Home-based businesses (HBBs) are the most dominant form of enterprise and the fastest growing business segment in most Western economies. HBBs have raised significant government interest based on their potential to deliver economic development and growth for the communities that they operate in. While international knowledge of the home-based sector is growing in the areas of HBB occurrence, operator characteristics and business activities, there is limited focus on HBBs operating within a regional context even though HBBs are thought to be more common outside urban areas. This paper presents results from a West Australian study that explored the profile of regionally located HBBs and examined the economic contributions that these businesses made to their geographic areas.
PurposeThis paper seeks to explore self‐employment through home‐based business ownership as a potential solution to the inter‐role conflict experienced by women attempting to balance dual work and family roles.Design/methodology/approachHome‐based businesses (n = 626) were surveyed in Western Australia as part of a larger national study. Data were collected on operator and business characteristics, and specific home‐based business issues (e.g. reasons for preferring a home‐base, management and planning, growth facilitators and barriers). Four‐way comparisons investigating the dynamics of home‐based business ownership between male and female operators and operators with and without dependants were made.FindingsThe attraction of home‐based business ownership is driven predominantly by the flexibility afforded to lifestyle and the ability to balance work and family. While these advantages were more salient for women than for men, gender per se was not a determining factor in why operators started a home‐based business. The more significant determining factor was the issue of dependants.Practical implicationsSelf‐employment, particularly through home‐based business ownership, may well solve some women's necessity to balance work and family. However, it may not be a viable solution for all women, particularly those seeking high financial and career rewards.Originality/valueThis paper contributes empirical findings regarding home‐based businesses which, as a distinct form of small business and self‐employment alternative, still remain very much under‐researched. The paper also addresses the issue of home‐based businesses being emancipatory vehicles for women juggling to manage work and family, and provides findings which question this increasingly populist notion.
Home-based businesses are a 'hidden engine' that are poorly understood and inadequately supported, claim Calvin Wang, Elizabeth A. Walker, Janice Redmond and John Breen. They undertook research to gain more insight into this sector. Continuous economic activity is vital to Australia and the main driver for the past 20 years has been small business, often referred to by politicians as the 'engine room' of the economy. However, little is known about those businesses that operate from a home-base, even though these represent the largest cohort both within the small business sector and the wider business community. This is potentially an economic, regulatory and even political problem especially if home-based businesses (HBBs) continue to remain largely 'hidden'. Individually, HBBs make important contributions to economic activity in terms of job creation, wealth generation, business investment, the provision of goods and services and the servicing of local, national and international markets. There are well over one million Australians operating in excess of 850,000 home-based businesses. They include, but are not limited to, accountants and architects, web developers, photographers, mobile mechanics, pet boarders, bed and breakfast operators, freight movers, electricians, plumbers and painters. Collectively, HBBs provide important employment opportunities, not just for operators in the form of self-employment, but also family members and staff. Localised businesses consolidate social connectivity for people, making it possible for them to shop and socialise close to where they live and work. As a result, money stays in local communities and this potentially fosters a healthy local economy through wealth and further job creation. These benefits make HBBs particularly important as key drivers of both economic and community sustainability in rural and regional areas. This paper shows that the sector has real potential for growth and greater attention needs to be paid to it in respect of policies, programs and strategies to facilitate the growth of the sector, particularly at a local government level. Given the ease of establishing a business in the home and the lesser risks involved (both business and personal), HBBs provide important opportunities for entrepreneurial Australians to 'give it a go' and in so doing, to further drive economic growth and development.
PurposeThis research explores the purchasing behavioural drivers of young Chinese consumers purchasing foreign clothing brands. The aim is to include a range of drivers identified by different investigations into a single approach, to determine direct and indirect channels by which these drivers influence purchasing behaviour, and their relative importance in quantitative terms.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology is based on an extended version of the theory of planned behaviour that considers hypotheses based on a number of studies revised in the literature review. This theoretical framework was used as the basis for a questionnaire applied to a sample of 362 young Chinese consumers. A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling approach was used to analyse the collected data.FindingsThe results revealed three main channels influencing purchasing behaviour which were shown to share the same root, corresponding to the influences of the social network young consumers belong to. This result suggests that social norms have a key role in explaining young consumers' purchasing behaviour through its impact on their needs for status and social recognition, their attitudes towards foreign cultures and foreign brands, and their beliefs regarding the attributes of foreign clothing.Practical implicationsThe work therefore provides companies operating in the foreign clothing market the confidence to devise business strategies that focus on the channel demonstrating the highest influencing power. A strategy likely to have the highest influencing power is one that uses celebrities to promote the reputation of products and reinforce the messages associated with status and social recognition. Reinforcement of these strategies could include secondary strategies linked to the other channels such as the one related to the adoption of foreign cultural symbolism.Originality/valueIn contrast to the majority of related studies, this investigation also explores indirect channels or paths by which a behavioural driver affects the behaviour of young Chinese consumers. In fact, this investigation not only simultaneously identified the different paths influencing young Chinese consumers purchasing behaviour but also quantitatively identified their relative importance.
