Portal de Murcia
www.portaldemurcia.com
| Lack of resources or difficulties in accessing financing are more decisive when stopping initiatives that factors of personal scope | The results of a study carried out by researchers from the University of Murcia on entrepreneurship in people with disabilities confirm the lower propensity to start a company by those who make up this group, despite being an activity with proven validity to improve the inclusion, visibility and normalization of people with different capacities.
This study, published in a monograph in the Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, Volume 22, Special Issue 2 (Title: Entrepreneurship and Disability) (2019), has been prepared with the results of surveys of a sample of 224 people with physical disabilities, sensory or organic. The research carried out addresses different factors that can influence the decision to start a business, such as the type of disability, gender, age or social skills that the person may have, among others.
In general, although many factors influence the doubts when it comes to undertaking, what there is a greater consensus is in the problems that are considered necessary to address in order to improve the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities, among which the lack of economic resources or doubts about the profitability of the business, so it is necessary to continue dealing with this situation, both in the present and in the future, indicate the conclusions of the investigation. Regarding the type of disability, the main conclusion that has been reached is that it can be a differential factor, since it has been detected that people with a disability related to the osteoarticular system have a greater predisposition to mount their own company than those with a visual or hearing impairment.
This is, according to the study, probably because those with an osteoarticular disability tend to have greater difficulties in social and labor insertion through salaried employment. Regarding gender, the propensity to undertake or the intention to do so is lower among women than among men and, when it materializes, it is the "need" and not the "opportunity" that motivates them to take the decision. The analysis also shows that the majority profile of the entrepreneur with a disability, in relation to age, is that of a middle-aged person, between 35 and 50 years old.
The main activity of the company is framed in the service sector; Business ownership tends to be individual in nature and these are consolidated companies, whose age is around 42 months.
Most companies do not have anyone hired.
The reason for which they have undertaken has been the need and the main motivations to achieve an increase in their income and greater independence.
As age increases, the possibilities of having your own business decrease; age acts, therefore, as another barrier within the group. Regarding previous training, the analysis carried out shows that, depending on the level of training, people with disabilities will have more or less possibilities of access to the business world, and that the same degree of training makes them more or less vulnerable to the aspects that make entrepreneurship difficult.
In addition, people with disabilities who have better training and who decide to undertake, do so mainly because they perceive a business opportunity not taken advantage of by existing companies, and not so much because they lack better options in the labor market. In this study, it is found that, depending on the profile analyzed, the factors that affect entrepreneurship vary in most cases.
Thus, for example, while some prefer to undertake to achieve a personal challenge, others to do it to improve their income, while some prefer to undertake alone, others prefer to do it collectively. Specific skills Among the most notable competences among people with disabilities who have undertaken are self-knowledge, which includes from a personal point of view aspects such as emotional awareness, self-evaluation and self-confidence; secondly, it is worth mentioning self-management, which integrates emotional self-control, transparency, adaptation, achievement, initiative and optimism; thirdly, social awareness, which from the perspective of the relationship with the environment integrates empathy, organizational awareness and service orientation; and, finally, Relationship Management, which from an entrepreneurial and people management perspective implies the ability to develop people, leadership, change management, conflict management and teamwork. The research team responsible for this study, led by Professor Pilar Ortiz, indicates that the conclusions of this work should serve as the basis for the planning and implementation of specific programs to help entrepreneurship in people with disabilities.
As a recommendation, the administration should support the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities through programs, plans, economic aid, public and social policies designed and focused on the problems of the group of people with disabilities.
In this way, obstacles derived from the type of disability or the generality of aid that do not take into account the uniqueness of the group could be overcome.
Source: Universidad de Murcia
Privacy policy
- Legal notice
- Cookies