E. Holly Buttner

Bio: E. Holly Buttner is an academic researcher from University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The author has contributed to research in topics: Diversity (business) & Organizational commitment. The author has an hindex of 18, co-authored 28 publications receiving 3046 citations. Previous affiliations of E. Holly Buttner include University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill & Bowling Green State University.

Women's Organizational Exodus to Entrepreneurship: Self-Reported Motivations and Correlates with Success

Abstract: Women-owned businesses are a powerful force in today's American economy Twenty-nine percent of all businesses are owned by women (Census Bureau 1991) Women employ over fifteen million American workers, over one-third more than all the Fortune 500 companies worldwide (National Foundation for Women Business Owners [NFWBO] and Dunn and Bradstreet Information Services 1995) Operating in all industries, female entrepreneurs have more than tripled in number from 25 million in 1980 to 77 million in 1994, representing a rate of increase which is double that of male-owned businesses (NFWBO 1995) The Committee on Small Business (1988) estimated that by the year 2000 about half of all businesses will be owned by women Nearly 31 percent of these women have had previous executive/management or supervisory experience prior to starting their own businesses (Census Bureau 1991) Few researchers have examined this highly-trained group of women entrepreneurs who leave corporate environments to start businesses of their own This study investigates four important issues: (1) What motivational influences affect former managerial or professional women's entrepreneurial decisions; (2) What role family concerns play in these former corporate women's entrepreneurial motivation; (3) How these female entrepreneurs measure success in their ventures; and (4) Whether the women's entrepreneurial motivation is related to the ways they measure success in their own businesses The findings of this research are important for several reasons Women's career motivation currently receives little research attention Investigation of women's entrepreneurial motivation and success measures will provide needed insight into women's career development Consultants to women considering entrepreneurship would better understand their clients' motivation and would be better able to help the women make informed career decisions The results could also help women who seek greater self-awareness about their motivation and its influence on their personal and professional success This awareness would help them integrate the work and personal dimensions of their lives Past Research on Entrepreneurial Motivation and Success Measures While investigations into the reasons women start businesses have been sparse, over the past twenty years a number of studies have examined the reasons men initiate ventures (Birley and Westhead 1994; Cooper and Dunkelberg 1981; Denison and Alexander 1986; Dubini 1988; Scheinberg and MacMillan 1988; Shane, Kolvereid, and Westhead 1991; Shapero 1975) In general, researchers have found that men start their businesses primarily as a result of such "pull" factors as the opportunity to work independently, to have greater control over one's work, and to earn more money There is a lesser influence from such "push" factors as limited advancement opportunities, job frustration, and avoiding an unreasonable boss or unsafe working conditions With one exception, in none of these studies were women entrepreneurs addressed separately or did they constitute more than ten percent of the sample The exception, Shane, Kolvereid, and Westhead (1991), studied non-US entrepreneurs, including women, and reported that the male entrepreneurs were most motivated by the need to improve their positions in society for themselves and their families, while the female entrepreneurs were most motivated by the need for achievement However, the authors cautioned that cultural differences across samples precluded generalizing findings to US entrepreneurs Research on Women's Entrepreneurial Motivation In one study of women's entrepreneurial motivation, Hisrich and Brush (1985) asked their women business-owner respondents for the reasons they started their businesses Most frequently cited were "push" factors of frustration and boredom in their previous jobs, followed by interest in the business, with "pull" factors such as autonomy a distant third …

Women Entrepreneurs: Moving Beyond the Glass Ceiling

Abstract: Dorothy P. Moore and E. Holly Buttner, in their book ‘Women Entrepreneurs: Moving Beyond the Glass Ceiling,’ explore the increasingly popular choice of exiting the organization and creating one's own business by examining the occupational transitions of 129 highly accomplished women entrepreneurs from across the United States. Although not intended as a study of the new boundaryless career concept (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996), their book provides a detailed picture of how some individuals are crossing organizational and occupational boundaries and designing careers that better match their own values and needs.

Examining Female Entrepreneurs' Management Style: An Application of a Relational Frame

Abstract: This paper reports the results of a qualitative analysis of female entrepreneurs' accounts of their role in their organizations using Relational Theory as the analytical frame. Content analysis of focus group comments indicated that the women used a relational approach in working with employees and clients. Relational skills included preserving, mutual empowering, achieving, and creating team. Findings demonstrate that Relational Theory is a useful frame for identifying and explicating women entrepreneurs' interactive style in their own businesses. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.

Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research

Abstract: The field of organizationa l justice continues to be marked by several important research questions, including the size of relationships among justice dimensions, the relative importance of different justice criteria, and the unique effects of justice dimensions on key outcomes. To address such questions, the authors conducted a meta-analytic review of 183 justice studies. The results suggest that although different justice dimensions are moderately to highly related, they contribute incremental variance explained in fairness perceptions. The results also illustrate the overall and unique relationships among distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice and several organizational outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, evaluation of authority, organizational citizenship behavior, withdrawal, performance). These findings are reviewed in terms of their implications for future research on organizationa l justice.

On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure.

Abstract: This study explores the dimensionality of organizational justice and provides evidence of construct validity for a new justice measure. Items for this measure were generated by strictly following the seminal works in the justice literature. The measure was then validated in 2 separate studies. Study 1 occurred in a university setting, and Study 2 occurred in a field setting using employees in an automobile parts manufacturing company. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a 4-factor structure to the measure, with distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice as distinct dimensions. This solution fit the data significantly better than a 2- or 3-factor solution using larger interactional or procedural dimensions. Structural equation modeling also demonstrated predictive validity for the justice dimensions on important outcomes, including leader evaluation, rule compliance, commitment, and helping behavior.

Internet Users' Information Privacy Concerns (IUIPC): The Construct, the Scale, and a Causal Model

Abstract: The lack of consumer confidence in information privacy has been identified as a major problem hampering the growth of e-commerce. Despite the importance of understanding the nature of online consumers' concerns for information privacy, this topic has received little attention in the information systems community. To fill the gap in the literature, this article focuses on three distinct, yet closely related, issues. First, drawing on social contract theory, we offer a theoretical framework on the dimensionality of Internet users' information privacy concerns (IUIPC). Second, we attempt to operationalize the multidimensional notion of IUIPC using a second-order construct, and we develop a scale for it. Third, we propose and test a causal model on the relationship between IUIPC and behavioral intention toward releasing personal information at the request of a marketer. We conducted two separate field surveys and collected data from 742 household respondents in one-on-one, face-to-face interviews. The results of this study indicate that the second-order IUIPC factor, which consists of three first-order dimensions--namely, collection, control, and awareness--exhibited desirable psychometric properties in the context of online privacy. In addition, we found that the causal model centering on IUIPC fits the data satisfactorily and explains a large amount of variance in behavioral intention, suggesting that the proposed model will serve as a useful tool for analyzing online consumers' reactions to various privacy threats on the Internet.

The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in the Development of Entrepreneurial Intentions.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy in the development of students' intentions to become entrepreneurs. The authors used structural equation modeling with a sample of 265 master of business administration students across 5 universities to test their hypotheses. The results showed that the effects of perceived learning from entrepreneurship-related courses, previous entrepreneurial experience, and risk propensity on entrepreneurial intentions were fully mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Contrary to expectations, gender was not mediated by self-efficacy but had a direct effect such that women reported lower entrepreneurial career intentions. The authors discuss practical implications and directions for future research.