Entrepreneurial couples: Organizational, marital and spouse/personal factors that influence the quality of their working relationship

Entrepreneurial couples must deal with the ever-present overlap of family and business. This overlap is often associated with relationship and organizational problems, which can result in a high rate of failure for family businesses. This dissertation's purpose was to empirically describe couples who work together in their own business by investigating the organizational marital, and spouse/personal factors that influence the quality of their working relationship.;Data on the organizational, marital, and spouse/personal factors and the quality of the couple's work relationship were collected on thirty-nine couples. Each spouse completed a questionnaire which the couple received by mail.;The results of this study indicate that there were organizational factors, marital factors, and spouse/personal factors that are associated with the quality of work relationship. Findings from the organizational system indicate that the manner in which spouses chose to influence each other had a positive or negative effect on the working relationship. Research findings suggest that husbands enhanced the working relationship when they attempted to influence their wives through means other than coercion. Findings suggest that wives enhanced the working relationship when they influenced their husbands by using expertise and avoiding the use of rewards. Clear roles and procedures enhanced the working relationship for both husbands and wives. Husbands saw themselves as generating ideas, while wives saw themselves organizing the tasks to get the job done. The quality of the work relationship decreased when husbands were involved in finishing jobs. The quality of work relationship increased when wives had leadership roles.;Results from the marital factors indicate the entrepreneurial couples' marital relationship tended to be extremely cohesive and extremely adaptable. The quality of work relationship was rated high when the marital relationship was cohesive and adaptable.;Results from the spouse/personal factors indicate that men who had feminine or androgenous characteristics, that allowed them to be more relationship oriented, had a very high quality of work relationship with their wives. Demographic data indicated that both husbands and wives were involved in key organizational functions, such as sales and product production.