur has to problem (Teo, 1996). Hence, the research
play multiple roles and cope with conflicting findings lead to the third hypothesis:
demands (Teo and Foo, 1997). Although H3. Work stressors are positively
entrepreneurs enjoy more autonomy in their associated with work-family conflict.
decision making, in actual fact, they have to
depend on partners, employees, customers and Family characteristics
suppliers for judgement (Boyd and Gumpert, Parental demand
1983). Role conflict was found to affect the Parental demand can affect work-family
performance of Singapore entrepreneurs conflict. Parents tend to experience more
negatively (Teo and Foo, 1997). Role conflict work-family conflict than non-parents as they
206
need to spend greater amount of time at home have shown that self-employed women often
taking care of their children. Parental demand do not have much support from their family
is measured by the number of children and and in terms of household chores, support
their age. Younger children will demand more from spouse and children is minimal
of their parents' time. And large families are (Longstreth et al., 1987).
likely to be more time demanding than small Aryee (1992) found that spouse support
families (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). reduces work-family conflict for Singapore
Past research studies has shown that women professionals. Holahan and Gibert
increased parental demand results in higher (1979) reported that spouse's pro-feminist
work-family conflict. Pleck et al. (1980) attitude, positive attitude towards the wife's
reported that parents experience more work- career, and emotional support all help to
family conflict than married couples without reduce work-family conflict. Adams et al.
children. And parents with children of pre- (1996) also reported that a high level of
school age experience more work-family emotional and instrumental support results in
conflict than parents with older children. The a low level of work interfering with family,
former experiences schedule conflict, and the and family interfering with work.
latter faces work-family conflict due to In addition to support from the spouse,
excessive work time. Aryee (1992) also support from other people such as domestic
reported a positive relationship between maids can also help to relieve work-family
parental demand and work-family conflict for conflict. They can share the responsibility for
Singapore women professionals. Arora et al. household chores and childcare. Based on
(1990), however, reported that the number of these research findings, the following
children that women entrepreneurs have is hypotheses are generated:
not related to work-family conflict. Perhaps,
as the owner of the business, they can easily H5. Spouse support is negatively associated
adjust their work schedule to meet their with work-family conflict.
parental demands. In view of the above H6. Sharing of household responsibilities is
research findings, H4 is as follows: negatively associated with work- family
H4. Parental demand is positively conflict.
associated with work-family conflict. H7. Sharing of childcare responsibilities is
Family support negatively associated with work-family
The supportive behavior of family members conflict.
can help to buffer work-family conflict
experienced by working women. The support Outcomes of work-family conflict
can be attitude, emotional or instrumental Job satisfaction
support. A pro-feminist sex-role attitude from Job satisfaction is a state of being pleased
spouses can reduce work-family conflict for with one's job. When the job makes it
the working wives (Greenhaus and Beutell, difficult to meet one's family commitment,
1985). Emotional support refers to the display he/she will be less satisfied with the job.
of sympathetic and caring behavior such as Negative emotions that have spilled over
taking interest in the spouse's work, from work to the family can also result in
willingness to listen, and giving advice. work-family conflict and frustration.
Instrumental support is the provision of In their study on women entrepreneurs,
actual assistance to help in task Arora et al. (1990) found a negative
accomplishment, which includes helping out relationship between work-family conflict and
in household chores and childcare. job/business satisfaction. Similar results for
Instrumental support can reduce time Singapore women professionals are obtained
pressure and parental demand that causes by Aryee (1992). Pleck et al. (1980) reported
work-family conflict (King et al., 1995). that when work-family conflict existed, the
The spouse is an important part of the working women experience less job
women entrepreneurs' support network, and satisfaction. Their findings were supported by
spouse support is a major asset for women Adams et al. (1996) and Kopelman and
entrepreneurs (Hisrich, 1989; Carter and Greenhaus (1983). However, Holahan and
Cannon, 1992; Teo, 1996; Buttner and Gilbert's (1979) research findings showed a
Moore, 1997). However, research studies positive relationship between work-family
207
conflict and job satisfaction. It may be H9. Work-family conflict is negatively

because of greater involvement in one's job associated with marital satisfaction.
results in better job performance, thus greater
H10. Work-family conflict is negatively
job satisfaction. At the same time, it also
associated with life satisfaction.
deprives the worker from their family life,
hence resulting in work-family conflict
(Adams et al., 1996). Moreover, positive
commitment to work may allow a working Research method
mother to cope with subsequent work-family
A survey questionnaire was used as the
role conflict better (Lewis and Cooper, 1988).
primary research instrument. The
Marital satisfaction questionnaire consists of various scales
Employment can have an effect on working measuring work-family conflict, time
women's marital relationships, as her job may pressure, work stressors, parental demand,
deprive her from spending time with her support from spouse and others, job
spouse. Arora et al. (1990) reported that satisfaction, marital satisfaction and life
female entrepreneurs who experience lower satisfaction. Demographic data of the
levels of marital happiness tend to have respondents was also included.
higher levels of work-family conflict. Aryee The target population of this study was
(1992) reported a negative relationship married women entrepreneurs in Singapore.

between work-family conflict and marital An entrepreneur is a person who is a
satisfaction for Singapore women shareholder of a business and who is in charge
professionals. This finding is consistent with of the day-to-day management of the
Holahan and Gilbert's (1979) findings on business. The sample was obtained from
dual career couples. Suchet and Barling various trade associations' member directory
(1986), in their studies on employed and commercial business directories.
mothers' marital functioning, also found that A total of 656 self-administered survey
work-family conflict is related to low marital questionnaires was sent to respondents by
satisfaction. mail. The response rate of the survey was 18.9
Life satisfaction percent, and 102 questionnaires were
Many aspects of a person's life will affect their available for analysis (Table I). Various
overall life satisfaction and generally, a statistical tests, including reliability analysis,
person's job and family form a major part of correlation analysis and regression analysis,
their life. Thus, job satisfaction and marital were carried out.
satisfaction will have a positive impact on a
person's life satisfaction. However, work-
family conflict prevents a person from Research findings
fulfilling both work role and family role well.
Reliability test
As such, work-family conflict would result in The reliability of the various measurement
a lower level of life satisfaction. scales is shown in Table II.
In their research on women entrepreneurs, The reliability of the scales is satisfactory, as
Arora et al. (1990) discovered a negative the majority of them have alpha coefficients
relationship between work-family conflict and
above 0.7 (Table II). An alpha coefficient of
life satisfaction. Aryee (1992) found that
0.6 and above is considered good for research
work-family conflict is related to a low level of
in social sciences (Cronbach, 1990). Spouse
life satisfaction for Singapore women
support has a lower alpha coefficient of 0.66.
professionals and Holahan and Gilbert
A possible explanation is that the scales
(1979) reported the same phenomenon for
measured different types of support, i.e.
dual career couples. These findings were
practical and mental support. These supports
supported by Pleck et al. (1980) and
may be given in differing degrees by the
Kopelman and Greenhaus (1983). In view of
spouse, and mental support is usually easier
the results from these research studies, the
to provide in terms of time and effort than
following hypotheses are generated:
physical support.
H8. Work-family conflict is negatively Among the three types of work-family
associated with job satisfaction. conflict, job-homemaker conflict is the most
208
Table I Respondent profile Table II Reliability of scales

Respondents Scales Alpha coefficient
n Percent
Work-family conflict 0.86
Years in business
Job-spouse conflict 0.77
<1 0 0
1-5 13 12.75 Job-homemaker conflict 0.80
6-10 19 18.63 Job-parent conflict 0.89
11-15 years 24 23.53
Schedule inflexibility 0.93
> 15 46 45.10
Total 102 100 Role conflict 0.73
Median = 11-15 years Spouse support 0.66
Business size (number of employees) Job satisfaction 0.71
0 5 4.9 Marital satisfaction 0.85
1-5 32 31.37 Life satisfaction 0.93
6-10 14 13.73
11-15 10 9.8
16-20 10 9.8
intense, as it has the highest mean, median
> 20 31 30.39 and mode (Table III). Singapore women
Total 102 100 entrepreneurs worked an average of 50 hours
Median = between 6-10 and 11-15 per week. Spouse support is mostly mental,
employees with attitude support the greatest, followed
Educational qualifications by emotional, childcare and housework. In

Less than primary education 0 0 terms of satisfaction measures, Singapore
Primary education 3 2.94
women entrepreneurs are most satisfied with
Secondary education 33 32.35
JC/poly/pre-university education 18 17.65
their overall life, rather than with either their
University education 29 28.43 job or marriage.
Postgraduate education 14 13.73
Support with household chores
Others 5 4.9
Total 102 100 From Table IV, it can be seen that domestic
Median = JC/poly/pre-university maids are the most popular source of support
education for household chores. Of the respondents,
Age (years) 82.4 percent use maids to help them with
< = 25 0 0 their household chore responsibilities. The
26-30 1 0.98 "others" category is the next most popular
31-35 8 7.84 choice, with 15.6 percent of the respondents
36-40 23 22.55
using it. Most of the respondents selecting
41-45 32 31.37
46-50 17 16.67 this category have older children who help
> 51 21 20.59 them with their household chores. Parents as
Total 102 100 well as the parents-in-laws of the respondents
Median = 41-45 years are the least used source of support for
Number of children household chores, with 12.7 percent and 11.7
0 10 9.8 percent of the respondents using them
1 13 12.75 respectively.
2 47 46.08
Table V shows that majority (71.5 percent)
3 25 24.51
4 6 5.88 of the respondents use a single source of
5 1 0.98 support for household chores. Maids are the
Total 102 100 most popular single source of support. For
Median = 2 children respondents who uses multiple sources of
Average age of children (years) support, most of them use maids with the
1-5 13 14.13 other sources of support.
6-10 21 22.82
11-15 16 17.40 Support with childcare
16-20 20 21.74 From Table VI, it can be seen that the
21-25 16 17.40 majority (66.7 percent) of the respondents
26-30 3 3.26 use maids as a source of support for childcare.
31-35 2 2.17
The second most popular choice is the
36-40 1 1.08
Total 92 100 parents of the respondents, followed closely
Median = 11-15 years by their parents-in-laws, with 16.7 percent
and 15.7 percent of the respondents selecting
209
Table III Descriptive statistics

Mean Median Mode
Work-family conflictb
Job-spouse conflict 2.31 2 1
Job-homemaker conflict 2.87 3 2
Job-parent conflict 2.18 2 1
Antecedent variables
Hours worked 50.22 50 60
Schedule inflexibilitya 2.44 2 2
Work stressorsa 2.53 2 2
No. of children 2.07 2 2
Age of children (years) 13 13 6
Spouse supportd
Attitude 5.15 5 6
Emotional 4.24 4 4
Household chores 3.20 3 4
Childcare 4.01 4 4
Outcome variables
Job satisfactionb 3.91 4 5

Marital satisfactionc 4.59 5 5
Life satisfactiond 5.42 6 7
Notes: afour-point scale; bfive-point scale; csix-point scale; dseven-point scale
Table IV Percentage of respondents choosing each Table VI Percentage of respondents choosing each
source of support for household chores source of support for childcare
Sources of household chores support Percent Sources of childcare support Percent
Maids 82.4 Maids 66.7
Parents-in-law 11.7 Parents 16.7
Parents 12.7 Parents-in-law 15.7
Others 15.6 Sisters 7.8
Childcare centre 10.8
Baby-sitters 5.8
these two sources respectively. Most
Neighbors 0.9
respondents use a single source of support for
Others 0.9
childcare (Table VII). A majority of the
respondents who use single source of support
had maids to help them with their childcare The magnitude of the correlation is modest,
responsibilities. For those respondents that with the highest being 0.53.
used multiple sources of support, they often There is a positive association between time
used maids with other sources of support. pressure and work-family conflict. The
number-of-hours-worked and work schedule
Correlation analysis inflexibility was positively correlated with
The result of the correlation analysis is shown work-family conflict. Hence, H1, which states
in Table VIII. Overall, the correlation is that number of hours worked is positively
highly significant, with 75 percent of the associated with work-family conflict, is
correlation having a p-value of less than 0.05. supported. Also H2, which states that
Table V Percentage of respondents using single/multiple source(s) of support for household chores
Maids Parents-in-law Parents Others
Maids (percent) 58.8
Parents-in-laws (percent) 8.8 1.9
Parents (percent) 8.8 ± 2.9
Others (percent) 5.8 0.9 ± 7.8
210
Table VII Percentage of respondents using single/multiple source(s) of support for childcare
Parents-in- Childcare Baby-
Maids Parents law Sisters centre sitters Neighbors Other
Maid(s) (percent) 33.3
Parents (percent) 10.8 2.9
Parents-in-laws (percent) 10.8 1.9 1.9
Sisters (percent) 0.9 0.9 - 1.9
Childcare centre (percent) 5.8 - - - -
Baby sitters (percent) 2.9 - - 0.9 0.9 -
Neighbors (percent) 0.9 - - - - - -
Others (percent) 0.9 - - - - - - -
work schedule inflexibility is positively Regression analysis

associated with work-family conflict, is The result of the hierarchical regression
supported. analysis is shown in Tables IX-XI. For job-
H3, which states that work stressors are spouse conflict, the variables explained 36
positively associated with work-family percent of the variance in the conflict. The
conflict, is supported. Work stressors (role largest increment in R2 is brought about by
conflict at work and worries about financial spouse support, followed by time pressure,
health of the business) were positively work stressors and parental demand. The
correlated to work-family conflict. significant variables are schedule inflexibility
On the other hand, the association ( = 0.17, p = 0.02); spouse support-attitude
between parental demand and work-family ( = -0.19, p = 0.02); and work stressors ( =
conflict is not consistent among the three 0.21, p = 0.03).
types of work-family conflict. Job- The antecedent variables of job-
homemaker conflict and the number of homemaker conflict explained 28.9 percent of
children were negatively correlated, and the the variance in the conflict. Spouse support
age of children was positively correlated to made the largest increment in R2, followed by
job-parent conflict. Hence, H4, which states time pressure, parental demand and work
that parental demand is positively associated stressors. The three significant variables are
with work-family conflict, is partially schedule inflexibility ( = 0.19, p = 0.02),
supported. spouse support-housework ( = 0.16, p =
Generally, spouse support has a 0.05), and work stressors ( = 0.22, p = 0.05).
significant negative relationship with work- For job-parent conflict, the variables
family conflict. However, spouse support for explained 42.5 percent of the variance in the
childcare and household chores did not have conflict. Parental demand contributed the
a negative correlation with job-parent largest increment in R2, followed by spouse
conflict and job-homemaker conflict support, time pressure and work stressors.
respectively. In addition, the sharing of The significant variables are spouse support-
household and childcare responsibility had a housework ( = -0.20, p = 0.02); and spouse
negative correlation with job-parent support-attitude ( = -0.21, p = 0.02).
conflict. Hence, H5-H7, which predicted Another significant variable, spouse support-
that spouse support, sharing of household childcare ( = 0.38, p = 0.00), actually has a
responsibility and sharing of childcare positive relationship with job-parent conflict.
responsibility is negatively associated with The results of the multiple regression analysis
work-family conflict respectively, are for the outcome variables are shown in
partially supported. Table XII.
In terms of the outcome variables, job The three type of work-family conflict
satisfaction, marital satisfaction and life explained approximately 14 percent of the
satisfaction were negatively correlated with variance in job satisfaction, 31 percent of the
work-family conflict. Hence, H8-H10, which variance in marital satisfaction, and 13
state that work-family conflict is negatively percent of the variance in life satisfaction. For
associated with job satisfaction, marital all the three outcome measures, job-spouse
satisfaction and life satisfaction respectively, conflict is the only significant variable; job
are supported. satisfaction ( = -0.30, p = 0.02); marital
211
Table VIII Correlation analysis

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1 Job-spouse conflict
2 Job-homemaker conflict 0.517**
3 Job-parent conflict 0.325** 0.211*
4 Hours worked 0.015 0.110 0.167
5 Schedule inflexibility 0.351** 0.365** 0.182 0.275**
Jean Lee Siew Kim and Choo Seow Ling
Work-family conflict of women entrepreneurs
6 Work stressors 0.411** 0.369** 0.205* 0.157 0.367**

7 No. of children 0.014 0.111 0.440** 0.079 0.012 0.051
8 Age of children (median) 0.094 0.194 0.199** 0.012 0.106 0.039 0.427**
9 Spouse support-housework 0.082 0.077 0.301** 0.162 0.124 0.123 0.304** 0.233*
212
10 Spouse support-childcare 0.234* 0.265** 0.319** 0.026 0.176 0.222* 0.310** 0.260** 0.217*
11 Spouse support-emotional 0.419** 0.208* 0.233* 0.020 0.179 0.310** 0.169 0.047 0.402** 0.267**
12 Spouse support-attitude 0.450** 0.265** 0.241* 0.094 0.115 0.293** 0.133 0.064 0.241* 0.323** 0.623**
13 Sharing of housework 0.119 0.123 0.328** 0.240* 0.070 0.068 0.352** 0.197* 0.183 0.352** 0.077 0.088
14 Sharing of childcare 0.055 0.185 0.426** 0.030 0.005 0.041 0.446** 0.126 0.204* 0.422** 0.183 0.060 0.385**
15 Job satisfaction 0.355* 0.264** 0.199* 0.041 0.220* 0.374** 0.094 0.151 0.010 0.192 0.203* 0.364** 0.257** 0.223*
16 Marital satisfaction 0.532** 0.273** 0.323** 0.077 0.266** 0.305** 0.158 0.039 0.234* 0.224* 0.510** 0.529** 0.025 0.101 0.293**
17 Life satisfaction 0.333** 0.243* 0.206* 0.019 0.206* 0.297** 0.122 0.053 0.093 0.250* 0.225* 0.289** 0.082 0.046 0.408** 0.345**
Notes: * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed); ** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed)
Volume 16 . Number 5 . 2001 . 204±221
Table IX Hierarchical regression analysis ± job-spouse conflict satisfaction ( = -0.45, p = 0.00); and life
Variables Beta R 2 2
R change F statistics satisfaction ( = -0.28, p = 0.03).
Based on the results of the correlation
Parental demand 0.012 0.012 0.625
analysis and the regression analysis, the status
No. of children 0.05
of the hypotheses formulated are summarised
Age of children 0.01
in Table XIII.
Spouse support 0.253 0.241 5.358**
Housework 0.08
Emotional 0.14
Attitude 0.19* Discussion
Childcare 0.02
Time pressure, work stressors, parental
Time pressure 0.328 0.075 5.667**
demand, and spouse support have different
Work hours 0.02
degrees of influence on work-family conflict.
Schedule inflexibility 0.17*
Work stressors 0.21* 0.36 0.032 5.745**
Among the three types of work-family
conflict, job-spouse conflict has the greatest
Notes: * p < = 0.05; ** p < = 0.01
influence on job, marital and life satisfaction.
Hours worked increases entrepreneurial

mothers' work-family conflict

Table X Hierarchical regression analysis ± job-parent conflict
conflict, hours worked correlates most
Variables Beta R2 R2 change F statistics strongly with job-parent conflict for
Parental demand 0.194 0.194 11.91** Singapore women entrepreneurs, as shown in
No. of children 1.49 Table VIII. Hours worked also has a positive
Age of children 0.02 relationship with job-parent conflict for
Spouse support 0.367 0.173 9.174** Singapore working women (Aryee, 1992;
Housework 0.20* Low, 1996).
Emotional 0.01 Long working hours increase job-parent
Attitude 0.21* conflict because time spent with the child will
Childcare 0.38** enhance the bond between mother and child
Time pressure 0.413 0.046 8.172** (Swiss and Walker, 1993; Siu and Chu,
Work hours 0.06 1994). Employed mothers have less time for
Schedule inflexibility 0.11 their children, so they tended to compensate
Work stressors 0.15 0.425 0.012 7.565** by establishing specific times for interaction
Notes: * p < = 0.05; ** p < = 0.01 with their children (Pleck and Staines, 1984;
Barling, 1990; Branner and Moss, 1991).
However, there is no strong empirical
evidence that the mother-child bond is
affected negatively when the mother works
Table XI Hierarchical regression analysis ± job-homemaker conflict full-time (Barling, 1990).
Variables Beta R2 R2 change F statistics The high job-parent conflict experienced by
Parental demand 0.039 0.039 1.991
the women entrepreneurs could be due to
No. of children 0.16
feeling of guilt. Women entrepreneurs in
Age of children 0.05 Table XII Multiple regression analysis ± outcome variables
Spouse support 0.156 0.117 2.916**
Job Marital Life
Housework 0.16*
satisfaction satisfaction satisfaction
Emotional 0.05
Attitude 0.11 R2 0.14 0.31 0.13
Childcare 0.1 F statistic 5.41** 14.62** 4.79**
Time pressure 0.258 0.102 4.045** Beta
Work hours 0.03 Job-spouse conflict 0.30* 0.45** 0.28*
Schedule inflexibility 0.19* Job-homemaker conflict 0.11 0.01 0.10
Work stressors 0.22* 0.289 0.031 4.163** Job-parent conflict 0.08 0.14 0.10
Notes: * p < = 0.05; ** p < = 0.01 Notes: * p < = 0.05; ** p < = 0.01
213
Table XIII Validity of the hypotheses shopping. There is usually a fixed time for
Hypothesis Status
these tasks, for example, mealtimes and the
opening hours of supermarkets and women
H1. Number of hours worked is positively Supported entrepreneurs have to adjust their work
associated with work-family conflict schedule to match these time. Studies have
H2. Work schedule inflexibility is positively Supported shown that working women with non-
associated with work-family conflict standard work schedules have more time for
H3. Work stressors is positively associated with Supported housework (Pleck and Staines, 1984; Spain
work-family conflict and Bianchi, 1996).
H4. Parental demand is positively associated with Partially supported On the other hand, 90 percent of the
work-family conflict women entrepreneurs had maids or other
H5. Spouse support is negatively associated with Partially supported sources of support for their household
work-family conflict chores (Table IV). And unlike childcare,
H6. Sharing of household responsibility is Partially supported household chores are easy tasks to delegate
negatively associated with work-family
without any detrimental effect. Hence, there
conflict
is a need to understand specifically the kind
H7. Sharing of childcare responsibility is negatively Partially supported
of job-homemaker conflict experienced by
associated with work-family conflict
women entrepreneurs.
H8. Work-family conflict is negatively associated Supported
Schedule inflexibility is also an important
with job satisfaction

variable in predicting job-spouse conflict
(Table IX). Schedule inflexibility can affect
with marital satisfaction
the amount of time spent with the spouse, as
research studies have shown that working
with life satisfaction
women who engage in flexible work schedules
spend more time with their spouses and
Carter and Cannon (1992) study felt guilty that families (Barling, 1990). The lack of time for
they were unable to fulfil the traditional the spouse is the most common cause of
maternal role. Children are considered to be a deteriorating marital relationship for women
mother's highest priority, and working mothers entrepreneurs (Carter and Cannon, 1992).
feel guilty for not spending as much time as Moreover, schedule flexibility has the greatest
moderating effect on the negative relationship
they believe should spend with their children
between work schedule and marital
(Branner and Moss, 1991; Swiss and Walker,
functioning (Barling, 1990).
1993). At the same time, they are worried that
their children will be more attached to their
Work stressors affect spousal
care givers than to themselves, because they
relationship
spend less time with their children (Swiss and
Work stressors have the highest positive
Walker, 1993; Siu and Chu, 1994).
correlation with job-spouse conflict (Table
VIII) and it is also an important variable in
Schedule inflexibility increases both job-
predicting job-spouse conflict (Table IX).
homemaker and job-spouse conflict
Work stressors create strain, which can affect
Work schedule inflexibility has a significant
marital functioning negatively (Barling and
positive correlation with job-homemaker MacEwen, 1992). Strain leads to negative
conflict as shown in Table VIII. It is also an emotions such as anxiety and irritability, when
important variable in predicting job- carried over from work to the family, with a
homemaker conflict (Table XI). Schedule negative impact on husband-wife relationships.
conflict is a major work-family conflict Good marital relationships depend on the
dimension for US women entrepreneurs communication between husband and wife
(Arora et al., 1990). Aryee (1992) also (Cutrona, 1996; Noller, 1987). Suchet and
reported the same result for Singapore Barling (1986) reported a positive relationship
women professionals. between marital satisfaction and verbal, as well
Working women encounter schedule as non-verbal, communication. Negative
conflict because of their greater family emotions can be reflected in the
responsibility (Pleck et al., 1980). The role of communication between marital partners and
a homemaker requires them to perform result in a less satisfying marital relationship.
various tasks such as cooking, housework and Spouses share an intimate relationship that
214
makes it is easy for negative emotions to filter things. Whereas the concept of ``the child as
through from work to family via a project'' means parents can plan the
communication. Jones and Fletcher (1996) development of their children and set goals
found that the husband's rating of the wife's for their development. It has been found that
verbal and non-verbal communication when the children are young, mothers tend
coincided with the wife's rating of her mood, to see their ``child as a being'', giving them
and there is a positive correlation between the time is an end itself. However, for mothers of
wife's work demand and her mood. Hence, older children (aged three years and above),
negative emotions due to work stressors can the giving of time is a means to an end. They
affect the relationship with the spouse through expect to receive tangible results for their
verbal and non-verbal communication. efforts.
Work stressors also have a negative Since they set goals for their children's
correlation with job-homemaker conflict and development, working mothers will feel
it is a significant variable in predicting job- stressful if their children cannot achieve
homemaker conflict for the Singapore women those goals because they do not spend
entrepreneurs (Table XI). Strains, such as enough time with the children due to
worry and preoccupation with the business, their work commitment (Branner and
can reduce the level of concentration, making Moss, 1991).
household chores more difficult (Barling and A majority of the Singapore women
MacEwen, 1992). entrepreneurs in this study had children who

were adolescents. Adolescence is a difficult
Low parental demand reduces period for children because they face an
job-homemaker conflict but not
identity crisis and are vulnerable to alcohol
job-parent conflict
and drug abuse, premarital sex and smoking.
Adolescents who do not have strong support
conflict, the age of children has the strongest
from their parents are more likely to be
negative correlation with job-homemaker
involved in these undesirable behaviors.
conflict, as shown in Table VIII. Older
Research suggests that a supportive family
children can help out with household chores
leads to better coping skills for the
and in fact, the `òthers'' category for the
adolescents, improves their self-esteem, and
support of household chores (Table V) is
reduces conflicts and generation gaps (Noller
mainly dominated by the older children, as a
and Callen, 1991). Studies have shown that
significant proportion of the Singapore
adolescents talk more to their mothers on a
women entrepreneurs have children between
wide range of issues (Noller and Callen,
16 and 20 years old. The finding that the
number of children is negatively associated 1991), hence, support from their mothers is
with job-homemaker conflict could be due to important to them. However, it is more
the fact that where there are more children, difficult for women entrepreneurs as they have
more help is available for doing household less time for their children, since they work
chores. longer hours than other employed mothers.
On the other hand, the age of the children Moreover, the strain of managing a business
has a significant positive relationship with job- can also affect women entrepreneurs' ability to
parent conflict as shown in Table VIII. This spend quality time with their children (Barling
finding contradicts all previous research and MacEwen, 1992).
studies on work-family conflict. Aryee (1992) The number of children has a significant
and Low (1996) reported a positive positive correlation with job-parent conflict.
relationship between parental demand and This finding is supported by other research
job-parent conflict for Singapore working studies on work-family conflict (Low, 1996;
women. Pleck et al. (1980) also reported that Aryee, 1992; Pleck et al., 1980). The more
parents of young children experience more children a women entrepreneur has, the more
work-family conflict. time and effort she will have to spend on her
There are two ways that mothers children. Moreover, hours worked is
conceptualise their relationship with their positively associated with job-parent conflict
children. The concept of ``the child as a (Table VIII), hence greater job-parent
being'' means that the development of a child conflict is experienced when the women
is a natural process, hence one cannot rush entrepreneur has more children.
215
Spouse emotional support reduces Similarly, spouse support for childcare

job-spouse conflict correlated positively with job-parent conflict
Spouse emotional and attitude support has and was also a significant variable in
significant negative relationship with job- predicting the level of job-parent conflict
spouse conflict as shown in Table VIII. In (Table XI). This is because the type of
addition, spouse attitude support is a childcare provided by the mother is different
significant variable in predicting job-spouse from that provided by the father. The mother
conflict (Table IX). usually handles the basic childcare tasks, such
Feeling emotionally supported is one of the as feeding, cleaning and clothing and she is
primary expectations for an intimate also responsible for the discipline of the child.
relationship, which marriage partners share. On the other hand, the father is the one who
Love, empathy and concern can increase plays with the child (Emmon et al., 1990;
closeness, understanding and agreement Branner and Moss, 1991). Research on the
among marriage partners (Cutrona, 1996). Singapore family showed that the mother was
Hence, emotional support is important for responsible for child disciplining, taking the
marital satisfaction (Lewis and Cooper, child to the doctor, talking to the child's
1988). A better marital relationship can teacher, helping with the child's schoolwork,
reduce stress, including job-spouse conflict, and basic childcare (The Straits Times, 1999a).
between the couples and women Branner and Moss (1991) also reported that
entrepreneurs have deemed spouse emotional the mother is usually the one who performs
support as a major asset (Carter and Cannon, the childcare tasks, and that the father seldom
1992; Teo, 1996). does so on a regular basis.
The attitude support provided by the Spouse support for household chores has
spouse of women entrepreneurs is greater the strongest negative correlation with job-
than the emotional support received (Table parent conflict (Table VIII) and is a
III). This favorable attitude arises because of significant variable in predicting job-parent
the contribution women entrepreneurs make conflict (Table X). Spouse assistance in
to the family income, hence relieving the household chores means that the mother has
husband's financial burden as the sole more time for her children and spouse
breadwinner. Carter and Cannon (1992) also support for childcare has the strongest
found that women entrepreneurs have a negative correlation with job-homemaker
better relationship with their spouse because conflict. Childcare help from the husband can
of their contribution to the family income. reduce the amount of household chores and
Spouse support for household chores was allows more time for carrying out the
positively related to job-homemaker conflict remaining household chores.
(Table VIII) and it was also a significant
variable in predicting job-homemaker conflict Support from others does not reduce
(Table XI). Spouse support for household work-family conflict
chores has the lowest mean among all the The sharing of household chores
other types of spouse support (Table III) and responsibility is negatively correlated to job-
Singapore women entrepreneurs, on average, spouse conflict and job-homemaker conflict,
reported that their spouses gave them little although the correlations are insignificant
help in household chores. A study on the (Table VIII). The help with household chores
Singapore family revealed that household means that the women entrepreneurs can
chores were not equally shared among spend more time with their spouses, hence
husbands and wives (The Straits Times, reducing the level of job-spouse conflict. The
1999a). Wives cared for the sick at home, sharing of childcare responsibility reduces the
decided on food budget, and did the home level job-homemaker conflict, although the
cleaning, laundry, and cooking, while correlation is insignificant. This is because
husbands were in charge of activities that most of the Singapore women entrepreneurs
were not considered time-consuming and use their maids for both household chores and
seldom needed to be done on a regular basis, childcare (Table IV and VI). However, the
such as planning the family budget, paying sharing of childcare responsibility has a
bills, filling in income tax forms, and doing significant positive association with job-
minor home repairs. parent conflict, as previously mentioned, the
216
mother-child relationship cannot be replaced effect of job interfering with family is more
by third parties. significant in the home care role, hence
resulting in lower job satisfaction.
Job-spouse conflict reduces job Job-parent conflict has a strong negative
satisfaction, marital satisfaction and correlation with marital satisfaction. Children
life satisfaction are an important part of a marital
Job-spouse conflict has the strongest negative relationship, and they can be a source of
correlation with the outcome variables as conflict between spouses (Noller, 1987).
shown in Table VIII. In addition, job-spouse Differences in views over child rearing and the
conflict is the only significant variable in division of childcare tasks can affect marital
predicting the outcome variables (Table XII), relationships (Belsky, 1990). Therefore, if the
a finding supported by Aryee's (1992) mother's job affects her childcare tasks, the
research on Singapore women professionals. relationship between husband and wife will be
Hence, job-spouse conflict has the greatest strained, especially when the mother is the
influence on the job, marital and life one who bears major responsibility for
satisfaction of Singapore women childcare tasks. Hence, job-parent conflict
entrepreneurs. can seriously influence marital satisfaction for
Spousal relationship is the basic foundation the women entrepreneurs.
of a marriage and a family and family is still
the priority for Singapore women, who would

rather cut back on their work than let it affect Implications
their family (The Straits Times, 1999a).
Hence, to Singapore women entrepreneurs, This study shows that work-family conflict
their relationship with their spouses is very experienced by women entrepreneurs is
important and if it is strained due to the similar to that experienced by women
women's business, it will affect their job employees. Hence, a working mother will
satisfaction. A strained marital life will lead to experience work-family conflict regardless of
lower marital satisfaction and since job and the type of job she has. From this research,
marriage are important components of life, several implications arise.
their life satisfaction will be negatively
affected too (Arora et al., 1990; Kopelman Support from spouse
and Greenhaus 1983; Adams et al., 1996). Women experience work-family conflict
The women entrepreneurs' work may pose because they have to manage both work and
a threat to their spouses because of the greater family roles simultaneously, whereas men can
status and economic success. As such, their delegate their family responsibilities to their
relationship with their spouses can be affected wives and concentrate fully on their career. If
adversely by their jobs (Lee et al., 1999). men provided greater support in terms of
Research studies have shown that when the household chores and childcare, work-family
husband's perceived adequacy as the family's conflict would not be a major problem for
breadwinner is threatened by his wife's working women. However, this research and
employment status, he is less satisfied with his other studies have shown that the husbands of
life. Status incongruency between spouses will women entrepreneurs seldom help out in
lead to spouse abuse ± psychologically and household chores and childcare (Longstreth
physically, and women who own small et al., 1987; Lee-Gosselin and Grise, 1990).
businesses are at a higher risk of spouse abuse An explanation is gender role socialisation. In
(Barling, 1990). Singapore, household chores and childcare
Job-homemaker conflict has a strong are perceived as women's work and change is
negative relationship with job satisfaction seen as a threat to masculinity for men to help
(Table VIII). A study on the Singapore family out with these tasks (Lee et al., 1999).
shows that the wife bears major responsibility However, a more egalitarian perspective of
for household tasks because of a traditional gender role would help to reduce working
view of spousal role (The Straits Times, mother's family demands.
1999a). Time pressure from work, such as Men do not help out in housework because
schedule inflexibility, constrains the ability of they are not taught to do so, hence many do
the working women to get the household not have skills in cooking or childcare. Male
chores done (Pleck and Staines, 1984). The students should be encouraged to take up
217
domestic skill lessons in schools (Lee et al., handle their childcare and household tasks
1999). Moreover, such training at a young age more easily. It also benefits the children of
can help men to develop a more egalitarian these women entrepreneurs by the way of
attitude towards gender role. In addition, getting the children involved in the business,
hospitals or polyclinics can offer courses on thus allowing them to learn new skills and be
baby care for both spouses and fathers-to-be more independent. It also helps in the mother-
and they should be strongly encouraged to child relationship as the children can identify
participate so that they can help with themselves with their mothers' jobs and the
childcare. mother can serve as a good role model.
Companies can play a part in encouraging However, it is still necessary to separate work
fathers to be more active in childcare tasks by from the family so that they will not interfere
offering paternity leave and child sick leave for with one another. Good time management,
their married male employees. A survey by the such as planning and prioritising business and
Ministry of Manpower shows that paternity family activities, is essential (Gillis, 1984; The
leave (three days or less) is provided by Straits Times, 1999b).
companies in Singapore, and a majority of
these companies are from the manufacturing Full-day school
sector (Ministry of Manpower, 1998). The The long working hours of Singapore women
paternity leave provided is short compared to entrepreneurs contributes to a higher level of
the 60 days maternity leave stipulated in the job-parent conflict, which increases as
Employment Act. The public sector could set children reach adolescence and parents
an example by providing a more liberal become fearful of bad peer influence. Hence,
paternity leave policy (e.g. one month) to full day school could be considered for
their male employees to encourage companies primary, secondary and junior college levels.
in Singapore to provide longer paternity leave. This would help to relieve the stress of
working mothers, especially the women
Flexible work schedule entrepreneurs who tend to work long hours
A flexible work schedule allows women (The Straits Times, 1996).
entrepreneurs to manage their work and A full day school could start later, e.g. at
personal life more effectively. It enables a 8.30 a.m., to allow more time for parent-child
working mother to spend more time with her interaction in the morning, ending at 3.00
children and husband, and to do household p.m., after which the students could stay in the
tasks, hence reducing the time pressure of school till 5.00 p.m. for co-curriculum
having to handle both work and family roles activities. Full day schools allow students to be
simultaneously. A flexible work schedule also supervised by their teachers and enable them
enables companies to attract and retain to engage in healthy activities in schools, such
talented people who are not able to work full as sports or school projects. This will reduce
time, especially married women (Lee et al., the opportunity for the students to spend too
1999). Therefore, companies should consider much leisure time with their friends or be alone
implementing flexible work schedules. Unless at home unsupervised, so that the adolescents
it becomes a common trend in Singapore, few will be less likely to pick up bad habits from
small and medium enterprises (most of the their peers (The Straits Times, 1998).
women entrepreneurs own small and medium
enterprises) would consider doing so. Good marital relationship
In Singapore, flexible work schedules, such Job-spouse conflict has a great influence on the
as flexitime, temporary work, part-time job, marital and life satisfaction of the women
employment, shift work, compressed work- entrepreneurs. Hence, it is important for
week and teleworking, are not popular. women entrepreneurs not to let their business
Workers under flexitime are often highly affect their relationship with their spouses.
skilled professionals from the IT industry Singapore women entrepreneurs work an
(Ministry of Manpower, 1990). average of 50 hours per week, working longer
In recent years, e-business is greatly hours when compared to Singapore women
encouraged by the Government, which enables professionals who worked an average of 45
women entrepreneurs to work from home. hours per week (Aryee, 1992; Low, 1996;
Working from home offers greater freedom in Kwek, 1996). This is similar to research
work schedules so women entrepreneurs can studies on women entrepreneurs in Western
218
countries (Chay, 1993; Lewin-Epstein and entrepreneurs. Full-day schools may be one
Yuchtman-Yaar, 1991). Hence, Singapore way to help to reduce job-parent conflict and
women entrepreneurs have less time for their women entrepreneurs need to maintain good
families and the time they spend with their marital relationships, as job-spouse conflict
children reduces the time they spend with adversely affects their psychological well-being.
their husbands. It is therefore important that The increase in the number of young women
women entrepreneurs allocate time to spend entrepreneurs has made it crucial to pay more
alone with their husbands in order to enhance attention to work-family dilemma. Women are
their relationship. an important economic resource in Singapore.
The setting up of a business can affect the With the declining birth rate, the female labor
marital relationship if the husband feels force participation is crucial for Singapore to
uneasy over the wife's newly gained
meet its future manpower needs. Work-family
independence-financially and emotionally. As
dilemma can be resolved through the co-
the owner of a travel agency said:
operation of the companies, society and the
It is easy for a man to accept a women working
today. But owning a business is another matter. Government. It is hoped that this research will
The money, independence, control . . . many bring attention to the work-family dilemma of
men have difficulty dealing with that (Gillis, women entrepreneurs in Singapore.
1984, p. 290).
Hence, it is important for the women

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Work-family conflict of women entrepreneurs in Singapore

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entrepreneurs is at an exploratory stage.

childcare (Longstreth et al., 1987; Lee- Framework of work-family conflict

. the relationship between the different

Figure 1 Framework on work-family conflict

conflict and job satisfaction. It may be H9. Work-family conflict is negatively

(1992) reported a negative relationship married women entrepreneurs in Singapore.

Table I Respondent profile Table II Reliability of scales

Educational qualifications by emotional, childcare and housework. In

Table III Descriptive statistics

Job satisfactionb 3.91 4 5

work schedule inflexibility is positively Regression analysis

Table VIII Correlation analysis

6 Work stressors 0.411** 0.369** 0.205* 0.157 0.367**

Hours worked increases entrepreneurial

Among the three types of work-family

with job satisfaction

MacEwen, 1992). entrepreneurs in this study had children who

Spouse emotional support reduces Similarly, spouse support for childcare

the priority for Singapore women, who would

Hence, it is important for the women

responsibility. Transportation 41, 251-278. [CrossRef]

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6 Work stressors 0.411 0.369 0.205* 0.157 0.367**