UNIVERSITY OF MONTPELLIER

UNIVERSITY OF MONTPELLIER

PhD Position - Relational dynamics and support for female duos: Impact on the overall performance of SMEs

Relational dynamics and support for female duos:

Impact on the overall performance of SMEs

Proposal for a PhD thesis in Management Sciences

A thesis supervised by Professors Sylvie SAMMUT et Annabelle JAOUEN

University of Montpellier  / Montpellier Management Institute / MBS School of Business

MRM Laboratory : Montpellier Research in Management

While entrepreneurship is perceived by 68.5% of French people as an attractive career choice, women represent only a quarter of active entrepreneurs in France, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2020-2021 report (Messeghem et al., 2022). Despite initiatives to promote female entrepreneurship, such as the Framework Agreement for Entrepreneurship from 2006 to 2018, obstacles specific to female entrepreneurs persist, particularly in terms of access to financing, gender stereotypes, and work-life balance (Lebègue et al., 2020). At the same time, duo entrepreneurship, often seen as a strategy for reducing risk and sharing responsibility, remains little studied when it involves female teams (Cheriet et al., 2023). This topic, at the crossroads of these two themes, offers a unique opportunity to analyze how the specificities of female dyads influence their overall performance, taking into account their strengths and the challenges they face.

Female entrepreneurship is marked by a variety of motivations, ranging from the quest for independence and flexibility to the desire to overcome the “glass ceiling” encountered in the salaried world (Le Loarne-Lemaire, 2013). However, women entrepreneurs often come up against internal obstacles, such as a lack of self-confidence and fear of failure, reinforced by social stereotypes that perceive them as less competent than their male counterparts (Messeghem et al., 2022). Added to this are external obstacles, such as limited access to financing and under-representation in professional networks, which complicate the sustainability of their businesses. In particular, these difficulties are reflected in a lower propensity to apply for support services or to join mixed entrepreneurial ecosystems (Bpifrance, 2022).

Entrepreneurial duo teams, or dyads, are characterized by strong interdependence between the two partners, who share strategic decisions and operational responsibilities. These dyads are often founded on personal ties, whether family, friends or professionals, which foster trust and complementary skills (Cheriet et al., 2023). However, this relational closeness can also become a hindrance, amplifying tensions during disagreements or making it difficult to separate personal and professional spheres (Beaudoin, 2012). Moreover, dyads are sometimes perceived as less credible by investors, who prefer more diversified or larger teams (Cheriet et al., 2023). These specificities pose additional challenges for female dyads, who are already confronted with structural and cultural obstacles specific to female entrepreneurship.

Issues

Female dyads combine the challenges of female entrepreneurship with the specificities of entrepreneurial duo teams. How can these dyads take advantage of their relational closeness while structuring their interactions to limit drift? How do relational dynamics in female dyads influence overall SME performance? To what extent does coaching have an impact on these dynamics and on the company's performance?

Research objectives

- Identify the types of relationships (friendly, family, purely professional) predominant in female entrepreneurial duos.

- Analyze the impact of these relationships on the distribution of roles, decision-making and the overall performance of the SME (societal, environmental, economic).

- Analyze existing practices for supporting female duos.

- Identify the extent to which this support impacts relational dynamics and the overall performance of the SME.

Candidate profile

PhD student will have to possess a methodological opening. This will allow him(her) to master the qualitative and quantitative methods which could be applied in this thesis and to realize the data processing.

A good knowledge of English language is also necessary in order to be able to read and draft research articles in international journals.

The candidate will also have to possess an interest for the transverse approaches.