Young people's self-meaning making through entrepreneurship in Poland, Slovenia and the UK : implications for human resource management in SMEs

Balas Rant, Melita (author), Dziewanowska, Katarzyna (author), Petrylaite, Edita (author), Pearce, Alison (author)

The objective of the paper is to explore young people's motives for pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities instead of a professional career in the public sector or a corporation. As young people increasingly consider alternatives to a traditional career, it is useful to understand what lies behind their entrepreneurial career choice in order to advise small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) how to attract a young workforce. A qualitative study consisting of 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with young entrepreneurs in Poland, Slovenia and the United Kingdom (UK) identifies a variety of internal and external factors influencing the entrepreneurs' career decisions that were found to be largely homogenous across different countries and contexts. These influences operate at micro, mezzo and macro levels. The findings are explained through Kegan's theory of self-meaning making as well as the SME context and particularities, providing an understanding of what attracts and deters young people facing career choices.

• Language: English
• Keywords: SMEs, labour market, employment, contract labour, young people, career choices, entrepreneurship, self-meaning making
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 115-130
• Numbering: Vol. 23, iss. 2 (art. 5)
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-129063
• UDC: 331.5
• ISSN on article: 2335-4216
• DOI: 10.15458/2335-4216.1010
• COBISS.SI-ID: 73998083
• Publication date in RUL: 25.08.2021

BALAS RANT, Melita, DZIEWANOWSKA, Katarzyna, PETRYLAITE, Edita and PEARCE, Alison, 2021, Young people’s self-meaning making through entrepreneurship in Poland, Slovenia and the UK : implications for human resource management in SMEs. Economic and business review [online]. 2021. Vol. 23, no. 2 ( 5), p. 115–130. [Accessed 26 April 2025]. DOI 10.15458/2335-4216.1010. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=129063

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Economic and business review
• Publisher: Ekonomska fakulteta
• ISSN: 2335-4216
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268649216

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.
• Licensing start date: 01.01.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: majhna in srednja podjetja, trg dela, zaposlovanje, pogodbeno delo

Projects

• Funder: EC - European Commission
• Funding programme: H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
• Project number: 734824
• Name: Global Entrepreneurial Talent Management 3
• Acronym: GETM3

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: Polish Ministry of Education and Science for the implementation of the international co-financed project