The Significance of the LGBT-Community for Homosexual Entrepreneurs - Influencing Factors and Consequences

Beschreibung

Up until now, very little research has been done on gay and lesbian entrepreneurs, and no research at all has been conducted to analyze the role of the so-called "LGBT-community" for their business models. For some homosexual entrepreneurs the "LGBT-community" is a key element of different aspects of their businesses, but for others it seems to be totally irrelevant. To contribute to a better understanding of reasons and consequences of different degrees of commercial community relations, this paper analyzes data from a quantitative survey that was conducted among gay and lesbian entrepreneurs in Austria in 2011. As crucial parameters for explaining the entrepreneurs' community relations, two constructs are identified. Firstly, the degree in which discrimination experienced in one or more of the former jobs is the main-reason for the decision to become self-employed; and, secondly, the individual's assumptions about the economic consequences of customers potentially finding out about the individual's sexuality. Statistically both constructs are not correlated, and therefore they are adequate starting points for the proposed explanatory model. Besides personal, biographical and psychological factors, the latter construct is partially influenced by the general perceived climate for gay and lesbian entrepreneurs and it predicts the probability of the individual entrepreneur perceiving the LGBT community as a target market, as well as the degree of a general commercial and personal relatedness to that community. Discrimination experienced in former jobs seems to be an important reason for choosing an area of self-employment, in which it is assumed to be accepted to be gay or lesbian. Having chosen such an area of self-employment, the LGBT community by trend gains an important relevance for all business areas and also for the individual definition of business success.

Zeitraum	20 Sept. 2012 → 21 Sept. 2012
Ereignistitel	ECIE 2012 - The 7th European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Veranstaltungstyp	Keine Angaben
Bekanntheitsgrad	International