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Introduction
The position in the labor market of people with disabilities has traditionally been fragile, having deteriorated even more during the period of economic and financial crisis experienced in Spain in the last decade (Fernández, Cegarra & Vidal, 2015; Manzanera & Ortiz, 2017). The work is one of the main dimensions that favor the social inclusion of people without disabilities (Manzanera, 2016) and with disabilities (Fernández et al., 2015; Mateo, 2018; Villa, 2003). Entrepreneurship can be considered as one of the forms of labor integration that can favor the achievement of autonomy, status and personal security of this and other collectives (Ashley & Graf, 2017; Boellstorff, 2019; Ortiz &Olaz, 2016; Rizzo, 2002). However, it has been scarcely potentiated and developed in people with disabilities (Rey, 2018). In this fact lies the importance of the analysis executed.
The socio-labor insertion of people with disabilities is conditioned, to a large extent, by the family institution that plays a very significant role by having a double valence. On the one hand, the family can inhibit or limit the entrepreneurial activity of people with disabilities by promoting protective actions on its members and, on the other, it can promote entrepreneurship by making possible spaces of support and support for personal autonomy and emancipation (Pallisera, 2018).
The low level of entrepreneurship of people with disabilities can be considered as a problem for their socio-labor insertion, so it is convenient to know the aspects related to the family dimension that can enhance entrepreneurship. This work is based on the hypothesis that the family institution can promote or not the entrepreneurial activity of people with disabilities.
The qualitative methodology was applied, and the in-depth, semi-structured, individualized, and oral interview were used with 15 people related to disability and entrepreneurship. The discourse analysis was carried out with the professional software ATLAS.TI, at the textual and conceptual levels.
The main results are related to those aspects that can serve as a brake or incentive for the entrepreneurial activity of people with disabilities. Thus, the family attitude towards entrepreneurship is crucial, since it can favor or impede entrepreneurship. This aspect is influenced by the economic or emotional support together with the previous existence of a family business so that a favorable or adverse environment can be created for the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities.
In this article, the family dimension is analyzed as a limiting factor or facilitator of the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities. In the first place, the main concepts that must be taken into account in this dimension are considered. Secondly, the aspects that have to do with the family dimension in the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities are analyzed from the discourse generated in the interviews with key informants. Finally, the main conclusions of the analysis are presented, recommendations are offered, that may be useful for the family, as an institution, to discard its role as a dimension or factor limiting the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities.
Methodology
The methodology used is qualitative and has been based on in-depth, semi-structured, individualized and oral interviews. This has been the most suitable technique for providing a higher degree of freedom to the interviewee and interviewer, facilitating the collection of the different nuances that emerged in the speech. The interviews were conducted in October 2017.
Regarding the profile of the people interviewed, there are 15 people related to the world of disability and entrepreneurship. Three types of profiles were specified:
- People with disabilities and experience in entrepreneurship and their families.
- People with disabilities without experience in entrepreneurship.
- Professionals and institutional representatives related to disability (doctor, work counselor, and social worker).
The discourse analysis was carried through with the professional software Atlas.TI on the textual levels (from coded citations) and conceptual (the level at which the relationships between codes and citations were worked on).
The design of the script of the interview has responded to the different dimensions from which entrepreneurship is studied and its characteristics in this group: personal and psychological; institutional/legal; environmental culture; educational/formative; economic and family. These aspects, together with the analysis of the differences in the entrepreneurship of the collective and the prospective of this activity, are treated in the different articles that make up this monograph.
Conceptual dimensions of the analysis: The family and the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities
The family is an essential and fundamental institution in the social structure, being a primary piece in any society. Giddens (2000) understands it as "A group of people directly linked by kinship ties, whose adult members assume responsibility for the care of their children" (p. 191); while Macionis & Plummer (1999) consider it as a social institution based on kinship that groups people for the tenancy and care of children. Over time, there have been different sociological perspectives that have considered and analyzed the family institution. One of the most relevant is functionalism that considers it as an institution with essential and well-defined functions; and the perspective of critical sociology, that thinks of it as an institution that allows the maintenance of the social structure and the roles of the individuals that form it. As an essential and common element, the family can be understood as the primary agency through which the socialization of the members of any society takes place (Del Campo, 2004; Elzo, 2004; Giddens, 2000). Likewise, it can be seen as the institution that allows both social change and the continuity of the social structure itself (Jurado, 2008). That is, the family becomes a social space that largely determines the social position of its members, either by promoting social promotion, by generating new opportunities to increase social status, or by guaranteeing the location of its members in social positions that allow the maintenance of social status. So it can be said that the family institution determines the biographies of its members.
The family institution has suffered multiple and diverse transformations over time (Del Campo, 2004), having maintained reciprocal relationships with other institutions of the social structure such as the education system, the economic system or the labor market or the State of Well-Being, although its influence has been considered from different positions. According to Del Campo (2004) and Tobío (2013), and according to the theory of substitution, the evolution in western societies since the 1940s led to a process of substitution of many of the functions proper to the family institution, generating a less dependence of family members on the same and a weakening of private solidarity. As alternatives to this theory, there are others that consider that the substitution of the family by the State is not complete, but that on many occasions their work of internal solidarity is enhanced by not reaching all the spheres of action of the family as an institution. This fact has been observed more clearly in the period of economic and financial crisis experienced in Spain in the last decade when the family institution has been an important support network that has avoided situations of social vulnerability (Manzanera, 2016). Therefore, the family is situated as a key and necessary piece of support not only in the care of its members but also in other areas linked to the productive and public sphere of work.
Concerning persons with disabilities, Sánchez, Hernández & Raya (2016) consider the existence of different family models of social and labor inclusion of this group, ranging from subordinate and dependent positions to others closer to full autonomy. These authors highlight, in the first place, the overprotective model, which implies that people with disabilities become a passive subject, both socially and professionally, in a way that leads to the social isolation of the person with a disability. Secondly, they consider the protective model in which the person with a disability is inactive in the labor market, being a mere recipient of social assistance and benefits with a marked assistance character. Thirdly, they talk about the existence of a model of directed autonomy in which families support and develop self-care and social skills, although they are supervised and supported by third parties in the labor market. Finally, they deal with the emancipatory model in which people with disabilities are fully integrated into the labor market, being able to claim their social rights and being owners of their life and work trajectories.
The support of the family to its members is of great relevance when considering the inclusion of certain groups in the labor market. It is even more critical when people with disabilities initiate the work of entrepreneurship since this group is in an unfavorable situation in the labor market (Manzanera & Ortiz, 2017; Meager & Higgins, 2011; Odismet, 2017). Besides, it is not favored by regulations, specific programs or grants that promote self-employment or entrepreneurship (García, 2017).
Recent studies confirm the existence of a direct relationship between the family institution and the life cycle of people with disabilities and, above all, in their working life (Potts, 2005). The family facilitates and enables access to entrepreneurship for people with disabilities (Esquivel, 2010; Renko, Parker & Caldwell, 2015; Rizzo, 2002), offering flexibility, autonomy, income and high levels of satisfaction (Pagán, 2009); or, through the financial support of direct family members in the absence of financing from banking entities (De la Red, Fernández, Marbán & De la Puente, 2008). Olaz & Ortiz (2018) consider that, in the set of factors limiting the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities, the aspects that can be considered in the sphere of the family are more critical than other dimensions, such as those related to personal aspects and psychological or political, institutional and legal aspects or cultural and environmental aspects, among others. However, the family can also be placed as a risk factor for the performance of entrepreneurial activities; overprotection (De la Red et al., 2008; Sánchez et al., 2016) and the incompatibility of the economic support received by people with disabilities with entrepreneurship or with work activities in general. In many cases, the economic support received by people in vulnerable situations is an adequate resource for the support of the whole family (Fantova, 2007; Martínez, Frutos & Solano, 2017), in such a way that they impede the personal development and autonomy of people with disabilities.
Results
As has been seen above, entrepreneurship is an essential element to enable the full inclusion of people with disabilities. In this relationship, some competences and factors can favor or impede the undertaking of the shared object of analysis in this investigation.
In this section, an analysis of the implications that the family dimension has on the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities is executed. The main results of the descriptive analysis are exposed to do this, taking into account each of the aspects that make up the family dimension and that have been observed in the discourse of the people interviewed. Finally, the results of the analysis of the relationship between all aspects of the family dimension will be presented.
The descriptive analysis has revealed the existence of ten aspects between the relationship of the family dimension and the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities: family attitude; economic or emotional support; autonomy; help the family; supervening disability; existence of a previous family business; family role of the person with disability; socioeconomic situation; and type of disability.
The family attitude is one of the main aspects of the family dimension that determine the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities. This refers to the attitudes adopted by the family concerning the disability and to the perception that the person with a disability has about them. In the first place, it can have a moderating and even inhibiting effect on the decisions to be taken by people with disabilities. This type of attitude is linked to the family model that promotes supervised autonomy (Sánchez et al., 2016).
Within this inhibiting or negative family attitude, the overprotective family model that reduces the independence and decision-making capacity of people with disabilities is also recognized. Professional technicians, work counselors, and social workers, as well as entrepreneurs with disabilities, highlight this limiting action of family overprotection at the time of undertaking, which is also observed as a habitual trend in these cases.
The family, in general, tend to overprotect. We fight for positive discrimination but underestimate the capabilities of these people due to ignorance (I.4).
A protective family attitude hinders the initiative of people with disabilities concerning entrepreneurship in the interests of greater family dependence, as they consider representatives of associations of people with disabilities. Besides, the recognition that the family attitude can determine the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities in an enhancing or inhibitory sense has also been observed.
Finally, most respondents believe that family attitude is one aspect that can be an entrepreneurial enhancer activity of people with disabilities there are in a family, understanding that family support is key to eventual success.
Economic or emotional support is an aspect that refers to the perception of the person with a disability about the support that is available to them from their immediate environment or the institutions. In general, support constitutes an incentive to undertake, whether it comes from the family, from institutions or other social spheres. The need for support from people with disabilities has been highlighted by representatives of associations of people with disabilities, technical professionals, entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs with disabilities.
Institutions should have programs to help the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities and should support the family and friends of that group (I.2).
The economic support that comes, mainly, from the family and the institutions is essential for entrepreneurship. Together with financial support, the importance of support in the field of training and technical assistance by educational institutions and professional associations are highlighted. This is made clear in their speech by people with disabilities, entrepreneurs, and non-entrepreneurs.
Finally, people with disabilities, entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, family companions, representatives of associations and technical professionals, emphasize the importance of emotional support from family and friends to counter aspects related to the psychological dimension, such as low esteem.
The low self-esteem they have weakens when undertaking. It also makes it difficult for them to feel alone and not having family support or friends who can help and empower them (I.1).
The autonomy of the person with a disability is an aspect of the family dimension that should be encouraged by the institutions and society, but mainly from the family. It is linked to the ability to make personal decisions about how to live according to one's preferences and overcome overprotective family models, thus reinforcing self-esteem and empowerment, aspects of the psychological dimension. Technical professionals, representatives of associations and people with disabilities highlight its relevance to drive entrepreneurship.
It is essential to give people with disabilities more autonomy from the families, the institutions and to encourage support policies to do a project, for their functional and technical adaptation of the jobs, etc.. (I.4).
Autonomy can be achieved, among other things, with facilitative, clear entrepreneurship policies and, that it also is clear, it is an option from the beginning (I.4).
The help to the family refers to the institutional support or of associations through aid and information regarding the disability to the families themselves. The discourse of representatives of associations and entrepreneurs with disabilities emphasizes the help to the family from an economic and informative point of view to end the existing barriers.
Families that have a person with a disability have some crucial deductions. Moreover, when there is a person with disabilities, with two children and the family is numerous and has another series of aids. Fiscally it is possible, although we could still work a lot because we are not at the level of other European countries, there are bonuses and tax subsidies (I.5).
The supervening disability is an aspect of the family dimension that is associated with the family attitude since it can condition it; the degree of resilience of the person, their family and personal circumstances, age or working life before disability condition the option for entrepreneurship. This is evidenced by entrepreneurs with disabilities and representatives of associations.
Indeed, they know what they want and how they want it and also in some of the cases in which the disability is not from a young age, but rather people with acquired disabilities, the truth is that they see an option, see help, see support and what they want is to continue working in an ordinary market. The sale of lottery coupons is considered as something that is there but that is not their first option, and they want to work (I.7).
The aspect categorized as family business refers to the greater willingness to engage people with disabilities in those cases where the family owns a business, and there is a corporate culture within it. In this way, family attitude is the most appropriate and convenient about entrepreneurship. Technical professionals, representatives of associations and people with disabilities highlight the importance of trusting people close to them when managing a business.
People with disabilities whose family has had a business or family business already see a way forward and, in this way, the family itself favors entrepreneurship because they have the company created (I.4).
The appearance of the personality refers to the set of distinctive features of a person, attitudes, skills, habits, and ways of thinking that are affected by the development of the person and its relationship with the environment, especially the family. The discourse of people with disabilities interviewed, entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, highlights the importance of this aspect in overcoming barriers to entrepreneurship.
First you have to get the idea and have some character traits and so on because you also have to be brave to undertake (I.11).
The psychological aspect, understanding it as having obvious ideas and having the impulse to undertake for me would be the most important. Because undertaking is, having the courage to do it, having a bright idea, and doing it, then everything else (I.12).
With the family role aspect of the person with a disability, the place occupied by the person in the family (son, father, mother, brother, among others), influencing the family attitude towards said disability, as well as the person who has it. This influence is manifested in the discourse of representatives of associations, professionals with technical profiles and entrepreneurs with disabilities.
The particular circumstances of each one, where if you have had an experience of people that depend on you or that you can help them by setting up business activity, it is also a motivation (I.2).
On many occasions the family influences the person with disabilities because they do not want him to sell lottery coupons, and they want to set up a business for him. Since it is considered that, in effect, it was the safe way out to place your child's work and make it possible for the family to live from it (I.7).
The aspect called as socioeconomic situation refers to the income available in the family unit of which the person with a disability is a part and which, depending on its amount, can inhibit, moderate or enhance entrepreneurship. Both people with disabilities who are not entrepreneurs and technical professionals show the relevance of this aspect in the family dimension.
But many times, becoming an entrepreneur or becoming autonomous, which is the same, many are forced by the circumstances (I.11).
You have to have a good economic situation. Having a disability can vary if you have an excellent economic situation or not, that is also very important. That is why in our assessment we also include the social or socioeconomic situation (I.15).
Finally, the aspect called disability typology refers to the physical limitation that can determine the degree of dependence and entrepreneurship, in particular, economic sectors depending on the type and degree of disability. Its relevance is manifested in the discourse of family companions, entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs with disabilities and professionals with a technical profile since they consider that the type and degree of disability can condition the family attitude to inhibit, moderate or enhance the entrepreneurship of the people with disabilities.
Depending also on the type of disability, some people need more support than others because they are vulnerable and they have a hard time at work (I.1).
It also depends on what the disability is. Thus, a disability that makes it impossible for you then have to consider an exit from the activity, unsubscribe or transfer the company, also especially to relatives, children, nephews, people from their environment or even their workers (I.2).
If you have a high level of disability or a sensory type, you usually have much more difficulty finding a job, and much more if you want to create your own business (I.14).
A total, partial or temporary disability, although there should be no difference, can limit someone with a disability. I think it may be, for instance, that your disability is getting more and more, for example, that it starts with a certain degree of limitation and if that disability goes on more and more, it can impact on your, personally, chances of moving forward with the entrepreneurship. That would be a limitation (I.3).
Therefore, there are many aspects related to the relationship between the family dimension and the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities. Of all the analyzed, it has been found that here the one linked to the attitude of the families of people with disabilities is the most determining.
On the other hand, from the discourse analysis of the interviewees, it was identified the relationships between the different aspects that make up the family dimension and that have been previously analyzed.
The two aspects with greater relevance are, on the one hand, the family attitude that presents a higher density and a more significant number of references in the quotes of the people interviewed (up to 32) together with the aspect related to the economic or emotional support that, although it does not have a high dimension, it accumulates up to 46 appointments.
There is a strong causal relationship between the family attitude and the economic or emotional support needed by people with disabilities to carry through decisions related to entrepreneurship. In this way, the economic support of the institutions or the emotional support of the closest environment of the person with disability condition the existence of a family inhibiting or empowering attitude of the enterprise.
On the other hand, the family attitude is associated or linked to other aspects of the family dimension, namely: autonomy, help to the family, supervening disability, family business, personality, the family role of the person with a disability, socioeconomic situation, and type of disability. Of these, the personality code stands out because it has the highest density, after the family attitude code.
It can be affirmed that the family attitude together with the financial support of institutions, the family and the emotional support of the latter, are aspects that constitute a key to understanding how the family can condition, inhibit or strengthen, the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities.
Conclusions
The descriptive and relational analysis of the aspects linked to the relationship between the family dimension and the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities have shown that the family institution is situated as a critical piece for the socio-labor insertion of the shared object of analysis in this research.
There are several family models (Sánchez et al., 2016) that influence the socio-labor insertion of people with disabilities; three of them consider the family as inhibiting the work activity of the analysis group, due to the protection and even overprotection exercised or the direction it establishes on the autonomy of people with disabilities. However, taking into account the entrepreneurship, it has been proven in studies, like the one of Olaz & Ortiz (2018), the importance of the family for the entrepreneurial activity of people with disabilities, so that this group does not consider the family as a particularly limiting factor of their entrepreneurial activity.
From the analysis implemented in this research, it is concluded that the family attitude is the most significant aspect of the family dimension, since it conditions the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities in several senses, in such a way that the hypothesis of the investigation is verified. In the first place, it has been observed that a family attitude linked to a protective, overprotective or supervised family model can become a barrier that, in many cases, people with disabilities can not overcome to start their entrepreneurial activity. Second, and on the other hand, it has been proven that the family attitude that favors the emancipation of people with disabilities can be considered an empowering aspect of entrepreneurship since the support it can provide is vital to be successful.
Another aspect that maintains a central position in the family dimension is related to economic or emotional support. The family attitude establishes the type of disposition of the family towards the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities. In the first place, the economic support that can arrive through the path of public institutions or through the family itself has been observed as a determinant of this relationship. Secondly, the importance of support in terms of training and technical assistance that people with disabilities can have to start their entrepreneurial activity has been proven. Finally, emotional support has been considered as a relevant element to favor a family attitude that favors and enables the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities.
Another aspect of the family dimension associated with the family attitude, although without having a direct causal relationship is among others, the previous existence of a family company, this fact can greatly favor a agreeable environment for the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities, as well as other aspects, such as the development or promotion of the family's capacity for autonomy of disability. Lastly, support for this by the public institutions on disability is also associated with the type of family attitude towards entrepreneurship of people with disabilities.
Once analyzed the different aspects of the family dimension and its relationship with the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities, it can be observed a series of actions or measures that can strengthen the family institution and, above all, can favor the development of a family attitude enhancer of the entrepreneurial activity of people with disabilities. Among them, is the development of help and support from the administration through programs, plans or economic aid to promote the breaking of barriers that prevent the creation of a family environment favorable to the entrepreneurship of people with disabilities. Secondly, the development of training programs aimed at families and aimed at overcoming those family models that impede the emancipation of people with disabilities should be considered. Thirdly, the promotion of awareness-raising and training campaigns aimed at the normalization of disability should be encouraged. It is necessary for families to modify their consideration of disability, with particular emphasis on skills and, therefore, the potential of people with disabilities.
