Lawrence Nicholson | Family-owned businesses & entrepreneurial intentions It takes a village to raise a founder

Entrepreneurial intention has emerged as one of the strongest predictors of actual entrepreneurial behaviour, serving as a reliable barometer to predict those who will engage in entrepreneurial activities. However, the attitude of many, and the inconsistency in messaging have been a barrier to many children realising their desire to become entrepreneurs or carving out a career in entrepreneurship. This is not the case with expressions of interest in other “celebrated and traditional” areas such as wanting to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, teacher. Given the role of the entrepreneur in an ever-changing world, and the seemingly inward-looking trajectory of the politically powerful, Jamaica stands to benefit from the collective effort of individuals and institutions in giving more support to covert entrepreneurial intentions to business creation. A proposed starting point is to have a change in attitude and a consistent messaging by three of the most influential institutions in the career choices of children: the home, the school, and the Church. The Oldenburg’s Third Place Theory (theory of place) provides a framework from which useful insights can be gleaned in helping to guide a consistent messaging and engagement from these institutions.

While still having other rungs to climb for a broad acceptance, Jamaica can boast that people’s attitude and responses are changing when a child declares that he/she wants to be an entrepreneur. This changing attitude can be seen in pockets of society. The data shows that there is a clear upward and positive trajectory. Over the last 10-15 years, more parents, teachers, and church leaders have been more actively encouraging and giving support when a child announces that he/she wants “to become” an entrepreneur or plans to start his/her own business. Universities have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students declaring entrepreneurship as their main area of study at the undergraduate level. However, Jamaica is not at the point where the changing attitude and support come with the same energy and enthusiasm as when a child declares that he/she wants “to become” a doctor, an engineer, or a lawyer. That is, those who have been praying and yearning for a changing attitude are not yet at the point to invoke the Nunc Dimittis of Simeon in the Bible by declaring “Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace”. There is more work to be done, so the departure must wait.

One area that must be addressed to increase the rate of a changing attitude is having more convergence in the support given to a child’s expression of interest to become an entrepreneur or wanting to “run my own business”. In the absence of a common messaging and consistent support, the entrepreneurial intention of the individual could become entangled in the conflicting views across the home, school, and church. The call is for a common or similar mode of messaging across the home, the school, and the Church.

Entrepreneurial intention (EI) refers to a person’s urge, passion, or willingness to start a business or be engaged in entrepreneurial activities and has been found to be a strong predictor of actual entrepreneurial behaviour. However, such intention or expressions of interest can wane if there are no positive reinforcements. Data on family-owned businesses (FOBs) shows that there is a greater chance of expressions of entrepreneurial intention being converted to future entrepreneurial involvement and activities when there is consistent messaging across what sociologist Ray Oldenburg refers to as first place, second place and third place.

Oldenburg’s Third-Place Theory

Sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s Third-Place Theory (theory of places) posits that our lives can be categorised in three social phases - first place, second place, and third place – the home, the workplace (school), and the community. These places are associated with different interactions and players and have their own established and expected roles. Using Oldenburg’s theory as a framework, the proposition being made is that there is a higher rate of conversion of entrepreneurial intentions into actual ventures or entrepreneurial activities when aligning consistent messaging across first, second, and third places – the home, school and Church.

According to Oldenburg, the home is the first place of socialisation and represents a place of private and domestic interactions. It is the place where people reside and cohabit with family members and others in a common space as part of the process of building their personal lives. The home is the place where values and norms are established and nurtured. The home is often characterised by privacy, solitude, and a sense of ownership and is essential for providing stability, comfort, and personal identity. The home can be restrictive or isolating, be a place of limiting exposure to new ideas. It is, therefore, important that parents and guardians be deliberate and intentional in providing the initial supportive environment and motivation for the expressed interests of children. By providing consistent messaging, the home helps to build emotional encouragement, thus helping to lay the foundation to reduce the personal risks and emotional burden often associated with being an active entrepreneur or with “running your own business”.

Schools and workplaces are common representation of Oldenburg’s second place, serving as a structured environment where formal learning takes place. Individuals spend a significant portion of their time at school for exposure to formal education, technical training, skill development, and networking necessary for future engagements. The school is critical in providing the space for expanding the socialisation experienced at home and serves to validate or debunk what was taught at home. As is the case with converting expressions of interest in disciplines such as medicine, law, and engineering, schools play an important role in helping to convert entrepreneurial intention into action. Unfortunately, when a student declares an interest in being an entrepreneur or to start his/her own business, schools have not always given the support that would invoke confidence in the student. Yes, compared to 2004 (when the first survey on FOBs was done), there is some comfort in the finding that more schools are giving support in providing the necessary skills to help in the transition from intent to action. However, there is still the need for a segment of the influencers in the school community to cease from relegating the choice to pursue entrepreneurship to be an “inferior” choice compared to areas such as medicine, engineering, and law. In Jamaica, the voice of the teacher carries great resonance. Many parents and guardians have experienced the “teacher said” version of the Law of the Medes and Persians. It is, therefore, important that more deliberate attention be given to the nurturing of students’ career expression of interest, including their expressions of entrepreneurial intentions.

In Oldenburg’s framework, third place is represented by the community, which includes, churches, cafés, bookstores, parks, community centres, and corner shops. Third place provides a vital space for a different set of variables in the socialisation process in shaping people’s lives. These are not just physical locations; but extend to social spaces that contribute to the overall well-being of people. The third place provides a setting and a safe space that encourages social interaction, conversation, and community bonding. It must be noted that activities and exchanges in third places do not occur in isolation and independent of first and second places. For this reason, actors in a third place such as the Church should be conversant with the outputs from both home and school. The Church is an important third place in the Jamaican society, representing a central pillar in providing moral guidance, education, social welfare, and community development, and providing a social safety net. As with the school, the Church can either validate or debunk what has been taught at home.

Historically, the Church has encouraged and fostered entrepreneurship by providing land through the establishment of ‘free villages’, providing foundational infrastructure through building societies, and by nurturing business skills in communities. That is, the Church has played a pivotal role in economic development. The question is, why does it seem like the Church is taking a ‘backseat’ in the current dispensation of encouraging and facilitating entrepreneurship? For example, declarations of entrepreneurial intentions in Sunday School or Sabbath School discussions seem not always to be met with the same enthusiasm and ‘spiritual energy’ as declarations of intent for other traditional career choices. The findings are that such dissonance creates confusion in the mind of the child - wanting be an entrepreneur is less than wanting to pursue any of the traditional careers.

Compared to the findings from the 2004 survey, there is more support in the home, the school, and the Church in helping to convert entrepreneurial intention into the starting up of businesses. However, a high level of dissonance remains in these highly influential institutions. The difference in messaging across the home, school, and church continue to be a barrier to the conversion of entrepreneurial intentions. This must be addressed, if entrepreneurship is to continue being the backbone of the economy - driving innovation, job creation, and sustainable economic growth. The data shows that FOBs form the core of these entrepreneurship activities, generating revenue estimated to be equivalent to about 32 per cent of the country’s GDP.

This is a call for the home, the school, and the Church to join in communicating a common or similar message in guiding children in their career choices. In the framework of Oldenburg’s Third-Place theory, the alignment of the first (home), second (work/school), and third (community/church) places in communicating a common or similar message will help to reduce confusion, and creates confidence. This alignment will help to create a symbiotic environment that enhances entrepreneurial intentions and success. A consistent messaging will help to remove the friction across the places (home, school, and church), and will reduce the isolation often experienced by those who expressed career intentions other than those considered to be traditional. The application of the principles from Oldenburg’s Third-Place Theory can have a significant impact on a child realising his/her entrepreneurial intention.

Converting entrepreneurial intentions into actual business creation requires moving from a “conscious state of mind” to action-oriented behaviours. It is time for a common messaging across home, school, and church. The days of the choice to be an entrepreneur being seen as a last resort and when everything else fails must be placed in the rearview mirror and relegated to the relic of a sordid history.

More anon.

Lawrence Nicholson, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the Mona School of Business & Management, The University of the West Indies, and a former director of the RJRGLEANER Communications Group. He is passionate about FOBs as reflected in his book, “Understanding the Caribbean Enterprise: Insights from MSMEs and Family-Owned Businesses”. Send feedback to lawrence.n.08@gmail.com.