1Given the global challenge of employment, female entrepreneurship is recognized as vital to economic development and sustainability worldwide. Women, who comprise half the global population, have achieved significant gains in labour force participation, resulting in an increasingly important role in the economy either as business leaders, entrepreneurs or employees. The rising role and importance of women in the economy is transforming not only the composition of the talent pool but also the skills profiles of the jobs on the global market.

2However, female talents, energy and ideas overall still remain one of the most under-utilized business resources, often wasted, due to barriers on the path to women’s successful workforce integration or business leadership. Moreover the entrepreneurial potential of women remains not fully exploited, and lags behind men’s ambition in both business start-ups and self-employment. Compared with men, fewer women are self-employed in Europe and fewer women start-up businesses or have the ambition or capability to do so. In general women choose to start and manage firms in industries such as retail and services to people that are often perceived as contributing less to economic growth and thus development of the knowledge economy.

3Nowadays it is imperative to enable women fully and constructively participate in the economic activities of their countries or communities. Although women now participate, on average, more fully in the formal economy than 10 years ago (in both professional and technical occupations), they continue to make up less of the labour force overall than men, and their earnings for similar work are lower [1]. Therefore there is still a lot to be done to maximize women’s intellectual potential and their contribution to Europe’s and global competitiveness.

4The current paper argues about the need for encouraging a female hybrid entrepreneur role in emerging economies. It attempts to identify the perceived challenges of the female hybrid entrepreneur, by analysing the propensity for entrepreneurship among full-time, part-time and self-employed females in eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. The objectives of the paper are three-folded: (1) To determine how likely are the women engaging in full-time and part-time employment as main job to take on a self-employment activity as a second job, which requires longer working hours and more expertize; (2) To understand the perception of working females in the CEE countries about entrepreneurship and self-employment relative to self-employed females; and (3) To identify the similarities and differences which are prevalent in the countries studied among the three categories of female working populations in terms of their perception about entrepreneurship and motivations for self-employment. The paper also attempts to facilitate the understanding of female hybrid entrepreneurship by researchers, policy-makers, educators and practitioners and to create awareness among stakeholders who will support their efforts.

Entrepreneurial versus wage employee role

5People engage in multiple paid jobs mainly with the purpose of maximizing their personal earnings or supplementing their household income. Also, being given the possibility to realize own ideas and passions, the need for self-fulfilment and self-achievement are among the most salient motives that drive conventional wage employees to embrace a self-employment activity as a second job. Multiple job holders engaging in self-employment as a second job are called hybrid entrepreneurs. Hybrid entrepreneurs differ from full-time entrepreneurs or serial entrepreneurs and are also distinct from multiple job holders who have two paid employment positions [2]. The differences are given by a wide variety of entrepreneurial motivations. For example, the desire to work more leads people to take on a second, maybe, lower-paid job. Or, the absence of the non-monetary benefits included in ordinary earnings leads working people to engage in a more rewarding self-employment activity. Also, the human capital spill over leads people to take on second better paid and more fulfilling jobs.

6Starting a business has become a popular career choice in emerging economies. There is an increasingly need for business innovation, job creation, improved quality of life and well-being. Practice demonstrates that entrepreneurial activities are initiated parallel to wage employment or after gaining some working experience through employment. People do this for reasons such as securing income while testing their business ideas. Also, the need for personal fulfilment and development through work and self-achievement is given a new priority. Being more mature and experienced when entering entrepreneurship will ensure that the individual is better prepared to cope with challenges associated with combining an employment with a start-up business, as well as with different roles s(he) may need to play.

7At the same time, companies and employees face a rise in dissatisfaction at the current jobs, as well as a decline in stability of conventional wage employment. As such, the entrepreneurial choice relies on the extent to which the individual identifies with the entrepreneurial role versus the wage employee role. The transition from hybrid entrepreneur to full-time entrepreneur is not necessarily needed nor determined by economic reasons [3].

8Another challenge for conventional employment comes from the behaviour of the millennials generation, which are more prone to alternative forms of employment and have an increased interest in various forms of entrepreneurship. Employment rate projections up to the year 2025 show that approximately 75% of world workers will be representatives of the millennials or Generation Y, which represent a major potential for entrepreneurship [4].

9Several rather new occupational fields, mostly related to the digital environment and creative industries, are also responsible for a rise in entrepreneurship. Jobs which allow remote work are among the strongest vectors for the development of entrepreneurship initiatives in the current globalized economy.

10Technology also serves as a facilitator of entrepreneurship, projecting change on traditional business models, as more and more platforms emerge and offer the opportunity for individuals to congregate and offer their freelancer services for various projects. This is one of the focal subjects of the Future of Jobs report, released by the World Economic Forum in January 2016, which defines the developments in technology as essential for the forth industrial revolution.

11The phenomenon of hybrid entrepreneurship gained more ground in the recent times and seems to be more prevalent among men than women. Globally, women entrepreneurs manage all types of businesses. Nevertheless, the global entrepreneurial scene is still dominated by a masculine entrepreneurial career model and women’s status is left secondary and disadvantaged in. Also, the entrepreneurship rates for women are, in general, smaller than those for men. Therefore encouraging wage employed women to select an entrepreneurial career path comes with creating a favourable environment for entrepreneurship and targeting women as beneficiaries of specific programs. The rising phenomenon of working women becoming entrepreneurs not only encourages socio-economic development of an economy but also empowers women in that society.

The proclivity of females for hybrid entrepreneurship

12Hybrid entrepreneurship enables people to spend time on something they are passionate about. Passion is more likely to motivate hybrid entrepreneurs who are female and older at business start-up [5]. While the desire to work more and take on second jobs (including a self-employment activity), usually better paid, is high among women, this doesn’t necessarily lead to higher self-employment. By their nature, women seem to be less self-confident in their entrepreneurial abilities and, therefore, more closed in their comfort zone, not able to sell themselves and their ideas to others. Also, as competition increased in certain industries more accessible to women (like for example creative industries), females correctly perceive their limited capability to compete against well-established competitors.

13By analysing the propensity for entrepreneurship among full-time and part-time female employees, the paper attempts to identify the perceived challenges of the female hybrid entrepreneur in eight Central and Eastern European countries. The term ‘entrepreneurship propensity’, used in the paper, integrates four core areas: entrepreneurial potential, self-employment desirability, self-employment feasibility, and comfort with recruiting customers. Entrepreneurial or self-employment potential assesses the perceived interest in starting a business and being self-employed regardless of the attitude displayed about entrepreneurship, positive or negative. Desirability measures the perception about starting a business as a desirable career opportunity. Feasibility measures the perception about preparedness for starting a business and possessing the necessary skills, capabilities and resources, whilst the comfort with recruiting customers assesses the perceived preparedness to search for and acquire own customers as a self-employed person. To complement reader’s understanding on propensity for entrepreneurship the paper also analyses key motivations for entrepreneurship among female wage employees namely: the prospects of second income and the self-fulfilment in terms of actualizing one’s own dreams and ideals. The data analysed are extracted from the Amway Global Entrepreneurship Reports (AGER) 2016 and cover eight CEE countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia (Table 1). The number of female respondents who participated in the survey varies from 501 respondents in Slovenia up to 597 in Poland. The structure of sample female population by working status is shown in Table 1. Almost half of the sample population is full-time employed (average 47%), while female part-time employees and self-employed women represent about 4% each in our sample population.

Table 1

Working status of sample females

No. Country No. of female respondents Self-employed Full-time employed Part-time employed No. % No. % No. % 1 Bulgaria 509 35 7 263 52 9 2 2 Croatia 535 9 2 251 47 21 4 3 The Czech Republic 502 23 5 260 52 23 5 4 Hungary 529 16 3 277 52 28 5 5 Lithuania 520 51 10 261 50 54 10 6 Poland 597 21 4 256 43 25 4 7 Romania 536 8 1 234 44 16 3 8 Slovenia 501 14 3 202 40 14 3

Working status of sample females

14In the paper the role as female hybrid entrepreneur is attributed to women engaged in either part-time employment or full-time employment as main job who perceive themselves as taking on a self-employment activity as a second job. We assume the following: (1) The propensity for hybrid entrepreneurship is higher among women engaging in part-time employment as main job than those engaging in full-time employment; (2) Perception about entrepreneurship and self-employment varies significantly between working females and self-employed females in the countries studied; and (3) There are countries in our sample which share similar characteristics in terms of working women’s perception about entrepreneurship and self-employment motivations and there are also differences which stand out as really significant.

Entrepreneurial potential

15A comparison of the entrepreneurial potential of women among the eight countries, according to the working status of the female respondents, shows that the perceived interest in self-employment is much higher for self-employed than wage employed females (except Poland), the differences being larger for countries like Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, or Slovenia and smaller in Poland, Romania and Lithuania (Table 2). Also, in Poland and Romania the entrepreneurial potential for self-employed women seem to be much lower than in the other countries (below the half, 38%), whilst in only one country from our sample (Poland), the interest in self-employment, and, potentially, in hybrid entrepreneurship, seems to be stronger among wage employees than for self-employed women. Looking at the female workers, there is a good potential for (hybrid) entrepreneurship among part-time female employees in Lithuania (63%) and Hungary (54%) as well as among full-time employed women in Poland (50%). The perceived interest in self-employment among female wage employees (full-time) is scored very low in Romania (23%) and Bulgaria (28%), as women in those countries may feel more secure (due to family obligations) to remain in their comfort zone.

Table 2

Entrepreneurial potential for sample females

No. Country Self-employed Full-time employed Part-time employed No. % No. % No. % 1 Bulgaria 24 69 74 28 2 22 2 Croatia 7 78 102 41 10 48 3 The Czech Republic 22 96 86 33 6 26 4 Hungary 16 100 97 35 15 54 5 Lithuania 39 76 129 49 34 63 6 Poland 8 38 128 50 11 44 7 Romania 3 38 54 23 6 38 8 Slovenia 11 79 74 37 4 29

Entrepreneurial potential for sample females

Self-employment desirability

16When comparing the desirability of women for self-employment among the eight countries, by working status, this attains high scores for self-employed category in most of the sample countries (Table 3), a lower score being displayed in Romania (50%). There is a relatively high desirability for self-employment, and, potentially, for hybrid entrepreneurship, among full-time female employees in the Czech Republic (59%) as well as among the part-time employed women in Lithuania (76%), the Czech Republic (60%), Croatia (57%), Slovenia (57%) and Romania (56%). In Lithuania, the working status seems to not influence the desire of starting a business as a new career opportunity, while in Romania the differences are quite small. A less favourable perception about self-employment as a desirable career opportunity is displayed by part-time female employees in Bulgaria (11%). This attitude might exist as many generations of women had only a few role models and less career experience and expectation of starting a business.

Table 3

Desirability for self-employment among sample females

No. Country Self-employed Full-time employed Part-time employed No. % No. % No. % 1 Bulgaria 26 74 114 43 1 11 2 Croatia 8 89 80 32 12 57 3 The Czech Republic 22 96 156 60 13 57 4 Hungary 12 75 96 35 13 46 5 Lithuania 39 76 198 76 41 76 6 Poland 14 67 86 34 7 28 7 Romania 4 50 92 39 9 56 8 Slovenia 13 93 127 63 8 57

Desirability for self-employment among sample females

Self-employment feasibility

17A similar comparison of the perceived feasibility of self-employment among women in the eight CEE countries, according to the working status of the female respondents, shows that Romania is the country where females seem to be perceived as being the least prepared in terms of the necessary skills and resources for starting a business. Only 38% (relative to the sample countries average of 82%) of the Romanian female entrepreneurs feel prepare to start a new business and only 23% of the full-time female employees do that (Table 4). Perceived feasibility of self-employment, and, potentially, of hybrid entrepreneurship, is relatively high among full-time employed women in Slovenia (58%) and Croatia (53%) and among part-time female employees in Croatia (57%), Slovenia (57%) and Lithuania (50%). Bulgaria records again the lowest score for perceived feasibility of self-employment among part-time employed women (11%).

Table 4

Feasibility of self-employment among sample females

No. Country Self-employed Full-time employed Part-time employed No. % No. % No. % 1 Bulgaria 24 69 81 31 1 11 2 Croatia 8 89 132 53 12 57 3 The Czech Republic 23 100 104 40 8 35 4 Hungary 14 88 74 27 8 29 5 Lithuania 39 76 97 37 27 50 6 Poland 17 81 118 46 5 20 7 Romania 3 38 54 23 4 25 8 Slovenia 10 71 118 58 8 57

Feasibility of self-employment among sample females

Comfort with recruiting customers

18When looking at the perceived comfort with actively searching for and acquiring customers as self-employed person, the comparison among the eight countries by working status shows that female wage employees feel much less comfortable with recruiting customers in Bulgaria (on average 13%) and less comfortable in Hungary (on average 25%) than in all the other respondent countries (Table 5). Many people feel uncomfortable when engaging in searching and acquiring customers as such activities do not have prestige among the business activities. The optimism towards customer recruitment is quite high among full-time employed women in Lithuania (78%), Croatia (63%), Slovenia (62%) and Poland (60%), as well as amongst part-time female employees in Croatia (78%), Lithuania (74%), Slovenia (64%) and Poland (56%).

Table 5

Comfort with recruiting customers among sample females

No. Country Self-employed Full-time employed Part-time employed No. % No. % No. % 1 Bulgaria 20 57 9 3 2 22 2 Croatia 7 78 159 63 16 76 3 The Czech Republic 19 83 131 50 10 43 4 Hungary 11 69 72 26 7 25 5 Lithuania 42 82 203 78 40 74 6 Poland 15 71 153 60 14 56 7 Romania 5 63 109 47 8 50 8 Slovenia 11 79 125 62 9 64

Comfort with recruiting customers among sample females

Motivations for self-employment

20A comparison of the motivations for self-employment amongst full-time female employees in the CEE countries shows that the prospects of second income seem to be the most salient motivation for entrepreneurship in Lithuania (60%) and Croatia (52%), whilst self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas is the strongest motivator in countries like Croatia (53%), Slovenia (53%) and Lithuania (51%) (Table 7). The prospects of second income are also the main motivation for self-employment in Romania (44%), Hungary (37%) and Bulgaria (35%), whilst self-fulfilment is also a strong motivation for self-employment in the Czech Republic (38%) and Poland (37%).

Table 7

Entrepreneurship motivations for full-time vs. part-time employed females

No. Country Full-time employed Part-time employed Self-fulfilment, possibility to realize own ideas Second income prospects Self-fulfilment, possibility to realize own ideas Second income prospects No. % No. % No. % No. % 1 Bulgaria 72 27 93 35 4 44 1 11 2 Croatia 132 53 130 52 8 38 9 43 3 The Czech Republic 100 38 72 28 9 39 6 26 4 Hungary 89 32 103 37 14 50 9 32 5 Lithuania 133 51 156 60 21 39 20 37 6 Poland 95 37 89 35 10 40 7 28 7 Romania 72 31 102 44 5 31 7 44 8 Slovenia 107 53 88 44 10 71 6 43

Entrepreneurship motivations for full-time vs. part-time employed females

21Similarly, a comparison of the motivations for self-employment amongst part-time female employees in the CEE countries shows that self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas is a salient motivation in Slovenia (71%) and Hungary (50%) (Table 7). Also, second income prospects are the main motivation for self-employment in Romania (44%) and Croatia (43%), whilst self-fulfilment is also a dominant motivation for entrepreneurship in Bulgaria (44%), Poland (40%), the Czech Republic (39%) and Lithuania (39%).

22As such the prospects of second income seem to represent a salient motivation for hybrid entrepreneurship among full-time female employees in Lithuania (60%) and Croatia (52%), as well as among part-time female employees in Romania (44%), Croatia (43%) and Slovenia (43%) (Table 7). Also, self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas seems to be a salient motivation for hybrid entrepreneurship among full-time employed women in Croatia (53%), Slovenia (53%) and Lithuania (51%), as well as among part-time female employees in Slovenia (71%) and Hungary (50%) (Table 8).

Table 8

Second income prospects and self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas as motivations for self-employment

No. Country Second income prospects Self-fulfilment, possibility to realize own ideas Self- employed % Full-time employed % Part-time employed % Self- employed % Full-time employed % Part-time employed % 1 Bulgaria 34 35 11 31 27 44 2 Croatia 11 52 43 78 53 38 3 The Czech Republic 22 28 26 57 38 39 4 Hungary 19 37 32 56 32 50 5 Lithuania 55 60 37 39 51 39 6 Poland 48 35 28 48 37 40 7 Romania 25 44 44 25 31 31 8 Slovenia 29 44 43 71 53 71 Average 30 42 33 51 40 44

Second income prospects and self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas as motivations for self-employment

23The prospects of second income will also motivate self-employed females in Lithuania (55%) and Poland (48%) to start a new business, whilst self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas is a main motivator for starting a new business for self-employed females in Croatia (78%), Slovenia (71%), the Czech Republic (57%) and Hungary (56%).

24On average, in all the eight CEE countries studied self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas seems to be the most apparent reason for self-employment among women engaged in part-time employment (44% vs. 40% in full-time employment), whilst second income prospects represent the dominant motive among women engaged in full-time employment (42% vs. 33% in part-time employment). Countries like Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia share similar characteristics in what regards prevalence of self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas amongst part-time employed women, whilst in all the eight CEE countries studied second income prospects seem to represent the dominant motive for self-employment among women engaged in full-time employment.

Thinking about future actions

25The hybrid form of entrepreneurship is very common in practice. Many entrepreneurs are hybrids, meaning that they run a business along with taking up a wage employment.

26To increase the understanding of female hybrid entrepreneurship it is essential to inquire about the entrepreneurial potential of women, and the desirability and feasibility of engaging women in hybrid entrepreneurship. Also, understanding the motivations that drive female wage employees to get out of their comfort zone is another key issue. This article is meant to foster and popularize the hybrid entrepreneurship career model amongst females in eight countries from Central and Eastern Europe.

27The results of the study indicate that there are countries (e.g. Lithuania, Hungary and Poland) where the perceived interest in self-employment among wage employed women, and, therefore, their potential interest in hybrid entrepreneurship, is high and remained underexploited. Specific programs should be designed to unleash this unused potential. Policy makers should take responsibility for deconstructing social and cultural barriers to women through policy initiatives, as well as promoting women’s entrepreneurial training and capital formation from early ages. Also, taking into consideration the high need for self-fulfilment through (hybrid) entrepreneurship (for example, in countries like Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Hungary), the policy makers should initiate more effective entrepreneurship programs directed towards both female entrepreneurs and hybrids.

28More can also be done in countries where the perceived desire to start a business as a career opportunity is high (e.g. Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania), as well as in countries where women feel optimistic about recruiting customers (e.g. Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia and Poland). As women might seem not mastering the skills necessary to recruit customers or to run the business, more have to be done on developing self-confidence of the women population in those countries and improving their training to become, possibly, hybrid entrepreneurs.

29In every situation from the above, the role of women business mentors could play a key role in nurturing future generations of female entrepreneurs. The experience and best practice scenarios, which experienced business women could share with interested audiences, would be the most direct approach to coaching and inspiring aspiring female (hybrid) entrepreneurs. The other positive aspect of this initiative would be the value added brought to the entire economic environment, as seasoned women entrepreneurs could become business angels and foster the growth of new business initiatives.

30The results of our study showed that propensity for entrepreneurship in the eight CEE countries studied was slightly higher for part-time employed women in comparison with full-time employed females. A high potential for entrepreneurship, a strong desire and feasibility of self-employment are characteristics shared by part-time employed women in countries like Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania and Romania, and by full-time employed women in Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia. What makes the difference in those groups is the level of comfort with identifying and recruiting customers, which should be given a specific consideration. Also, the results of the study showed that in all the eight CEE countries studied self-fulfilment and possibility to realize own ideas was the most apparent reason for self-employment among women engaged in part-time employment, whilst second income prospects represented the dominant motive among women engaged in full-time employment.

31These results should impact future policies and programs which are designed for longer time intervals to stimulate both hybrids and self-employment activities in the CEE countries studied. For example, in order to build an entrepreneurial mind-set for future generations of women, government policies and programs need to encourage this approach from early stages of education, up until the more advanced academic modules. Thus, more can be done to nurture the entrepreneurial potential in countries with low interest in self-employment (e.g. Romania and Bulgaria), where females also seem to be less prepared in terms of the necessary skills and resources for starting a business, desirability of a more rewarding job is high as well as the level of comfort with recruiting customers is low (e.g., Bulgaria and Hungary).

32The present study gives policy makers, academics and businesses important new information on hybrid entrepreneurship. It finds support for understanding the propensity of female hybrid entrepreneurs for combining their conventional wage work with entrepreneurship.

33The results of our study also raise the imperative necessity of developing public policies through a more elaborated and integrated process of academic research and public consultations. Given the fact that the field of human capital development and employment is highly dynamic, national government policies need to periodically adapt to the realities of the both local and global labour market.