How do female entrepreneurs experience and cope with role conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa: case study from Ethiopia

Abstract

This paper presents the experience of role conflict and consequent coping strategies used by women entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) context. The data was collected from female business owners in the textile sector of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in multiple case studies. The results indicate that sources of role conflict for women entrepreneurs in the context studied include family, business (work), social role expectations, and personal factors. We, therefore, argue in this study that sources of role conflict should not be limited to those stemming from family and work, the normative focus in work-family interface literature. The main practical implication is that in cases where there is a shortage of resources, efforts aimed at promoting female entrepreneurship should start by examining the source of conflict.

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nt. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 38, Nos. 1/2, 2019 177
Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
How do female entrepreneurs experience and cope
with role conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa: case study
from Ethiopia
Mulu Berhanu Hundera*
Department of Management,
School of Economics and Management,
Tilburg University, The Netherlands
Email: Boga3k@yahoo.com
*Corresponding author
G.M. Duijsters
Department of Management,
Tilburg School of Economics and Management, The Netherlands
Email: gduysters@uvt.nl
Wim A. Naudé
Maastricht School of Management, The Netherlands
Email: naude@msm.nl
Abstract: This paper presents the experience of role conflict and consequent
coping strategies used by women entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
context. The data was collected from female business owners in the textile
sector of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in multiple case studies. The results indicate
that sources of role conflict for women entrepreneurs in the context studied
include family, business (work), social role expectations, and personal factors.
We therefore argue in this study that sources of role conflict should not be
limited to those stemming from family and work, the normative focus in
work-family interface literature. The main practical implication is that in cases
where there is a shortage of resources, efforts aimed at promoting female
entrepreneurship should start by examining the source of conflict.
Keywords: business stages; coping strategies; role conflict; women
entrepreneurs.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hundera, M.B.,
Duijsters, G.M. and Naudé, W.A. (2019) ‘How do female entrepreneurs
experience and cope with role conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa: case study from
Ethiopia’, Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. 38, Nos. 1/2,
pp.177–209.
Biographical notes: Mulu Berhanu Hundera has over ten years experience in
the field of Management and Development. Currently, she is an Assistant
Professor at the Haramaya University (HU), Ethiopia, where she focuses on
teaching management and development courses and researching on related
topics. Since 2015, she has been PhD researcher at the Tilburg University’s
Organisation and Strategy Specialisation, The Netherlands

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G.M. Duijsters is a Full Professor at Tilburg University, School of Economics
and Management, Department of Management. His areas of expertise are
Entrepreneurship, Strategic alliances, Innovation Strategies, China/India,
Corporate Venturing, Data Science.
Wim A. Naudé is the Dean of Maastricht School of Management. He also holds
the special Chair in Business and Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets at the
Maastricht University School of Economics and Business, in Maastricht, The
Netherlands. His academic work is concerned with the allocation of
entrepreneurial talent and occupational choice in the development process,
including how entrepreneurial decisions relate to trade, structural change,
industrialisation and regional development.
This paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper entitled ‘Role conflict
and coping strategies of women entrepreneurs: qualitative study in Sub-Saharan
African context’ presented at The 8th EURAM Early Career Colloquium in
Rabat, 5–7 March 2017.
1 Introduction
Women’s entrepreneurship is often given special status, because it is seen as having a
particularly beneficial impact on development as a whole (Minniti, 2010). The social and
economic progress that entrepreneurship can bring to women can be an instrument for
addressing gender inequality, improving economic efficiency, establishing more small
and medium enterprises (SMEs), and promoting the well-being of children (Belwal and
Singh, 2008; Estrin and Mickiewicz, 2011; Ramadani et al., 2013). Women-owned
businesses thus contribute to the economy and society, but tend to perform less well than
male-owned businesses (Jennings and Brush, 2013). Female- owned enterprises also tend
to be less profitable and resilient and grow less strongly (Alsos et al., 2006).
Studies to date have attributed the lower performance of women-owned businesses to
different reasons. The constraints identified relate to financial capital1, human capital2,
and psychological capital3 (see, Baughn et al., 2006; Alsos et al., 2006; Shinnar et al.,
2012; World Bank, 2016). In addition, women’s entrepreneurial activities are hampered
by both formal and informal institutions, leading to low performance (Welter and
Smallbone, 2008; Sullivan and Meek, 2012). Furthermore, businesses owned by women
tend to be small, new, and concentrated in areas of low-profit potential4 (Baughn et al.,
2006; Robb and Watson, 2012). A few scholars (e.g., Jennings and McDougald, 2007;
Shelton, 2006) have also argued that another, somewhat neglected, factor could
contribute to the underperformance of female-owned businesses-namely, the fact that
women experience more role conflict than men. For example, compared to men, female
often involve and or delay to involve in business to balance work-family life (Ratten,
2016).
This final factor could be particularly operative for women in Sub-Saharan African
countries, because they typically assume a triple role in society – fulfilling domestic,
economic, and social duties – unlike men, who essentially fulfill an economic role

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(Moser, 1993; Turner and Fouracre, 1995; Chant, 2008). This can prevent female
entrepreneurs from being able to fully engage in their business enterprises in order to
grow and expand or establish a formal company. For instance, Bardasi et al. (2007)
indicate that African women pursue informal business arrangements as a way of
managing a ‘double workday.’ In the study by Munyua (2009), women entrepreneurs in
Kenya also cited the challenge of balancing multiple roles as the main reason for their
higher rate of exit.
Although various initiatives have been undertaken (e.g., capacity-building and access
to finance) to promote female entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
(Vossenberg, 2013), women-owned businesses continue to record poor performance
compared to men-owned businesses in the same region (e.g., Nagler and Naudé, 2017).
This may be because women in SSA have a greater workload than men and initiatives
that do not take this into proper consideration can overburden them with additional
responsibilities (Ethiopian Institutes of Agricultural Research [EIAR], 2012). So, in a
context of multiple hindrances for women entrepreneurs, specifically in SSA, at the same
time that income generation is seen as a way to improve livelihoods, it is worth asking
how the performance of women-owned businesses could be improved. Having an
understanding of the experience with role conflict and coping strategies among women
entrepreneurs in SSA could therefore provide a better guide for moving forward.
This specific issue has not been well addressed in the literature, however, especially
in the literature dealing with female entrepreneurship in SSA.5 To the best of our
knowledge, there has not been a single study on role conflict and coping strategies among
women entrepreneurs in SSA. The context in SSA differs from many places in terms of
family structure and orientation and economic and social development (Mokomane,
2013; Muasya, 2014). It is also often difficult in developing countries for women to draw
a boundary between work and family (Shaffer et al., 2011); women basically undertake
economic activities only in combination with family responsibilities. For these reasons,
role conflict (e.g., work-family interface) studies done in a developed country context
may not sufficiently capture the role conflict and coping strategies of women
entrepreneurs in SSA. Hence, this study aims to examine those factors in a Sub-Saharan
African context.
To that end, we performed multiple case studies among women entrepreneurs in the
textile sector of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The results indicate that the sources of role
conflict for female entrepreneurs in SSA include family, business (work), social role
expectations, and personal factors. We therefore argue in this study that sources of role
conflict should not be limited to family and work, the more normative focuses in
work-family interface literature. Moreover, we identified nine types of coping strategies
(e.g., social support) used by women entrepreneurs to manage the competing time
demands, behavioural expectations, and strain that arise from the different sources.
We also found that the importance of factors on the nature of the role conflict
(sources, types, and intensity) and choice of coping strategies varies according to the
stage a business is at. The key theoretical contribution of this study is the model it
develops of role conflict and coping strategies based on the business stage. And the main
practical implication is that in areas where there is a shortage of resources, interventions
aimed at promoting female entrepreneurship can be started in the domain that will have
the greatest impact on the women’s experience of role conflict and coping strategies.

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1.1 Women entrepreneurs in SSA context
The number of women who become entrepreneurs in SSA has been higher than any other
regions of the world (Welsh et al., 2013). It has also become more women than men who
start-business in the region (GEM, 2017). However, the majority of women-owned
business is driven by necessity such as poverty, and work and family conflict (Minniti
and Naude, 2010; GEM, 2015). In addition, the women face various burdens in their
effort to start and expand the business. These include gender roles which place workload
on women, cultural practices which put restrictions on women’s behaviour, and
unfavourable entrepreneurial ecosystem (Nziku et al., 2017). These to great extent
contribute to the high exit rate of women entrepreneurs in SSA (GEM, 2017). Moreover,
attributed to large family size, most of the women business owners in SSA have
short-term concerns and focus on low entry-barrier business (Minniti and Naude, 2010).
This contributed to the majority of women-owned businesses to be in the micro and
informal sectors (Spring, 2009). Although the majority of medium and large-scale
enterprises are men-owned, there are few medium and large-scale enterprises owned by
women. For example, there is a growing segment of women in medium and large-scale
enterprises in countries such as Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa and
Ethiopia (Spring).
The sector with more women varies across countries, yet, women-owned businesses
are more found in some sectors than in others. More than 80% of women-owned business
are in the consumer-oriented retail business; are home-based and has low growth
potential (GEM, 2015). In addition, over ten years studies showed that 48% of
agriculturalists and traders in the towns and cities all over Africa are women
micro-entrepreneurs (Spring, 2009). Moreover, the women entrepreneurs have to make a
trade-off between cultural belief and the type of business activities they wish to
undertake. “For instance, most women in Tanzania undertake business activities that are
in harmony with their traditional roles and, in most cases, the businesses are the least
profitable [Brixiová and Kangoye, (2016) p.88].” Ndhlovu and Spring (2009) also
mentioned that the majority of women in Africa are engaged in ‘traditional’ areas which
are often extensions of their roles at home; and require little or no education, technical
skills, and capital. Furthermore, family responsibilities, community roles, and limited
mobility prevent women entrepreneurs in SSA from engaging in profitable business
activities (Nziku et al., 2017).
2 Theoretical contexts
2.1 Role conflict
The role conflict theory is entrenched in role theory and derived from scarcity theory
(Michel et al., 2009). Role theory states that an individual has multiple statuses, with
multiple roles within each status (Thompson and Hickey, 1994). Meanwhile, scarcity
theory states that an individual has a limited amount of resources, such as time and
energy. There is competition among the multiple roles for the individual’s limited
resources (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985); thus, fulfilling one role occurs at the expense of
others. Kahn et al. (1964, p.19) defined role conflict as the “simultaneous occurrence of
two or more pressures such that compliance with one would make compliance with the
other more difficult.”

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The literature (e.g., Eby et al., 2005; König and Cesinger, 2015) has discussed three
forms of role conflict: time based, behaviour based, and strain based. Time-based conflict
arises from the limited amount of time a party has to handle all its role demands.
Behaviour-based conflict occurs when the behaviour required in one status is unsuited to
that required for another status. For example, while a formal, bureaucratic style of
communication is expected in the working environment, it may lead to raised eyebrows at
home (Reynolds and Renzulli, 2005). Strain-based conflict happens when the stress from
one status spills over into another status. For example, the physical and mental
involvement required all day at work may make a person less attentive once they are
home (Reynolds and Renzulli, 2005).
2.1.1 Sources of role conflict
Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) argue that any features of a role that influence an
individual’s time involvement, strain, or behaviour within a particular role create a
conflict between that role and another one. The majority of the literature attributes the
sources of role conflict to the family or work environments; a few scholars also include
personality traits. The family context includes such things as household time demands,
role expectations, and family responsibilities and is positively associated with role
conflict (e.g., Kreiner, 2006; Jennings and McDougald, 2007; Martinengo et al., 2010;
Carr and Hmieleski, 2015). In the work context, one of the factors in fixed employment
that can exacerbate role conflict is the lack of an autonomous, flexible working
environment (e.g., Reynolds and Renzulli, 2005; König and Cesinger, 2015). Meanwhile,
flexible work environments create their own difficulties in terms of having to manage the
boundaries between roles (König and Cesinger, 2015) and can similarly lead to role
conflict. For example, while self-employment creates the opportunity to work from home,
it also introduces the difficulty of distinguishing between work and family spaces (Clark,
2000). Flexible work situations also encourage individuals to work during off hours and
weekends, which means they are connected to work all the time (Perrons, 2003;
Dijkhuizen et al., 2014). For example, Parasuraman and Simmers (2001) and König and
Cesinger (2015) found that self-employed individuals work longer hours and experience
higher levels of role conflict than permanent employees. Another work environment that
can enhance role conflict is customer-oriented retail business, with its less flexible
schedule (e.g., Reynolds and Renzulli, 2005; Jennings and McDougald, 2007). Finally,
scholars (e.g., Ruderman et al., 2002; Wincent and Örtqvist, 2009; Grzywacz and Marks,
2000; Akanji, 2012) have found that someone’s personality can influence their level of
role conflict. For instance, people with a low need for achievement and low tolerance for
ambiguity experience high levels of role conflict (Wincent and Örtqvist, 2009).
Personality traits such as neuroticism are also associated with a higher level of role
conflict (Grzywacz and Marks, 2000).
2.2 Coping strategies
Coping strategies represent an individual's efforts at the cognitive, behavioural, and
emotional levels to manage internal and external demands (Hsieh and Eggers, 2010;
Mäkelä and Suutari, 2011). These are the actions individuals take to reduce or control the
consequences of demanding situations beyond their capacity and resources (Clark et al.,
2014). Scholars have examined coping strategies in various ways (Clark et al., 2014).

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Some (e.g., Hall, 1972; Somech and Drach-Zahavy, 2007) have examined how
individuals cope with work-family conflict and role conflict. Others (e.g., Rotondo and
Kincaid, 2008) examined how individuals cope with stress. Since our aim in this research
is to examine role conflict and coping strategies, we focus on the models for coping with
role conflict.
2.2.1 Models for coping with role conflict
The model for coping with role conflict is composed of three elements: ‘structural role
redefinition’, ‘personal role redefinition’, and ‘reactive role behaviour’ (Hall, 1972).
Structural role redefinition aims to eliminate or reduce role conflict at the source by
altering the role expectations, thus reducing, reallocating, and rescheduling the role
demands. This may or may not be in mutual agreement with the role sender (the people
communicating the role expectations). Some of the studies to consider structural role
redefinition as a coping strategy include those by Shelton (2006) and Jennings and
McDougald (2007), whereby the latter analysed couple-level coping strategies, those
undertaken in agreement between couples. Others studies (e.g., Becker and Moen, 1999;
Moen and Yu, 2000; Shelton, 2006; Ahmad and Xavier, 2010) have focused on external
coping strategies, such as role sharing, role reduction, and role elimination.
Personal role redefinition amounts to altering one’s own perception of the role
demands and expectations without altering the external conflict. For example, an
individual might decide to devote his or her full attention to a given role when he or she
is in that role, which generally involves the segmentation of roles. Unlike structural role
redefinition, this strategy involves internal accommodation and does not alter the source
of conflict. Scholars (e.g., Ashforth et al., 2000; Edwards and Rothbard, 2000; Clark,
2000) have similarly examined strategies that are in line with personal role redefinition.
These include segmentation, compensation, and boundary management. Segmentation is
the act of actively separating different roles into different domains (work and family) by
consciously controlling thoughts, feelings, and behaviours related to the out-of-role
status. Compensation is the act of becoming excessively involved in one realm to
compensate for the displeasure in other realms. For instance, in seeking a return from
entrepreneurial activities, a person may reallocate his/her time and attention from other
roles to entrepreneurial activities (Edwards and Rothbard, 2000). Boundary management
involves developing and mapping borders between different statuses (e.g., creating a
boundary between work and family roles) (Clark, 2000; Ashforth et al., 2000).
Reactive role behaviour is an attempt to improve the quality of the role performance
so that one can better satisfy all of the role demands. It is the ideal strategy when there is
no associated attempt to change others’ expectations of the roles, or one's own. The
implicit assumption of role behaviour coping is that role demands are unchangeable and
the person's main task is to find ways to meet them. This also involves a passive or
reactive orientation toward one’s roles.
Two further dimensions of coping strategies introduced by Örtqvist et al. (2007)
include role redefinition (structural versus personal role redefinitions) and role behaviour
(reactive versus passive role behaviour). This model for coping with role conflict is
similar to Hall’s (1972), expect that Örtqvist et al. (2007) consider passive role behaviour
as a separate category. According to this model, the dimensions of role redefinition vary
from negotiating role expectations with stakeholders/role senders to changing one’s level

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of role salience. Role behaviour, meanwhile, varies from being reactive and involved in
working as long or hard as needed to meet all expectations to remaining passive.
2.2.2 Factors affecting coping strategies
The choice of coping strategy and degree to which individuals apply it are influenced by
various factors (Drnovsek et al., 2010). These can be classified as family context, work
context, individual factors, and the nature and level of conflict. Family context includes
family support and family income (Jennings and McDougald, 2007). The work context
includes the nature of the work and capital. According to Ashforth et al. (2000), when a
work context is flexible and permeable and there is a similarity between roles, it may be
possible to integrate roles. In addition, Drnovsek et al. (2010) found that work
environments with a high start-up capital trigger more problem-based coping than low
start-up capital environments. Individual-level factors include gender, age, education,
personality, and role salience (Clark, 2000; Kreiner, 2006; Jennings and McDougald,
2007; Wincent and Örtqvist, 2009; Akanji, 2012; Carr and Hmieleski, 2015). For
instance, Jennings and McDougald (2007) propose that women business owners do not
often use ‘growth facilitating’ strategies compared to men business owners. Ruderman
et al. (2002) also indicate that psychological capital strengthens coping capacity.
Furthermore, Akanji (2012) indicates the importance of hardiness as a personal trait,
which involves coping by controlling oneself. Meanwhile, Jennings and McDougald
(2007) indicate that a high level of role conflict is likely to lead to coping efforts that will
constrain business growth. Rotondo and Kincaid (2008) also found that the effectiveness
of coping strategies depends on the source of the role conflicts.
2.3 Summary, research gaps, and research questions
First, the literature has defined role conflict as a conflict between work and family roles.
In SSA countries, the social expectations that shape women’s roles and behaviour can be
incompatible with entrepreneurial role demands (Munyua, 2009), thus creating a role
conflict. Second, the literature has focused on role conflict and coping among employees,
not so much among entrepreneurs, in general, or women entrepreneurs, in particular.
Furthermore, studies have treated the constructs of role conflict and coping strategies as
static quantities, but entrepreneurship is a dynamic process. That is, the nature of role
conflict and choice of coping strategy may conceivably evolve over time (e.g., during a
business’s start-up phase versus its mature stages). The overarching research question for
this current study is therefore: How do women entrepreneurs in the Sub-Saharan African
context experience and cope with role conflict, depending on the business stage? More
specifically:
• What is the nature (sources, type, and intensity) of the role conflict experienced by
women entrepreneurs in SSA?
• How does the nature (sources, type, and intensity) of the role conflict differ,
depending on the business stage?
• Which coping strategies do women entrepreneurs in SSA use to manage competing
time demands, behavioural expectations, and strain?
• How does the choice of coping strategy differ, depending on the business stage?

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3 Methods
In this paper, we adopt a multiple case study approach to explore the experience of role
conflict and coping strategies among women entrepreneurs at different stages of business.
The case study approach is applicable under four conditions:
1 when a study aims to answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions
2 when the behaviour examined in the study cannot be manipulated
3 when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clear
4 when the research aims to cover contextual conditions because the researcher
believes context is relevant to the phenomenon under study (Dana and Dana, 2005;
Baxter and Jack, 2008).
Role conflict and coping strategies in entrepreneurial processes are the main focus of this
study: this is a relatively new concept in the field of entrepreneurship. There has to date
been a lack of available evidence on role conflict and coping strategies among women
entrepreneurs in the African context. Furthermore, the experience of role conflict and
coping strategies in entrepreneurial settings can be best understood by examining the
environment in which they evolved. The use of the case study thus enables us to make an
in-depth investigation (Dana and Dana, 2005) of the experience of role conflict and
coping strategies among women entrepreneurs at different stages of business.
3.1 Research context
Exploring the experience of role conflict and coping strategies over time, as indicated by
the business stage, was the main target of the study. Hence, in order to constrain
variations (Eisenhardt, 1989) on other factors and make a comparison based on business
stages only, women entrepreneurs from the same sector were purposively selected for the
study, according to their level of education and geographic location. This produced a
group of study participants comprising women entrepreneurs in the textile sector in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia6, who were college graduates and growth-oriented.7
Ethiopia is currently at a relatively early stage of economic development, with
entrepreneurship, in general, and female entrepreneurship, in particular, garnering much
attention. Like most African countries, Ethiopia has been dominated by patriarchal
systems and a culture that puts restrictions on women's roles and behaviour. However,
more women entrepreneurs than men entrepreneurs in the country have been motivated to
take advantage of business opportunities (GEM, 2015), and these women may use
effective coping strategies. Our familiarity with the context, along with the vast size and
ethnic diversity of the country, enables us to access research data applicable to SSA
countries and beyond.
The reason for selecting the textile sector in Ethiopia was first and foremost that it is
one of the top five fastest-growing garment manufacturing countries in the world and
textiles are the third largest manufacturing industry there, after food and leather
processing. Second, the sector employs primarily women (around 80%) and is hence
representative of female entrepreneurship in the country. Third, most of the merchandise
from the sector, such as clothing, shoes, and jewellery, as well as household items, is
custom-made, which consumes time and energy in terms of meeting the

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specifications/expectations of each customer. Thus, as women try to meet such business
expectations along with their other roles, we can expect a higher level of role conflict. At
the same time, most of the successful (role model) women entrepreneurs in the country
are found in this sector. Hence, these female entrepreneurs may use effective role conflict
coping strategies and their experiences can provide a better guide for initiatives aimed at
promoting women’s entrepreneurship in Ethiopia, in particular, and SSA, in general.
3.2 Sources of data
Since an entrepreneur’s attachment to his/her company differs at various stages, like the
attachment between parent and child at different ages (Cardon et al., 2005), there may be
some differences in the way women at different stages of business experience and cope
with role conflict. In order to build a model of role conflict and coping that is applicable
across business stages, our researchers purposefully selected respondents from every
stage of business (seed, start-up, growth, and maturity stages) from a population of
women entrepreneurs in the textile sector in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Theoretical sampling
(Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007) was used to classify the stages of business, based on the
Cardon et al. (2005) entrepreneurship phase model. Accordingly, we selected 20 women
entrepreneurs, five from each stage of business. The reasoning for this is that having
multiple cases at each stage (category) allows us to replicate the findings within each
stage (category) (Eisenhardt, 1989). The following procedures were followed to select
respondents for the study:
• Seed stage: The main activities of entrepreneurs at this stage include finding a
business site, accessing finance, expanding personal and business networks,
licensing (legalisation), and developing marketing plans (Cardon et al., 2005).
Adding to this, the GEM defines a nascent entrepreneur as a person actively involved
in starting a new enterprise. Following these criteria, the five respondents who were
categorised under seed stage have identified type and site for their business, are in
the process of creating networks and licensing their business.
• Start-up stage: According to Minniti and Naude (2010), firms at the start-up stage in
developing countries are largely micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
employing fewer than five people. In addition, the GEM defines a young business as
being a business less than 42 months old. Following these criteria, the five
respondents, who were categorised under start-up stage, hire 3 to 4 employees; have
been in business from 2 to 3 years, and their business considered as small scale.8
• Growth stage: The growth stage of a business is characterised by a growth in sales,
employees, and market share or resource acquisition and the venture becoming more
formalised (DeTienne, 2010). The GEM also defines entrepreneurship at this level as
someone who is the owner/manager of a business that is older than 42 months.
Following these criteria, the five respondents who were categorised under growth
stage have reported growth in sales, size and have been in business for more than
five years.
• Maturity stage: One of the basic characteristics of a mature business is that the
company develops its own institutionalised practices that are separate from the
entrepreneur (Cardon et al., 2005). In addition, the company hires managers other

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than the founder. Furthermore, a mature firm has independent businesses separate
from its core firm. Accordingly, all respondents are serial entrepreneurs with more
than one independent business who have hired managers, and have institutionalised
practices.
To compile a list of potential participants, we first contacted the leaders of two business
associations, the Ethiopian Chapter of the African Women Entrepreneurship Program
(AWEP) and the Ethiopian Fashion Designers Association (EFDA). At the first meeting
with the leaders, we explained the research project to them. The leaders then indicated
their willingness to collaborate but could not give us the profiles of their members
without the members’ consent. So, AWEP advised us to come to their meeting and
explain the purpose of the research to its members. Accordingly, we participated in an
AWEP training workshop, August 11–13, 2016, and a subsequent breakfast meeting on
August 27, 2016. From the informal discussions with members during the tea breaks and
lunchtime at the training and meeting, we realised that most of the members were in both
associations. So, we followed the network created through AWEP to access members for
the study. Based on the profile and business status of each member, 30 potential
respondents were identified. However, the majority of them were in the start-up and
growth stages; only five of them were at the maturity stage. Hence, we decided to select
five from each stage using convenient sampling techniques. The network we had created
by participating in the two meetings made it easier for us to get the consent of all the
selected respondents.
3.3 The interview process
The interview protocol was developed based on the literature and feedback from
supervisors, as well as colleagues. In order to ensure that the study would remain within a
reasonable scope (Baxter and Jack, 2008), the experiences of role conflict and coping
strategies of the respondents were limited to a single year. The interview guide focused
essentially on questions related to weekday and weekend routines, work-to-family
conflict, family-to-work conflict, social context-to-work conflict, and coping strategies.
A total of 20 in-depth interviews, five from each stage of business, were conducted.
All of the interviews were face-to-face. The majority of the interviews (15) took place at
the respondents’ place of work (office); two were in home; one was inside a car; and two
were in a cafeteria. The interview location was based on what was convenient for the
respondent. On average, each interview lasted two-and-a-half hours. Before the interview
started, each respondent was asked for their consent to record the interview, and all but
two agreed. For those two respondents, notes were taken during the interview with the aid
of research assistants. Moreover, all of the recorded interviews were supported by field
notes and memos:
• Observation: The main characteristic of case study research is the use of multiple
data sources to enhance data credibility (Yin, 2013). Accordingly, during the field
visits, researchers made informal observations as to the location of the company, the
nature of the business, the roles and responsibilities of the respondents, the
owner-employee(s) relationship, and the customer base.

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3.4 Data processing and analysis
The data from the interviews was transcribed on the same day they were taken to avoid
any omissions. A researcher would produce seven to eight pages of transcribed data for
each interview. For the sake of convenience, the transcribed interviews for a particular
stage of business were all stored in the same folder, under different files. The transcribed
data were then encoded and themes were developed for the analysis (Braun and Clarke,
2006). Dana and Dumez (2015) mentioned that qualitative research needs to be back and
forth between specified theories in terms of mechanisms and hypothetical stories
specified with the help of relatively independent coding. Accordingly, they suggested that
coding must be done from the existing theory and data, so as to address the risk of
circularity associated with qualitative research. Following the suggestion, coding was
done based on the prior codes, which were derived from the theoretical framework – the
role conflict theory and coping model – and the emergent codes from ideas that arose
during the interview process and transcript review. To ensure the reliability of the
findings and data, the coding was performed by all four researchers. Accordingly, each
researcher independently coded the transcripts and came up with a long list of the
different codes that are identified across the transcripts; the researchers then came
together to reach consensus on the codes. Following this, different codes were combined
into potential themes. This was followed by a description of each code and an
explanation, including identification and confirmation of the pattern of relationship that
was identified. Data analysis was also done during the data collection, which enabled the
researchers to respond back and forth. To address issues of equifinality in qualitative
research, Dana and Dumez (2015) suggested focusing on plausible rival hypotheses and
making systematic use of counter-factual reasoning. Accordingly, in our discussion, we
provided explanations from the empirical data, existing theories and previous findings for
the patterns of relationship identified in the study.
The interpreted data was then shared with the five respondents, one from each stage
of business, to clarify the interpretations and add any new perspectives, which did occur
in some cases. For example, three of the respondents added additional perspectives with
regard to the importance of self-confidence for entrepreneurs, despite the fact that women
are socialised to be submissive in Ethiopia, creating a behaviour-based conflict. In
addition, two researchers from Haramaya University, Ethiopia (one a gender expert and
the other an assistant professor of entrepreneurship), were invited to prop up the
researchers’ thinking in the research process.
4 Findings
4.1 Sources of role conflict
All of the respondents have experienced the difficulties of fulfilling role demands in
different parts of their lives, including business, family, and social expectations, as well
as on a personal level. Ethiopian women are expected to take on a triple role by fulfilling
family, social, and economic duties, unlike men who mainly fulfil an economic role. In

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their families, women are responsible for all household chores and family care; otherwise
they are labelled ‘selfish’ and/or ‘a bad mother.’ Women are also expected to socialise
and behave according to socially accepted female norms to gain acceptance. For example,
one of our respondents said “If you cannot socialize yourself simple in our community,
some people tend to perceive [you] as [a] bad woman and hardly accept you in anything.”
Meanwhile, to be successful in business, women need to look for opportunities,
become involved in business networks, attract and maintain customers and suppliers, and
manage and expand their ventures. As the women entrepreneurs try to meet the demands
of all these various roles – being a ‘good woman/mother/wife’ as well as a successful
businessperson – they experience role conflict. The sources of role conflict among the
women entrepreneurs can be grouped under four categories: social role expectations,
business environment (work context), family context, and personal factors.
4.1.1 Social role expectations
The majority of the respondents (85%) articulated issues related to social role
expectations as the main sources of constraints in meeting their role demands. The
responses indicated that societal definitions of women’s roles and behaviour are often in
conflict with the roles and behaviour expected in business. These are outlined below:
• Feminine characteristics: Most Ethiopians believe that a ‘real woman’ needs to have
feminine characteristics, such as showing concern for others and being demure,
sensitive, helpful, and nurturing. But these societal definitions of women’s behaviour
often conflict directly with the kind of behaviour expected of a businessperson. For
example, as one of our respondents explained, “Our society expects women to be shy
and humble, but in business we need to be bold and assertive.”
• Representing the family in informal social affairs: Ethiopian women are generally
expected to represent the family at social events and actively socialise. In line with
this, the women entrepreneurs talked about the challenge of having to choose
between spending time with their friends, relatives, and neighbours or conducting
business. The following quotes from several respondents exemplify this: “People
expect women to take part in social [events] such as funerals and weddings. Unlike
the men, women have no excuse in this regard; even if … both of us have work.”;
“Women are expected to socialize ourselves with the neighbours and relatives to get
accepted within the community.”; “My family in-laws believe my husband is busier
than me. Sometimes, I am forced to visit [them when] it clashes with my other
schedules.”
• Societal definition of women’s roles: Regardless of women’s roles and statuses
outside the home, most of the routine domestic and caring tasks are reserved for
them. These tasks are time-consuming and demand their physical presence. On the
other hand, entrepreneurial activities require time and exposure to create and
maintain business networks. Hence, most of the women stated that they faced
challenges in terms of choosing between domestic duties and business
responsibilities. For instance, one of the respondents discussed an experience she had
during the Ethiopian holiday of Timket (Epiphany):

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“My neighbor looked at me (pretending as if she were making fun) and said,
“Mood for holiday is good when woman is in the house.” It was not fun for me.
I started feeling guilty, was confused, and wanted to go home. But I took credit
to produce in bulk hoping that there would be high revenue during Timket
(Epiphany). [Respondent who had started her business two years earlier].”
• Women are expected to prove themselves: Gorman and Kmec (2007) reported that
even when women have the same status and related responsibilities as men, the
women tend to think they need to work harder in their jobs. Similarly, in the current
study, most of the women’s responses indicated that they felt they needed to work
longer and harder to prove themselves to the people around them, in order to gain
support and acceptance. Consider these quotes from various respondents: “If I fail, it
will be stereotyped to all women.”; “I have to work hard and prove myself to get
support from my family and friends, and [to] have access to loans and [be] respected
in my community.”; “At the beginning, it was challenging to convince people. Now,
things are getting better because I have proved myself.”
• Faith traditions: This relates to expectations as to how one is supposed to behave
based on his/her faith traditions. The responses show that some people consider
behaviours necessary for their business dealings to be in conflict with their religious
values. Hence, the women often find it difficult to choose between meeting the
demands of their faith and behaving as an entrepreneur. Consider this response: “It is
difficult to make the people from the same faith be proud of my work and at the
same time get the return I deserve from the business.” In addition, for some women,
their religious obligations include expectations that they influence others to join their
religion. But there is a customary perception among many Ethiopian people that
businesspeople are ‘deceptive.’ As a result, some respondents indicated that it was
challenging to fulfill their religious obligations, while also conducting business. An
example is: “I want to oblige the biblical order and tell the biblical truth to others.
But I [have] found [it] difficult [to get] … people [to] take me seriously because of
the belief that businesspersons and politicians never tell the truth.”
• Social networks and kinship ties: Almost all of the women were members of more
than one business association and believe that they have benefited from being
members. However, some of the responses point to the role demands associated with
being a member of a professional network, such as the scheduling conflicts created
by unexpected meetings, trainings, and workshops. One example is as follows:
“I am a member to three women’s business associations… But the associations
lack coordination; the leaders are busy with their own business. For instance,
last time (August 10, 2016), the president of one of the associations called me
and informed me that there would be Business Impact training on August 11,
2016. I did not want to miss the training. In the meantime, I had an appointment
with weavers (suppliers).”
Some of the respondents also mentioned their social obligations with regard to providing
financial support to their kin, which introduce challenges in terms of saving and investing
in their business. One example is: “I do not save much. I need to help my parents and pay
two of my siblings’ college fees… On the other hand, I know that my business is not
growing… hmm… It is my obligation to support my family.” Corroborating this, a study
by Grimm et al. (2013) in western Africa identified ‘forced redistribution’ through
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4.1.2 Business environment (work context)
In this study, the majority of the respondents (80%) articulated issues related to the
business environment as being constraining factors in balancing role demands. These
factors are listed below:
• Employee relations: Owners (managers) need to delegate responsibilities to others to
reduce workload and conflict. Some respondents, however, do not have employees
with the required skills and thus cannot confidently delegate tasks to them. This is
due to a limited financial capacity for hiring experienced employees and high
turnover. For instance, one of the respondents said, “Hiring [an] experienced
salesperson is expensive. Besides, if you train fresh salespersons, they will leave you
once they get experience... So, it is difficult to trust employees in Ethiopia.” At the
same time, effective employee-owner interventions can help build a sense of
company ownership among employees (Wagner et al., 2003) and motivate them to
put forth their best efforts on the company’s behalf. Indeed, some of the women
entrepreneurs interviewed said that they had built a friendly working environment
and empowered their employees; hence, the employees could handle most of the
tasks and decisions in the company in the owners’ absence.
• Diverse businesses and geographic distance: Some participants of the study believe
that having a diversified business at different locations was contributing to their
difficulties in balancing different roles. Responses in this vein include: “Hmm...
managing business at different locations is stressful.”; “The more the business
expands, [the] more roles will be added that somehow makes [it] difficult to balance
life.”; “You need to work through others as the business expands into different
locations, [otherwise] it is difficult to lead your life… hmm… Life is more than
business.” In addition, based on our informal observations, none of the respondents’
businesses were located near their homes. While this can minimise the chance of
having to combine business duties with competing household needs, women in this
society rarely travel far from home because of their household responsibilities (Siba,
2016), so having a business located far from home can create role conflict.
• Nature of the business: Almost all of the respondents believe that their work, as
fashion designers, does not allow for a structured work schedule. This is because the
nature of the business involves providing custom-made products: customers come in
according to their own schedule and their specifications can lead to abbreviated
delivery times. In addition, each product and article of clothing is made according to
the specifications of an individual customer, a time-consuming matter than can
create role conflict. Consider these quotes from different respondents: “I find [it]
difficult to plan around my life, since customers can come any time to order.”; “The
time required to finish clothes depends on the specifications from each customer.”
• Lack of fair competition: The respondents believe that the process of dealing with a
lack of fair competition in the country overburdens them with additional
responsibilities and can create role conflicts. This is because the women
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produce fashionable, tailor-made clothes for the modern woman that still have a
cultural touch. Because of this laborious process, these designers’ clothes are more
expensive than clothes imported from China. For example, one respondent discussed
an experience she had just had the night before the interview:
“Yesterday, one of my clients gave me an order for her wedding. Then she
made a phone call around 9:30 p.m. and informed me that she wanted to cancel
the order because it was expensive. That was irritating; it should be time with
my family; but I had no option than taking time and explaining to her about our
intricate work. This is not my first experience. People in the fashion industry
have similar challenges.”
One of our researchers also wanted to buy a dress in one of the respondents’ shops,
but she found the price quite expensive. She asked the owner, “Is this not
expensive?” And the owner went on to talk about the dress for 30 minutes, time that
was taken away from other duties she might have been pursuing.
• Relationship with suppliers: In relationships, what happens to one party influences
and is influenced by what happens to the other party because of their
interdependency (Aune and Gressetvold, 2011). The respondents all stated that their
business was dependent on weavers as a source of inputs (raw materials).
Sometimes, the weavers fail to deliver the inputs as scheduled or according to
specification, causing the entrepreneurs not to meet their customers’ expectations. In
addition, the entrepreneurs must also constantly find ways to meet their customers’
expectations in the normal course of business, but in the process they become
overburdened with extra responsibilities that can produce a role conflict. One
respondent shared this example: “We also buy some of the raw materials from [the]
open market (‘Merkato’). Sometimes we take orders from the customers for certain
events. Unfortunately, we may not get the materials we need to make the dress. So,
we need to find [a] plan B, which disturbs all of our schedules.”
4.1.3 Family context
Most of the respondents (60%) articulated issues related to the difficulty of balancing
family role demands with their business life. Some of the participants also believe that a
lack of proper support from their husband was constraining their capacity for balancing
these various demands.
4.1.4 Personal factors
Most (70%) of the participants of the study believe that women in Ethiopia operate at a
disadvantage (in the household, as well as at an economic and political level) compared
to men. However, some respondents argued that sometimes women’s own perceptions
were reinforcing the adverse effects of socio-cultural barriers. The first example of this is
when women refuse to allow men to perform household tasks. As one respondent noted,
“The women themselves are the problem and responsible for overburdening themselves;
because they do not want to see their men in the kitchen.” Another case in point is a

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prevailing fear of the failure to strictly abide by social norms, as verbalised by another
participant: “In most situations, women create burdens on our life thinking that others
will not accept us if we do not do this and that… if we do not behave like this and like
that.” A third factor is women’s desire to be involved in everything and their perfectionist
tendencies, exemplified by this quote: “As women we have [a] common problem. We
want everything to be perfect and want to be everywhere at the same time.”
Some of the respondents argued that a preexisting mindset and the status quo were
also sources of role conflict. One entrepreneur put this as follows: “Our biggest problem
is mental setup. We tend to see things in the way it used to be; that challenges [the]
work–home balance. ... Most of the women I know use the traditional ways of cooking,
which are tedious and time-consuming... adding burden on their life.” Others considered
background, personality, experience, access to different opportunities, and belief in their
own capabilities as contributing factors to role conflict, assumptions touched upon in the
following quote:
“Conflict related to multiple roles demands?... Hmm… I think it is different for
all persons; it differs based on the personality of an individual, access, and
mental makeup. Of course, somehow it is different for men and women. But for
me, all people have their own challenges. For instance, I was born in Addis
Ababa, went [to a] better school, got interesting education, had access to what I
needed; the gender-related issues might not be significant, although they exist
somehow. I believe that I am capacitated to handle them as they come. But
does this work for the majority of the women who [are] deprived of access to
opportunities? No, it does not. There are a lot of challenges for women out
there. However, I want to emphasize that we need to believe in our capacity.
Challenges to balance different roles always happen, but women need to
believe in their capacity to handle [them].”
4.1.5 Sources of role conflict according to business stage
Not all the respondents articulated each context similarly as a constraining factor. For
example, the majority of the participants who articulated issues related to social role
expectations and family context (59% and 66%, respectively) had businesses in the seed
and start-up stages. Although all the respondents found some factors from the business
environment to be constraining, employee-related issues (e.g., lack of skills) and
supplier-related issues (e.g., lack of experience in choosing reliable suppliers) created
more constraints at the start-up stage. For instance, here are two responses from
entrepreneurs at this stage echoing similar sentiments: “I have not yet had [a] network
with any reliable supplier. I have challenges in this regards.”; “Some suppliers are not
trustful; they can easily switch with little price differences. That disturbs our works,
because we have to forgo some of our plans [so as] to locate another supplier.”
Size of business and having to manage several business networks were challenges
faced by the respondents with businesses at a mature stage. For instance, one respondent
who had cancelled her first appointment with one of our researchers explained why she
did so as follows:
“I came to one of my shops in the morning. But before I finished issues in the
shop, I received phone calls from others shops. At the same time, I got phone
calls from [the] production warehouse that something [went] wrong with the

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raw materials. So I had to visit the suppliers, because issues pertaining to
quality cannot be handled on [the] phone. And I had a meeting with you after
an hour and other important issues which I had planned … to do. But I couldn’t
handle all these. It was stressful and irritating. This was not the case when I had
[a] small business at a single location, because everything used to be in the
same place…”
Moreover, most of the respondents (60%) considered personal factors such as experience,
background, and personality to be major challenges during the seed and start-up stages of
a business.
4.2 Types of role conflict
Almost all of the respondents frequently experience a lack of time in meeting all of their
role demands. As one woman said, “OMG!... Hmm... time is a problem in business.
Especially as women, other parts of life also need our time.” In addition to time issues,
more than half of the respondents reported incidents related to behaviour-based conflicts.
One example: “Our cultures teach women to be submissive. In business, however, you
have to boldly claim what belongs to you. You need to knock [on] every door of
opportunity; otherwise, nothing will come to you. This is challenging for most of the
women [doing] business in Ethiopia.” Another example was: “Communication is very
important in business... but in our society women are expected to be shy.”
Half of the respondents also described experiences related to strain-based role
conflicts. Some of the responses in this vein were: “I often have headaches after work;
cannot do household chores”; “Sometimes, I share the bad experiences [from the]
workplace [with] my family at the dinner table... I think these practices [have] influenced
my kids... For instance, my son said ‘I will never do business.’”; “Today I could not
attend my son’s graduation from the summer karate sport training... I felt guilty.”
4.2.1 Types of role conflict experienced according to business stage
Most of the behaviour-based role conflict was articulated by respondents in the start-up
stage. For instance, one respondent who has owned her venture for two years said, “It is
difficult to behave like an ideal businessperson, because … society expects women to be
‘caring’ and ‘humble.’ But in business you have to negotiate.” Respondents at the
business growth and maturity stages also mentioned that they had found it more difficult
to break social norms and behave like entrepreneurs during the earlier stages of their
business than in their current stage. One such business owner said, “I used to limit myself
at the beginning; that is my [female] nature. But that did not work in the business... Now
everywhere I go, I talk to people; that is how I come across some of the opportunities and
business networks.” Another said, “In our society, individuals, especially women, do not
talk about themselves and their capacity and success to others. In business, on the other
hand, one has to promote herself. [This was] more challenging … at the beginning.”
Most of the respondents who expressed role conflict experiences related to strain-
based conflict are at the start-up stage. Consider this response from a respondent who has
been in business for three years: “Sometimes I get annoyed at [the] workplace and [have]

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the same feeling: I can’t properly interact with my family at home. As a result, one day
my son asked me why I was mad at them. I felt bad about myself and my work. I am not
sure... hmm... the business may … end before it starts.” Some respondents at the growth
and maturity stages also described the challenges related to strain-based role conflict at
earlier stages. For example: “I used to quarrel at home over simple things; this was
because all the issues were on my shoulders. But now I do not take all these issues
[home] with me.” Finally, no respondent at the maturity stage described experiences
related to strain-based conflict.
4.3 Intensity of role conflict experienced over time according to business stage
After they had presented their narratives on role conflict, each respondent was asked to
rate how often they had experienced role conflict during the last year. Their responses are
presented in Table 2. As indicated in the table, half of the respondents (50%) expressed
that they had ‘sometimes’ experienced role conflict. The highest number of those who
responded ‘often’ (3/7) were in the start-up category. Most of the respondents in the
growth (3/5) and maturity (3/5) stages rated the intensity of their role conflict as
‘sometimes.’ None of the respondents from the growth or maturity stage felt that they
experienced role conflict ‘very often.’ The only respondent who felt she had experienced
role conflict ‘very often’ was from the start-up stage.
The researchers then asked each respondent if the frequency of role conflict had been
the same or had changed over time and, if the latter, what had made it change. All of the
respondents believed that the role conflict they experienced had changed from time to
time. Some respondents who had once worked in a paid job, for instance, said that self-
employment had enabled them to decide when and how to do things but also led them to
work longer hours and lack time for other roles. One example:
“Starting my own business makes me do things in my own time. I can work the
whole night, for that matter, when I have to... But when I was an employee, the
working hours were from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., so I had to be in the office
during this time. In fact, I had time after 5:30 p.m. to socialize with friends or
family. Socializing like that is challenging now, because I often schedule
meetings with clients after 6:00 p.m.”
The respondents in the growth and maturity stages were also directed to compare their
current experience with their start-up stages. They accordingly stated that while they had
experienced role conflict at both stages, they had a greater capacity for managing
multiple roles in their current stage. As one experienced entrepreneur put it, “The
challenge to balance home, business, and social affairs [is] always there. Now, in fact, I
know what to do to balance my life... I feel that I have been more capacitated than
before.” Another example: “I believe that I am in a better position to manage my life. I
have been in business for more than 20 years. ... I do not have to [get] involved in every
detail ... I can manage [things over the] phone. Besides, I have learned to be confident,
optimistic, and resilient toward life.”

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Table 1 Description of respondents and their business at the four stages of business studied
Participant
and age Family status Education Stage of
business
Household
size
Average working
hours per week
Age of
youngest child
Years in
business (yrs.) Number of employees
1 (28) Married BA Seed 3 45 1 1.5 None
2 (30) Married BA Seed 5 40 4 1 None
3 (32) Married MA Seed 5 48 3 6 months None
4 (36) Single BA Seed 4 42 7 5 months None
5 (34) Married BA Seed 6 45 3 2 months None
6 (34) Divorced MA Start-up 3 60 7 3 4 (3 are women)
7 (37) Single BA Start-up 12 72 3 3 3 (2 are women)
8 (32) Married Diploma Start-up 5 58 4 2 4 (2 are women)
9 (35) Married BA Start-up 5 60 7 3 4 (3 are women)
10 (29) Married Diploma Start-up 4 60 4 3 4 (3 are women)
11 (35) Married MA Growth 6 55 5 7 7 (5 are women)
12 (37) Married BA Growth 5 60 4 8 30 (18 are women)
13 (38) Married BA Growth 4 58 14 6 20 (9 are women )
14 (37) Married Diploma Growth 5 60 12 5 5 (2 are women)
15 (36) Single Diploma Growth 4 45 18 6 5 (4 are women)
16 (58) Married Diploma Maturity 6 60 28 21 42 (18 are women); 5/6
women managers; > 100
subcontractors
17 (43) Married BA Maturity 6 50 17 24 30 (13 are women); 2/4
women managers
18 (36) Married BA Maturity 7 45 12 12 100 (25 are women); 3/5
women managers
19 (49) Married Diploma Maturity 8 50 20 25 45 (20 are women); 2/5
women managers
20 (45) Married BA Maturity 4 60 19 23 65 (31 are women); 3/6
women managers

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Table 2 Intensity of role conflict at different stages of entrepreneurship
Theme Entrepreneurship stage Total
Intensity of
role conflict Seed (n = 5) Start-up
(n = 5)
Growth
(n = 5)
Maturity
(n = 5) n = 20
Very often 0 1 0 0 1
Often 1 3 2 1 7
Sometimes 3 1 3 3 10
Not often 2 0 0 1 1
Not at all 0 0 0 0 0
4.4 Coping strategies
Researchers also asked about the entrepreneurs’ efforts to manage the competing time
demands, behavioural expectations, and strain from their involvement in multiple roles.
We subsequently identified nine types of coping strategies from the responses
(see Table 3). These are described below:
• Social support: Most of the respondents (90%) seek free support from their
husbands, extended family, children, and or friends. Examples were: “I ask my
husband to help in some of the household activities.”; “When I travel, my aunt takes
care of my kid, which is the good thing [about] living in Ethiopia.”; “I talk to other
women who have been through the same experience.”
• Hire outside support: All of the respondents hire either in-home help or employees at
the workplace, or both, to share some of their roles.
• Discuss issues with the role senders: A large number of the respondents (14/20)
negotiate with and/or sometimes confront their husbands, clients, suppliers, and
social networks to redefine the role expectations. One of responses was “When I feel
that my schedules clash and [it will be] difficult to meet customers’ orders on the
scheduled day, I call and negotiate with them.” Some respondents (8/20) also
challenged the societal definition of roles (see Table 3). Two such responses were:
“We do not have [a] classification [of] men’s and women’s jobs in my family. My
husband and I share household chores. That helps me a lot when it comes to
balancing roles.”; “I proved my capacity in business; household roles [are] not …
reserved only for me anymore. ... I have the confidence to explain when I fail to meet
social role expectations.”
• Integrate roles: A significant number of the respondents (14/20) integrated two or
more roles from different domains (see Table 3). Some of the responses include: “I
bring my kid to my work place.”; “I often invite friends to my work place.”; “I carry
my goods [to] different social events so that I can combine social affairs and
business.”
• Focus on entrepreneurial roles: Most of the respondents (65%) prioritise
entrepreneurial roles over family and social role expectations (see Table 3). One
example was the woman who said, “There is always a person who can handle
household chores better than me or up to my standard, so I focus on my business.”

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Table 3 Coping strategies at different stages of business
Theme Entrepreneurship stage
Types of coping
strategies
Description Seed
(n = 5)
Start-up
(n = 5)
Growth
(n = 5)
Maturity
(n = 5)
Total
(n = 20) Examples
Social support Use family and extended
family labour and get
emotional support from
husband and friends
4 5 4 5 18 “I asked my friend to represent me in our
street (village) meetings.” “Sometimes I
call my friends to my workplace. We have
fun while they help me with my work.”
Hire outside
support
Hire in-home help and
employees who can share
roles in the family and work
contexts, respectively
5 5 5 5 20 “I have hired two professional designers
who can handle customers’ orders and deal
with suppliers; I can somehow create my
own time now.” “I have a babysitter who
takes care of my two kids.” “I hired one
lady for household chores.”
Negotiate with and/or
confront family (e.g.,
husband) , clients, suppliers,
and social networks
2 2 5 5 14 “I have multiple roles and can’t socialize …
in all the social networks, so I explain my
problems. People around me have started
understanding me.” “Whenever I miss
business network meetings because [they]
conflict with my other roles, I call the
association president and discuss my
problem in advance.”
Discuss with the
role senders
Challenging the societal role
definitions
0 1 3 4 8 “I am a very simple person; I love [the]
simple life. I do whatever I can and should
be done, and I love to relax. But others see
these things [about] me differently.”

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Table 3 Coping strategies at different stages of business (continued)
Theme Entrepreneurship stage
Types of coping
strategies
Description Seed
(n = 5)
Start-up
(n = 5)
Growth
(n = 5)
Maturity
(n = 5)
Total
(n = 20) Examples
Focus on
entrepreneurial
roles
Respond to entrepreneurial
role demands first when
there are conflicting role
demands
2 2 4 5 13 “I [would] rather focus on my business
work. I can explain to family and friends if
I fail to meet their expectations.” “I try not
to [return] calls from non-business
networks while I am at [the] workplace.” “I
don’t have to do everything. For instance, I
do not cook all the time.
Focus on family
and social role
expectations
Respond to family and social
roles first when there is
incompatibility with
entrepreneurial role demands
3 2 1 0 6 “My family is the reason I started the
business in the first place. I choose to put
them first.” “Fulfilling expectations in my
religion is my priority.”
Plan and
schedule
Planning and organising
activities
2 1 4 4 11 “I have a plan for each activity and every
responsibility in my life. That has helped
me to balance my roles.”
Integrate roles Undertake activities from
different roles together
4 5 3 2 14 “Sometimes I take my kids to [the]
playground; at the same time, [I] arrange
meetings with my clients or employees or
friends. That is how I merge different
roles.”
React to all roles Work harder and longer than
usual
4 5 4 2 15 “I work 24/7 to balance things in my life.”
“I work weekdays and weekends.” “I do not
have weekdays and weekends; that is how I
try to meet all my responsibilities.”
Take no action
and/or divert
attention
No conscious effort to meet
role demands
1 0 1 0 2 “When things overlap and [get] stressful …,
I shut everything down, ... [take] time for
myself.”

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• Focus on family and social role expectations: Some of the respondents (30%)
prioritise family and social role expectations over entrepreneurial roles (see Table 3).
Examples were: “I don’t respond to business issues when I am at home.”; “I close
my business and take my daughter [on] vacation.”; “I try to not behave in a way that
contradicts with social norms, though [the] business [might require it].”
• Plan and schedule: Around 50% of the respondents stated that they divide their time
according to the role demands in each domain (work, family, social). An example of
this was: “Before I go to bed, I schedule for the next day. If I have a lot to do at [the]
workplace and need to socialize, I wake up early [to] do some household chores and
leave [at] 7:00 a.m., so that I can avoid [a] stressful day.”
• Work harder for longer hours: This amounts to meeting all the roles demands by
working harder and longer than usual whenever role conflicts are experienced. The
majority of the respondents (15/20) use this type of coping strategy (see Table 3).
• Take no action and/or divert attention: Although this is not a common coping
mechanism, as indicated by the responses from most of the participants, one
respondent replied that she does not make any conscious effort when things are
unmanageable. Another respondent reported that she diverts her attention by
watching movies and/or taking vacations when she experiences stress from role
pressures.
4.4.1 Coping strategies experienced over time according to business stage
The type of coping mechanisms used varied among respondents depending on the stage
of their business. For instance, the strategies of discussing issues with role senders,
prioritising the entrepreneurial role over family and social roles, and planning and
scheduling were mainly described by respondents in the growth and maturity stages (see
Table 3). Meanwhile, those that involve integrating roles and prioritising family and
social roles over the entrepreneurial role were mainly described by respondents in the
seed and start-up stages (see Table 3). In addition, compared to respondents from other
stages, fewer respondents in the maturity stage described working harder for longer hours
as a coping strategy.
After recording the narratives of each respondent, researchers asked them whether
they had used the same types of coping strategies consistently or changed them over time.
For instance, the respondents in the seed and start-up business stages were asked to
compare their current job as an entrepreneur to their previous work in a paid position.
The respondents replied that they used similar coping mechanisms to some context, but
relied more on role integration and working harder for longer hours as an entrepreneur
than they had in their paid jobs. Two examples:
“In [my] paid job, I had limited options during … working hours, though I used
to take my own actions to balance my life. Self-employment enables me to
combine my roles. For instance, sometimes I bring my kids to my workplace,
and as they play in my office’s compound, I can do my work
After I started my own business, I often used to feel guilty [about] not being
with my friends after 5:00 p.m. Then I asked them to come to the cafeteria in
the building where my shop [is], so I can handle business while socializing with
my friends.”

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The respondents from the growth and maturity stages were also asked to compare their
current coping strategies with those from their start-up stage. They stated that they had
used all possible options to manage their multiple roles at all the stages; however, they
used more proactive coping strategies in their current stages than before. Examples were:
“There are things that I commonly do these days. For instance, if I feel that I
can’t deliver customer orders on the scheduled date, I call and negotiate with
them in advance. But previously I used to overstretch myself. In addition, I do
not [get] involved in all the details; I do prioritize and avoid some of the things
which I cannot do. I also plan my life and my business.
Before and now? Hmm... it depends... Of course, I tend to take [more] prior
actions now than before; from experience, … I know about clashing schedules.
For instance, during the month of holidays and wedding season, the demand for
traditional clothes is high; hence, we expect more orders. So, we hire additional
provisional employees and also negotiate with the suppliers. On top of that, I
try to devote myself to the company’s activities in such a way that we can
deliver the orders on the scheduled day as per the specifications.”
4.4.2 Nature of role conflict and coping strategies
Some responses indicated that the coping strategy adopted depends on the source of the
role conflict. For instance, when family role demands create conflict at the workplace,
coping strategies such as seeking family support, negotiating with the family, and hiring
in-home help were reported. Similarly, for role conflicts arising from social role
expectations, strategies such as negotiating with and/or confronting the role senders (e.g.,
friends and family) were reported by some of the respondents. Some of the cited
examples include: “Whenever I find [it] difficult to socialize … as per the expectation, I
explain my problem.”; “People always expect women to do the household chores. I do
not believe [in] this; there is always someone who can do household chores better than
me and I [would] rather focus on … designing, where I am better.”
Furthermore, the respondents used related coping strategies for role conflicts arising
in the business environment. Examples were: “I work the whole night to deliver orders on
the scheduled date.”; “I often negotiate with suppliers.”; “I have capacitated my
employees, hence I can delegate some of my responsibilities.” Personal factors also
influence coping strategies. Consider these quotes: “I am not [a] perfectionist; I let it go
when I can’t [do it].”; “I can’t sleep unless I finish work for the day.... That is me.”
The responses also indicated that types of role conflict and types of coping strategies
were associated. For instance, when the respondents lack sufficient time to meet all their
role demands, they work harder for longer hours. One woman provided an example of
this: “When I have business meetings or have to socialize during the day …, I do the
designing work in the evening.” The respondents also negotiate with people around them
to redefine the social role expectations, in order to manage most of the behaviour-based
role conflict. Some examples were: “I am an assertive person. That is how it should be in
business. But others consider me … weird and I try to explain myself.”; “Some people
said, ‘You are a man.’ I [told] them that I am not a man, because I am not.” Moreover,
the respondents seek emotional care from family and/or avoid the situation to manage
stressful situations. Examples: “When I face problems related to my business, I discuss
[them] with my family to get relief.”; “When things overlap and worry me, I shut
everything down and [take] time for myself.”

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5 Discussion and conclusions
The aim of the study was to explore the experience of role conflict and coping strategies
of women entrepreneurs in SSA. The findings suggest that women entrepreneurs
experience role conflict at all stages of business and use different types of coping
mechanisms. However, the importance of the sources, types, and intensity of role conflict
and the choice of coping strategies vary over time according to the business stage. The
study also suggests that the nature (sources, types, and intensity) of the role conflict
influences the choice of coping strategies.
Many authors (e.g., Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Jennings and McDougald, 2007;
Martinengo et al., 2010; König and Cesinger, 2015) have argued that family, work, and
personal demands are sources of role conflict. Adding to the work of these scholars, we
found social role expectations to also be a primary source of role conflict among women
entrepreneurs (see Figure 1). In the Sub-Saharan African context, this may be because
Ethiopia is dominated by patriarchal systems and a culture that puts various restrictions
on women. Similarly, Ratten (2016, p.264) mentioned that “…….female entrepreneurs
may face a stigma associated with business that is not considered a desirable feminine
trait, hence, choose to hide their business activities.”
Figure 1 A model of role conflict and coping across business stages developed from the findings
of the study (see online version for colours)
Source: Types and intensity of role conflict
Furthermore, most of the previous research has focused on time- and strain-based role
conflict (Dierdorff and Ellington, 2008). In this study, however, we examined competing
time demands (time-based conflict) and behavioural expectations (behaviour-based
conflict) and strain-based conflict. We found competing time demands to be a prevailing
type of role conflict at all stages of business. This may because, women entrepreneurs
invest most of their weekly time in to their businesses activities (Ramadani et al., 2013).

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Moreover, some studies (e.g., Parasuraman and Simmers, 2001; König and Cesinger,
2015) have found that self-employed individuals experience higher levels of work–family
conflict than company-employed individuals. The women entrepreneurs in this study
similarly claim to experience greater role conflict in self-employment than they did in
their paid jobs.
Unlike previous studies of work and family conflict, we investigated the change in the
nature of the role conflict over time, as indicated by the business stages. Accordingly, we
found that the importance of various factors on the sources, types, and intensity of the
role conflict can vary over time (see Figure 1).
For instance, the women entrepreneurs had more competing time demands,
behavioural expectations, and strain arising from family, business, social, and personal
contexts at the start-up stage than at the growth and maturity stages. The experience of
role conflict was also more frequent at the start-up stage than the growth and maturity
stages. These findings could be attributed to the fact that most firms at start-up are small
and have limited access to resources such as specific knowledge, business networks,
customer relationships, and financing (DeTienne, 2010). Similarly, we found that at the
seed and start-up stages, the women entrepreneurs:
1 Lack sufficient experience to balance different role demands.
2 Have not yet proved their achievement, which would help them gain support from
others and challenge the socio-cultural barriers.
3 Do not have sufficient confidence in their business skills. Moreover, high level of
conflict at early stage can be attributed to lowering time and standard of living for
family (Harvey and Evans, 1994).
In addition, at the start-up stage, an entrepreneur must be involved in every aspect of the
business (Cardon et al., 2005), which may require the women business owners to forgo
other parts of their life, thus creating role conflict. This was also confirmed in our study:
most of the respondents at the start-up stage indicated that they were involved in every
aspect of their business. Our study also showed that owners of start-up businesses tend to
have younger families, with dependent kids, compared to owners of businesses in the
growth and maturity stages. Furthermore, the respondents in the start-up stage experience
greater difficulty in delegating some of their responsibilities because they lack qualified
employees and because of weak owner-employee and owner-supplier relationships.
Our study shows that women entrepreneurs in SSA use nine types of coping strategies
(see Table 3) to manage competing time demands, behavioural expectations, and strain,
depending on the nature of the role conflict. Rotondo and Kincaid (2008) and Jennings
and McDougald (2007) have similarly indicated that the nature of the role conflict
influences coping strategies. Unlike previous studies, however, our results show that the
choice of coping strategy differs over time according to the business stage. For instance,
the strategy of discussing issues with role senders (e.g., husband and clients) was used
primarily by entrepreneurs at the growth and maturity stages. This may be because at
those stages, the women entrepreneurs are in a better position in terms of their business
networks (e.g., suppliers and clients) and are more confident and experienced, which
empowers them to negotiate with and/or confront their relations. Furthermore, focusing
on the entrepreneurial role over the family and social roles was a strategy that was mainly
used at the growth and maturity stages, whereas integrating roles and focusing on family
and social roles over the entrepreneurial role – which have been categorised as

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growth-constraining strategies by Jennings and McDougald (2007) – were mainly used at
the seed and start-up stages.
5.1 Study’s contributions
This study has empirical, theoretical, and practical contributions. First, there has not been
an empirical study of role conflict and coping strategies among women entrepreneurs in
the Sub-Saharan African context. Hence, the study contributes to the body of literature
addressing these knowledge gaps for that particular region.
A key theoretical contribution of this study is the model it presents of role conflict
and coping strategies over time, according to the stage of business (see Figure 1). Like
the model of work-family conflict (e.g., Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985; Eby et al., 2005;
König and Cesinger, 2015), our empirical evidence shows that role conflict arises from
the incompatibility of the roles between family and work domains. Our findings also
show that personal factors influence the individual entrepreneur’s experience of role
conflict and choice of coping strategy (e.g., Wincent and Örtqvist, 2009; Carr and
Hmieleski, 2015). Unlike previous models, however, our empirical evidence also shows
that social role expectations constitute a primary source of role conflict. We therefore
argue that sources of role conflict should not be limited to only the family and work
domains and propose instead that the conflict between social role expectations and
entrepreneurial role demands be included in the equation, especially for women
entrepreneurs in SSA. Furthermore, our empirical evidence goes beyond the findings of
both Jennings and McDougald (2007) and Rotondo and Kincaid (2008), who argued that
experiences of role conflict trigger coping efforts, by showing that the nature of the role
conflict and choice of coping strategies used by women entrepreneurs change over time.
Finally, the study shows that at the seed and start-up stages, women entrepreneurs not
only experience role conflict more frequently than at the growth and maturity stages, but
are also more likely to use coping strategies that constrain their business more than their
family and social affairs. There are important practical implications to be derived from
this for interventions aimed at promoting women’s entrepreneurship, whereby it is
important to identify the nature (sources, type, and intensity) of the role conflicts faced by
those female entrepreneurs at different stages of business before starting any
interventions. In cases of a shortage of resources, such interventions could then start with
the contexts that would have the greatest impact on the role conflicts and coping
strategies of the women entrepreneurs.
5.2 Implications for future research
First, previous literature has not included the social context in the study of work and
family conflict. In this study, however, we show that social role expectations are a very
important factor in the role conflicts and coping strategies of women entrepreneurs in
SSA. Future research should therefore focus more on this aspect in other cultures, as
well.
Second, in this paper we argue that women entrepreneurs in the textile sector in
Ethiopia have complex experiences of role conflict as they struggle to live up to the
standards of ‘being a good woman’ and ideal businessperson. In addition, female
entrepreneurs are not homogenous in terms of their experiences of role conflict and

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coping strategies. Hence, research on role conflicts and coping strategies among women
entrepreneurs needs to be extended to other cultural contexts.
Third, the conceptual model developed in this study needs to be extended to capture
the influence of coping strategies on entrepreneurial performance. For instance, at the
seed and start-up stages, women entrepreneurs tend to integrate and focus on family and
social needs over business role demands, a strategy that Jennings and McDougald (2007)
argue is growth-constraining. A higher level of role conflict and growth-constraining
coping strategies at the seed and start-up stages could contribute to the higher rate of exit
at these stages. For example, although women’s entrepreneurship in SSA has increased at
a higher rate than any other part of the world (Welsh et al., 2013), around half of the
women who start a business there exit the marketplace before their business becomes
established (GEM, 2015). Our study thus underscores the need to examine the effect of
coping strategies on entrepreneurial performance.
Fourth, the conceptual model developed in this study needs to incorporate personal
resources. Personal resources are like personality traits, but unlike personality traits, they
are developable and flexible (Van den Heuvel et al., 2010; Luthans et al., 2006) and need
to be developed as a venture moves forward. That is, as a business progresses from one
stage to the next, entrepreneurs need to acquire the appropriate personal resources: this,
in turn, enables them to use effective coping strategies and experience a lower level of
role conflict. For instance, Van den Heuvel et al. (2010) and Xanthopoulou et al. (2007)
indicate that job resources improve personal resources. Similarly, our study indicates that
women with businesses at the growth and maturity stages have more experience and are
more confident, resilient, and optimistic than those at the seed and start-up stages, which
leads to less role conflict and more effective coping strategies. Therefore, our study
indicates the need to examine the mediating effect of personal resources.
5.3 Limitations
Finally, the findings of the current study should be interpreted with caution in view of the
fact that the sample incorporated educated and urban women entrepreneurs involved in
growth-oriented businesses. Therefore, they might not reflect the role conflicts and
coping strategies among less-educated, rural women entrepreneurs or survivalist women
entrepreneurs. This limitation calls for more research with other samples. Another
limitation can be attributed to the researchers’ conception of the world and personal
convictions. The principal investigator is pursuing her PhD, with a particular interest in
role conflict problems; the focus thus tends to be on the negative aspects of the role
pressures from family, work, and social expectations, rather than the complementarity of
these domains. To address this problem, the interpreted data was shared with some of the
respondents; external researchers were invited in to prop up the researchers’ thinking on
the research process; and the coding was performed independently by four researchers.
All these actions might not have fully overcome the limitations of the primary
researcher’s bias, but they did possibly reduce them.
Despite its limitations, this work has contributed to the knowledge of women’s
entrepreneurship, role conflict, and coping strategies from the Sub-Saharan African
perspective. The work also contributed to existing literature on role conflict, coping
strategies, and female entrepreneurship, in general. Furthermore, it has implications for
future research and practical implications for interventions aimed at promoting women’s
entrepreneurship in SSA.

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Notes
1 For instance, World Bank (2016) data show that 70% of SMEs owned by women in
developing countries cannot access adequate financing for growth.
2 Research also indicates that women lack education, skills, and experience and are less
motivated to grow their businesses (DeMartino and Barbato, 2003).
3 For example, they argue that women are less bold, more risk averse, and less aggressive,
which constrains their business and interaction with potential stakeholders (Baughn et al.,
2006; Shinnar et al., 2012).
4 Customer-oriented, retail, service sectors where businesses are relatively smaller in terms of
employment and revenue, unlike the high-tech, construction, and manufacturing sectors.
5 Almost all the studies of role conflict and coping, in relation to either employment or
entrepreneurship, focus on developed countries. Theories developed for these parts of the
world may not effectively be applicable to female entrepreneurship in different socio-cultural
contexts, such as developing countries.
6 This is the city in Ethiopia where the majority of women entrepreneurs operate (Stevenson and
St-Onge, 2005) and is thus highly representative.
7 “They are more educated and have the capacity to position their firms in growing product
lines, especially market niches. They show an entrepreneurial attitude (managerial
competencies) in terms of designing and planning of the business, detecting potential suppliers
of inputs or buyers and sometimes integrating a value chain as subcontractors.” (Gomez,
2008).
8 According to Ethiopia’s Federal Micro and Small Enterprise Development Agency
(FeMSEDA), a small-scale enterprise is an enterprise that has 2–10 employees.