WEWELL_Women entrepreneurs and their wellbeing: understanding the interplay of gender, identity and life-course
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: King's Business School
Abstract
The WEWell project is an innovative multidisciplinary investigation of mental wellbeing construction through the interplay of structure and agency in the context of women entrepreneurship. The project is located at the intersection of psychology, sociology and management; and combines qualitative life story interviews with 60 women entrepreneurs with a longitudinal quantitative diary study over 14 weeks of the same 60 women. Based on this multi-method design, the project sets to investigate the drivers, dynamics and circumstances surrounding women entrepreneurs' wellbeing and through this to build new dynamic and contextualized theory of women entrepreneurs' wellbeing. The focus on women entrepreneurs is expected to contribute to policy-relevant research geared towards reducing inequalities in life; the focus on wellbeing will provide new input for the efforts to measure wellbeing as a reflection of national level of development.
The project is an ambitious attempt to create opportunities for accelerated professional growth for the researcher, Dr. Markowska through the immersive experience of working together with the expert supervisor Professor Ute Stephan of King's College London (KCL) and non-academic placement host, Professor Friederike Welter, the President of Institute for Mittelstandforschung (IfM), Germany. While Professor Stephan is a leading expert in applied psychology research and one of the pioneers of research on entrepreneurship and wellbeing including new recovery perspective, Professor Welter is a leading expert in policy research, particularly in the context of women entrepreneurship, combining economic and sociological perspectives. The nonacademic placement is designed to help generate greater impact from the project and maximize learning how to effectively work with policy makers. The outcomes from WEWell will be relevant for European research, economic and social life and policy and will provide growth trajectory for the fellow.
The project is an ambitious attempt to create opportunities for accelerated professional growth for the researcher, Dr. Markowska through the immersive experience of working together with the expert supervisor Professor Ute Stephan of King's College London (KCL) and non-academic placement host, Professor Friederike Welter, the President of Institute for Mittelstandforschung (IfM), Germany. While Professor Stephan is a leading expert in applied psychology research and one of the pioneers of research on entrepreneurship and wellbeing including new recovery perspective, Professor Welter is a leading expert in policy research, particularly in the context of women entrepreneurship, combining economic and sociological perspectives. The nonacademic placement is designed to help generate greater impact from the project and maximize learning how to effectively work with policy makers. The outcomes from WEWell will be relevant for European research, economic and social life and policy and will provide growth trajectory for the fellow.
