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Supporting women business owners: the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center: an evaluation study

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Supporting women business owners: the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center: an evaluation study

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Content Running head: SUPPORTING WOMEN BUSINESS OWNERS i

Supporting Women Business Owners: The Inland Empire Women’s Business Center: An
Evaluation Study

by

Colleen E. Meyer

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2018

Copyright 2018 Colleen E. Meyer

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS ii

Dedication
To my family who supported me through this journey. To my husband John who
supported and encouraged me throughout this process, there were many times I had asked myself
why I was doing this and you were there to encourage me. You have always been my support
and the “wind beneath my wings.” When I wanted to watch TV or just read for pleasure, you
turned on the teacher mode and got me behind my computer working on my school work. It
drove me crazy, but I am glad you did it. And yes, you still have to call me Dr. Wife.
To my daughters, Michelle and Kristin, thank you for supporting me and understanding
when I could not do something because I had to work on my school assignments. To Michelle, I
appreciate your understanding when school came before family time. That is over now. To
Kristin, thank you for supporting me even when you were completing your own degree program.
I enjoyed moving through an educational journey at the same time you were; it felt like we were
kindred spirits. Finally, thank you to my grandchildren, Mason and Madison; you were both
good sports when I was not able to come pick you up for the weekend because I was busy with
school. That will now change. Thank you, Madison for coming to USC with me to study, Coco
appreciated it. I love you all.
Thank you to my USC cohort! You were the best group of students I have had the
pleasure of attending school with. Each of you was supportive and encouraging throughout each
class and assignment. I am in awe of your selflessness in support of one another. It made the
journey so much easier. I hope we all stay in touch via Facebook or any other avenue of
communication. Good luck in the future and with your professional and personal goals.
#nodoctorsdown. Go Trojans!
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS iii

Thank you to my friends whose encouragement has made a positive impact on my life.
You were there when I needed a sounding board and reassurance to continue on this journey. I
want to say a special thank you to Laura Guerrero. Your support for me was unfailing and your
kindness did not go unnoticed. You understood when I needed time off, even when you needed
me at work. Thank you!
Finally, thank you to my mom and brothers and sister who helped me to maintain the
momentum during this journey. Mom, thank you for being proud of me, as usual. I find your
bragging very cute, and I have no doubt it will continue. Tina, you were my sounding board and
are my best friend, as well as my sister. You listened to me daily, and your advice was always
spot on. To Vince and Frank, you are the best brothers a girl can ever want. Thank you for
believing in me and being there as a positive influence in my life. Love you!

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS iv

Acknowledgements
Thank you, Dr. Datta! I know I must have driven you crazy these past three years. You
helped me grow as a writer and as a researcher. I always thought I was a good writer, but you
showed me that I still had a lot to learn and you supported me through the growth and process I
needed to be successful in this program. I will always be grateful to you. Thank you for giving
me sound direction and advice when I needed to locate a new organization for my dissertation: it
was much appreciated.
To my dissertation committee, Dr. Lawrence Picus and Dr. Kathy Hanson, thank you for
believing in my dissertation subject, the IEWBC. Your insight during my journey was
motivating and encouraging, and you provided me with great advice and direction. I know how
busy each of you are: I cannot say thank you enough for taking the time to share your wisdom
and experience with me.
This dissertation would not have been possible without the executive director, staff
members, and volunteers at the IEWBC. You allowed me to study the organization when I
needed it the most. Your openness to provide the information I needed and to be transparent was
greatly appreciated. Allowing me to come and conduct an evaluation study shows how
dedicated you are to being the best organization in support of women business owners.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS v

Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iv
List of Tables vii
List of Figures viii
Abstract ix
Chapter One: Introduction 1
Introduction of the Problem of Practice 1
Organizational Context and Mission 2
Organizational Goal 3
Related Literature 3
Importance of the Study 4
Description of Stakeholder Groups 5
Stakeholder Performance Goals 5
Stakeholder Group 7
Purpose of the Project and Questions 7
Conceptual and Methodological Framework 8
Definition of Term 8
Organization of the Dissertation 9
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature 10
Women Business Owners and Entrepreneurship 10
Reasons Why Women Start Their Own Businesses 11
Barriers to Success 13
Future Research on Women Entrepreneurs 17
Gap Analysis Model 18
Knowledge and Motivation Literature 19
Organization Assessment 28
Conclusion 31
Chapter Three: Methodology 33
Purpose of the Project and Questions 33
Conceptual Framework with Narrative 34
Methodological Approach 37
Summary of Assumed Causes/Assets/Needs Assignment 38
Participating Stakeholders 43
Data Collection and Instrumentation 43
Document Analysis Plan 45
Reliability and Validity 46
Credibility and Trustworthiness 47
Role of the Researcher 48
Ethics 48
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS vi

Limitations and Delimitations 50
Summary 51
Chapter Four: Results and Finding 52
Overview of Purpose and Questions 52
Participating Stakeholders 52
Results 54
Findings 55
Summary 81
Chapter Five: Discussion and Recommendations 83
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences 83
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan 96
Summary 108
Limitations and Delimitations 109
Future Research 111
Conclusion 112
References 114
Appendices
Appendix A: Focus Group Interview Questions 126
Appendix B: Informed Consent Form Focus Group Interview 128
Appendix C: Assessment and Grading Initial Training Workshop Evaluation 131
Appendix D: Assessment and Training Program Evaluation 133

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS vii

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Stakeholder Goals 6
Table 2. Knowledge Influences on Stakeholder Goal 23
Table 3. Motivational Influences on Stakeholder Goal 27
Table 4. Organizational Influences on Stakeholder Goal 31
Table 5. Assumed Influences on Performance of the IEWBC 39
Table 6. Assumed Knowledge Influences and Proposed Assessments 41
Table 7. Assumed Motivational Influences and Proposed Assessments 42
Table 8. Assumed Organizational Influences 42
Table 9. Focus Group Participant Information 54
Table 10. Who the IEWBC reports to and how often 68
Table 11. Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations 84
Table 12. Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations 89
Table 13. Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations 92
Table 14. Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes 97
Table 15. Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation 98
Table 16. Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors 100
Table 17. Components of Learning for the Program 103
Table 18. Components to Measure Reactions to the Program. 104
Table 19. IEWBC Observation Worksheet 107

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS viii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Conceptual framework 36
Figure 2. Gap analysis process 37
Figure 3. Percentages of volunteers and staff members participating in the focus group 53
Figure 4. Sexes of the volunteers and staff members participating in the focus group 53
Figure 5. Where the IEWBC gets its funding 67
Figure 6. How the IEWBC spends funds 67

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS ix

Abstract
This study employed a qualitative research approach to evaluate how the Inland Empire
Women’s Business Center (IEWBC) is performing in regard to its goal of helping 353 women
business owners to become successful by the end of 2018. The researcher assessed the
organization, including staff members and volunteers, on its interactions with women business
owners in the form of training, workshops, and counseling sessions. Staff members and
volunteers representing all three of IEWBC locations participated in a focus group regarding
their dealings with women business owners and the general operations of the center. The
researcher used Clark and Estes’s Gap Analysis Framework to assess the knowledge,
motivational, and organizational influences of staff members and volunteers in training,
workshops, counseling, and the operations of the center. The findings of this assessment
revealed that the staff members and volunteers possessed the skills and knowledge to understand
what women business owners needed to be successful, and they knew how to deliver the
information. The responses from the staff members and volunteers indicated that they had the
motivation to help women business owners to achieve their professional goals, and they
dedicated time to assist women to overcome any obstacles they faced. Even with the knowledge
and motivation of the staff members and volunteers, the IEWBC faced organizational barriers to
reaching and supporting a larger audience of women business owners. Those barriers included
lack of funds to market the center, lack of training and development of staff members and
volunteers, especially during the onboarding process, and finding and hiring quality staff
members and volunteers. The findings of this study emphasized the need for training and
development of staff members and volunteers, utilizing developmental action plans with follow-
up, and finding new and innovative ways to market to the center. The development and
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS x

implementation of an effective plan to address these organizational issues could allow the
IEWBC to expand its ability to provide a larger variety of programs to women business owners
and to increase the success and funding of the organization.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 1

Chapter One: Introduction
Introduction of the Problem of Practice
Over the decades, women’s entrepreneurship has doubled and even tripled in countries
including the United States (McManus, 2001). But even with this growth of women business
owners, women still fall below their male counterparts in both revenue and growth. One
explanation for this division and low growth rate is that women tend have a lower risk tolerance
and a higher fear of failure than male business owners (Langowitz & Minniti, 2007).
Entrepreneurship is important for economic growth, both nationally and in local communities;
therefore, it is important to understand what factors mobilize or prevent women from starting
new or maintaining their own businesses. Failure to understand these factors may result in the
underutilization of women’s talents and skills and a failure to support the success of women
business owners in the future (Langowitz & Minniti, 2007).
The reasons why women business owners tend to have a lower tolerance for risk and
higher fear of failure may include a lack of self-efficacy and self-confidence. This doubt that
women have the ability to become future self-employed business owners tends to start when
women are teenagers (Kickul, Marlino, & Wilson, 2004). Women are more likely to determine
their career choices based on a lack of confidence in their own ability to be successful (Bandura,
1992). Social cognitive theory states that self-efficacy provides the foundation for human
motivation, well-being, and personal accomplishment (Bandura, 1986). Therefore, if women do
not believe their actions can produce the success they desire, there may be little incentive to act
or to persevere in the face of difficulties.
Women business owners are essential to the success of the economy of the United States,
and they do, in fact, have an impact on the lives of their family, their employees, and their
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 2

customers. This study defines women business owners as owners of for-profit businesses,
regardless of size, physically located in the United States with 51% or more ownership by a
woman. While women business owners face many challenges that male-owned business do not,
there are many organizations and programs available to help women to become successful, if
they utilize them consistently. One of those programs is the Inland Empire Women’s Business
Center (IEWBC), located in Southern California. Therefore, this study evaluated the challenges
that prevent women business from becoming successful entrepreneurs, whether those challenges
are social (external) or personal (internal), and how successful the IEWBC is in offering support
and training to give women the tools to be successful entrepreneurs.
Organizational Context and Mission
In 2003, the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship (IECE) at California State
University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), in collaboration with the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA) launched the IEWBC to meet the needs of women business owners in the
Inland Empire region. According to Business News Daily, the Inland Empire is not as affluent as
other parts of the state, and it relies more on blue-collar, industrial jobs than on startups,
providing a disadvantage for entrepreneurs, including women (Business News Daily, 2016).
Whether a business is a start-up or is established, the IEWBC helps women through a variety of
interactive workshops that range from introductory to advanced subjects. The IEWBC also
offers counselling, and it has a wide range of resources available to women business owners.
The IEWBC’s organizational goal is to counsel, teach, encourage, and inspire women business
owners at every stage of developing and expanding their businesses. This organizational goal
benefits the local economy by assisting existing and aspiring women business owners to start and
grow successful businesses. The IEWBC also provides targeted services to Hispanic women
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 3

business owners by providing services in Spanish, as well as in English. This study evaluated
how well the IEWBC programs are assisting women business owners to become successful and
to overcome the challenges they face, and in achieving this, in short, how well the IEWBC is
accomplishing its own organizational mission.
Organizational Goal
The IEWBC’s organizational goal is to counsel, teach, encourage, and inspire women
business owners at every stage of developing and expanding their businesses. It does this
through counseling and providing education, like the “It’s Your Time” program sponsored by
Citibank, which can help women business owners to overcome personal or external challenges,
and it can provide resources and business tools through education, counseling, and
encouragement. These opportunities for growth can support the mission of the organization and
meet its objective to give women business owners the strategies they need to succeed. Most
importantly, the IEWBC strives to inspire women to move forward and to face any challenges
that may arise by focusing on providing services that develop long-term partnerships with the
women in its program.
Related Literature
According to a 2012 narrative report by the National Women’s Business Council, women
business owners have been launching new enterprises at a greater rate than men. According to
Bloomberg (2013), eight out of 10 entrepreneurs, both men and women, fail within the first 18
months. Women-owned businesses are, in fact, making an impact on the U.S. economy, and the
gap has narrowed, with data suggesting that women have outpaced men in the frequency of
starting new businesses (Minniti & Naudé, 2010). Despite this progress, on average, women-
owned businesses are smaller than businesses owned by men. Past qualitative research found
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 4

that business growth fluctuates depending on how business owners see themselves, their
families, their business endeavors, and the larger community in general (Coombes, Miyasaki,
Morris, & Watters, 2006). The results of both stages suggest that growth is a deliberate choice
and that women business owners understand the costs and benefits of growth and make careful
trade-off decisions.
In 2007, the average revenues of women-owned businesses were 27% of the average of
men-owned businesses (National Women’s Business Council, 2012). By 2012, there were eight
million majority women-owned businesses that had an economic impact of $3 trillion, which
translates into 23 million jobs, 16% of all U.S. jobs (National Women’s Business Council, n.d.).
According to American Express (2016), as of 2016, there were 11,313,900 women-owned
businesses in the United States, employing 8,976,100 people and generating $1,622,763,800,000
in revenues. Because most start-ups are new businesses, all jobs added to the community are a
net increase; consequently, there is a need to prevent these businesses from failing (L. Mitchell,
2011). Therefore, it is important that many of these start-ups continue to grow and become
successful (L. Mitchell, 2011), which is what the IEWBC strives to support.
Importance of the Study
The importance of this study is that it evaluated and promoted understanding of how the
IEWBC supports women business owners, how many of the women business owners are
successful, and whether the IEWBC provides a high quality of services. These services include
education, business advice, and counseling. The researcher evaluated the local and universal
effectiveness of the IEWBC on its mission and organizational goals. This evaluation of the
organization’s performance will enable stakeholders to gather informative data that they can use
to assess the organization’s decision-making processes that positively influence women business
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 5

owners. Successful businesswomen have recognized the need to share their expertise,
knowledge, and money with young business owners through the growth of women business
centers that offer workshops and mentoring programs (Babson College Center for
Entrepreneurship, 2008).
Description of Stakeholder Groups
The IEWBC stakeholders include the staff members and volunteers at all three locations
that support women business owners every day. They are the first contacts and the faces of the
IEWBC to the clients they serve. The goal of the staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC is
to support 353 women-owned start-up and established businesses. The IEWBC staff members
and volunteers set up training classes and counseling, and they give business advice to help
women to overcome the challenges of being entrepreneurs. Each center consists of three full-
time employees and an average of 10 volunteer instructors. The staff at the center is women;
however, the volunteer instructors are both men and women who specialize in the topics they
teach. The professional volunteers give training workshops and classes, as well as their time and
business knowledge. Volunteers provide many of the training classes and educational series to
the centers’ clients. Another stakeholder is the IECE, located in the College of Business and
Public Administration at CSUSB. The IECE oversees the use of IEWBC funds for the benefit of
women business owners. The IECE also ensures compliance by ensuring that spending of center
funds is within federal guidelines. The final stakeholder is Citibank. Citibank has partnered
with the IEWBC to help to create the “It’s Your Time” training program, and it provides
financial sponsorship/support.
Stakeholder Performance Goals
Table 1 outlines the performance goals for stakeholders.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 6

Table 1
Stakeholder Goals
Organizational Mission
To look at past performance and community needs to determine projected milestones and economic
impacts. These milestones focus on helping women to start and grow businesses by providing services
that develop long-term relationships.
Organizational Goal
The IEWBC counsels, teaches, encourages, and inspires women business owners at every stage of
developing and expanding their businesses.
Stakeholder Goal
By the end of 2018, the IEWBC will support 353 women-owned start-up and established businesses.
Stakeholder 1
Paid staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC.
Stakeholder 2
IECE.
Stakeholder 3
Citibank.
Stakeholder 1 Proficiencies/Competencies
 Oversees budget, accuracy in data and
milestone reporting, and fulfillment of quarterly
reporting requirements.
 Offers over 200 hours of workshops annually.
 Provides free and confidential, customized
counseling.
 Holds one mentoring event a quarter (4 times a
year).
 Partners with local organizations/outreach
locations to reach individuals in a two-county
region more effectively.
 Manages the operations of the City of San
Bernardino business incubator.
 Specializes in a variety of business disciplines.
 Understands a variety of business models and
how they can apply to different business types.
Stakeholder 2
Proficiencies/
Competencies
 Oversees financial and
programming reporting.
 Monitors the local
match fund
development and long-
term fundraising.
 Provides
entrepreneurship
education to students
and the community
through outreach
programs.
Stakeholder 3
Proficiencies/
Competencies
 Provides financial
sponsoring for the
“It’s Your Time”
program.
 Works in partnership
with the IEWBC in
creating and tracking
results for the “It’s
Your Time” training
program.
Stakeholder 1 (Intermediate)
Goal
By the end of 2018, the IEWBC will support 353
women-owned start-up and established
businesses.
Stakeholder 2
(Intermediate) Goal
To ensure the IEWBC
achieves its yearly goals
and builds and maintains
community relations and
resources throughout
fiscal year 2017-2018.
Stakeholder 3
(Intermediate) Goal
Citibank wants 100% of
the women who went
through the “It’s Your
Time” Program to open
business accounts at
Citibank by the end of
2017-2018.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 7

Stakeholder Group
To support women business owners and to conduct community outreach, all stakeholders
involved with the IEWBC must work together to achieve the organizational mission and goal.
However, the researcher selected the staff members as the stakeholder group in this study for
their personal and professional interest in assisting women-owned businesses to succeed and for
their commitment to the organization’s mission statement. The stakeholder’s goal, supported by
the project director, seeks to help 353 start-ups, plus assisting any established women-owned
businesses that may need additional support. These start-ups will enable the staff to support the
IEWBC in achieving its 2017-2018 organizational goal of having a yearly economic impact of
$16,700,000. Failure to accomplish this organizational goal could lead to a loss of funding and
support from the IECE and the SBA, which may adversely impact the organization’s ability to
provide support and education to women business owners.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to evaluate the degree to which the IEWBC is meeting its
objective to assist 353 women business owners to have an economic impact of $16,700,000 in
2017-2018. The analysis focused on knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
relating to achieving the organizational goals. While a complete performance evaluation focused
on all stakeholders, for practical purposes the stakeholder focus in this analysis was the staff
members and volunteers at the IEWBC. As such, the questions that guided this study were the
following:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences relating to
achieving the stakeholder goal of supporting 353 women-owned start-up and
established businesses by the end of 2018?
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 8

2. How do the IEWBC staff members and volunteers use their knowledge and
motivational expertise to provide women business owners the skills and tools to run
successful businesses?
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
In their book, Turning Research into Results, Clark and Estes (2002) addressed the issues
of organizational change, and what entrepreneurs need to be successful. They developed a
system that looks at three critical factors that business owners must examine in an organization’s
analysis process. Those three factors are employee knowledge and skills, their motivation to
achieve goals, and organizational barriers (Clark & Estes, 2002). These knowledge, motivation,
and organizational (KMO) influences represent the categories of assumed causes that impact
organizational performance. Chapter 2 provides a more detailed description of Clark and Estes’s
KMO model. There is a discussion of each of these elements of the Clark and Estes (2002) gap
analysis framework below in the terms of the IEWBC staff members and volunteers’ knowledge,
motivation, and organizational needs to meet their performance goal to provide assistance to
women business owners.
Definition of Term
Women Business Owner: A woman who has 51% or more ownership, control, and
management of a business, regardless of size, physically located in the United States. These
businesses may include sole proprietorships (unincorporated businesses owned and operated by
one individual), limited liability corporations, also known as LLCs (a corporate structure where
the owners of the company are not personally liable for the company’s debts or liabilities),
partnerships (an arrangement in which two or more individuals share the profits and liabilities of
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 9

a business), non-profits (tax-except organizations that pursue common non-profit goals), or
corporations (legal entities that are separate and distinct from their owners).
Organization of the Dissertation
This dissertation has five chapters. This chapter has provided the reader with the key
concepts and terminology commonly found in a discussion about women business owners and
how the IEWBC strives to help them to become successful. It has defined the organization’s
mission, goals, and stakeholders and provided a review of the evaluation framework. Chapter 2
provides a review of current literature surrounding the scope of the study. It addresses topics of
opportunities, challenges, discrimination and family-work balance. Chapter 3 details the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences the researcher examined, as well as the
methodology concerning the choice of participants, data collection, and analysis. Chapter 4
describes the data and results and their analysis. Chapter 5 provides recommendation for
practice, based on the data and the literature, as well as recommendations for an implementation
and evaluation plan to help women-owned businesses to become successful.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 10

Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
This literature review examines the reasons why some woman’s business owners are not
successful, and it evaluates how the IEWBS uses its knowledge, motivation, and organizational
characteristics to help women to achieve their professional goals. The review begins with
general research that has shown that businesses owned by women underperform male-owned
businesses in important business metrics including revenue, profit, growth, and discontinuance
rates (du Rietz & Henrekson, 2000). There is an overview of the literature on the performance of
many women business owners and their ability to become successful entrepreneurs. The review
presents an in-depth discussion of how women business owners can become more successful and
how an organization like the IEWBC can help women business owners to foster growth,
profitability, and success. This chapter includes recent research on the current health of women-
run businesses in the United States and their current developmental practices. Following the
general research literature, the review turns to Clark and Estes’s gap analytic conceptual
framework and, specifically, the knowledge, skills, motivation, and organizational influences the
IEWBC offers women business owners.
Women Business Owners and Entrepreneurship
This segment explores the social and economic issues facing women in the workforce
today and how these social and economic issues have persuaded many women to become
entrepreneurs. This information shows that discrimination is still an issue facing women in
business and that discrimination comes in the form of racial and sexual discrimination in regard
to promotions, contractual opportunities, and wages. Another factor that plays a role in the
success of women business owners is family life. The goal of women business owners is to
support their families better and to achieve professional and financial success. Self-efficacy
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 11

plays an important role in business success (Anna, Chandler, Jansen, & Mero, 2000), and it
differs by gender, with male business owners typically scoring higher on perceived self-efficacy
than their female counterparts (Kickul et al., 2007). The self-efficacy concept is appropriate for
the study of entrepreneurship, because it is task-specific and it includes an assessment of
confident beliefs an individual has about internal and external constraints and possibilities
(Cardon, Drnovsek, & Wincent, 2010).
Reasons Why Women Start Their Own Businesses
Financial Stability
Financial stability is a motivation for women to own their own businesses. More and
more women are going into business ownership because they believe it can lead to higher levels
of financial success, and following their desires leads to higher job satisfaction. According to the
National Women’s Business Council (n.d.), there are more than eight million women-owned
businesses in the United States alone, generating $3 trillion annually in revenue. These jobs not
only support women business owners, but also contribute to the economic security of their
families, their communities, and the nation. Women now own between one quarter and one third
of the world’s businesses (Delaney, 2014). When it comes to job satisfaction, women business
owners’ satisfaction with business success relates less to fluctuations in business performance
and sales than that of male business owners (Robertson, 2001). Robertson (2001) added that an
examination of entrepreneurial motives and their influences on how small business owners
manage their employees shows that women also undergo influence from their own desires and
experiences, and they hold relationships in great importance.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 12

Innovation
Like any business owners, women entrepreneurs must condition themselves to be
innovative and proactive to achieve the desired, reasonable level of success. Women
entrepreneurs see their businesses as innovative in the sense they are economically worthwhile,
have new and innovative ideas, and create a significant positive change to meet needs of others
(Blake & Hanson, 2005). Innovation is the creation of a new product, service, or process that fits
business or customer needs (de Brentani, 2001). Entrepreneurs can then measure success by
sales, and differences in venture efficacies, career expectations, or perceived support can affect
success (Delaney, 2014). Most women who leave the private sector to start their own businesses
do not see themselves as “born” entrepreneurs, but they learn as they go.
The Role of Family
Having sufficient work experience and being married both significantly increase the rate
at which women, in general, enter self-employment (Taniguchi, 2002). Consequently, women
value entrepreneurship more as a means of retaining autonomy and balancing work and family
demands (Maes, LeRoy, & Sels, 2014), and they are more likely than men to use emotion-
focused strategies to help with family-work conflicts (Matud, 2004). Therefore, women are
more likely to use coping strategies, whether, intentionally or unintentionally, to enhance the
growth of their companies (Jennings & McDougald, 2007). Women who have successful
businesses are more effective at reducing conflict by choosing strategies that match their inner
needs, and they have more access to outside resources, such as obtaining business loans, than
less successful women (Shelton, 2006). Many successful women business owners also use a
role-sharing strategy, which allows them to enjoy the enrichment of both work and family roles,
while reducing the level of inter-role conflict (Shelton, 2006). Women business owners
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 13

generally prefer a more hands-off approach to self-employment through delegation and human
resources, and women who build management and worker teams can handle family issues
without disruption of the business (Shelton, 2006).
In conclusion, women start their own businesses because they are looking for financial
independence and success, which allows more time for family and other relationships. One
motivation for owning and operating a business is the increased autonomy that comes with
individual control of time and schedules. Women also believe they can make a difference by
becoming innovative in products and services, which makes an impact on their local economy
and community. Finally, women business owners want higher job satisfaction and upward
mobility in their workplaces. One form of satisfaction and motivation for owning and operating
a business involves the increased independence that comes with individual control of time and
schedules (Boles, 1996).
Barriers to Success
Sexual Discrimination
There are many barriers to success for women business owners, and women need to
recognize and overcome those barriers. Being a woman creates barriers due to society’s
preconceived ideas of roles based on sex. Women continue to join the ranks of the self-
employed, despite confronting apparently greater discrimination than they face in the labor
market and their continued lower status in both the formal labor and entrepreneurial markets,
possibly due to the obstructive impact of established male-dominated networks (Bernasek &
Weiler, 2001). Increased entrepreneurship by women could be a reaction to continuing
discrimination in the formal labor market (Bernasek & Weiler, 2001). In some cases, for women
business owners to fit in to the role of entrepreneurs, they must portray male leadership
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 14

attributes. These attributes include assertiveness, problem solving, and being task oriented,
which many see as being positive attributes for men, but in women some consider them defiance
of gender roles (Mavin, Patterson, & Turner, 2012).
Women may have come a long way as business owners, but they still face challenges due
to social stereotypes about gender. Additional research is necessary to study women’s
entrepreneurial leadership experiences from a gender standpoint. Identifying the harmful effects
of social gender roles and practice is a productive step towards recognition of a culture that
sustains equality without rejecting diversity (Mavin et al., 2012).
Racial Discrimination
Along with gender, women business owners face additional challenges based on race,
with minority women more disadvantaged than White women (Boyd & Smith-Hunter, 2004).
Studies have shown that there is an inequality and a cycle of invisibility for woman business
owners based on their race (Boyd & Smith-Hunter, 2004). Women of color face diverse issues
that other business owners do not, and they may face these issues to a higher extreme (Boyd &
Smith-Hunter, 2004). These issues include lower levels of human capital, weak network
support, and a lack of access to a steady stream of financial capital (Hovey, 2001; Inman, 2000;
Kessler, 2001). Despite substantial gains in education, earnings, and civil rights, African
Americans have made little progress in the rate of business ownership during the past century
(Fairlie, 2007). For African American women, the rate of transition into self-employment slows
down by 23%. Excluding both work experience and marital status, being African American
slows down the rate of entry into self-employment much as 45%. Excluding both work
experience and marital status for Hispanic women business owners makes the rate of transition
into self-employment negative, but not significant (Taniguchi, 2002).
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 15

Race plays a factor in women starting their own businesses, with women of color being
less likely to own their own business. In addition, Black women are more likely to earn less than
Hispanic or White women business owners.
Government Contracts
Another barrier to success is that women move into businesses that are unappealing to
men; there is a lack of access to capital and lack of access to government contracts (Loscocco &
Robinson, 1991). Women-owned firms represent only 8.3% of federal prime contractors. Some
women business owners cannot enter government contract industries because of their sex;
therefore, to have a better chance at success in a male-dominant industry, a woman business
owner may need a male partner (Brenner, Godwin, & Stevens, 2006). Also, to overcome these
factors, women may need to adhere to the masculine model or standard of behavior to be
successful (Bible & Hill, 2007). An average women business owner receives less than 2.5% of
total federal prime contract dollars annually. Both Congress and the executive branch have long
recognized the important role of federal procurement in facilitating female entrepreneurship
(Sirmons, 2004). The problems include difficulties in acquiring financing and in competing in a
highly competitive industry (Mee, 2012). The government realized the need to create programs
that assist women business owners to obtain government contracts. Some government agencies
have programs that assist with capital or bonding needs, technical assistance, and minority firm
partnering. The main policy goal of these programs is to overcome the continuing effects of past
discrimination by increasing the number of contracts that go to women-owned businesses
(Berner, Bluestein, & Martin, 2007). Officials from the Procurement Executive Council agreed
that a more focused outreach among agencies helps to identify qualified small women owners,
teaching about the procurement process and encouraging women business owners to compete for
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 16

federal contracts. They agreed that government agencies need to be more collaborative in their
outreach efforts (Mee, 2012). In response, Congress gave contracting officials the power to
restrict competition for certain government contracts solely to small businesses owned and
controlled by women (Mee, 2012).
Even though women are less likely to get government contracts, there are steps women
can take to obtain these contracts and to create a more level playing field. Some of those steps
are to build relationships with financial institutions, find mentors, join other women in becoming
advocates at government agencies, and educate themselves on running successful and profitable
businesses.
Funding
Female entrepreneurs have less start-up capital than their male counterparts. Most
women business owners do not take advantage of capital funding. Women-owned firms are less
likely to seek growth than those owned by men, and they are less likely than men to seek
external financing for their businesses to grow (Harrison, Hill, & Leitch, 2006). This
information suggests that women have a higher anticipation of being denied a loan, and this may
explain why they avoid seeking the capital that could allow them to grow their organizations
(Coleman, 2007). Banks and lenders do not discriminate against women, but they prefer giving
funds to larger companies (Coleman, 2000), and businesses owned by women are more likely to
be smaller and concentrated in the retail and services sectors (Harrison et al., 2006). On average,
the proportion of equity and the proportion of bank loans in the businesses of female and male
entrepreneurs are the same (Thurik & Verheul, 2001). Even though women are less likely to
seek capital from a bank than male business owners, there is less discrimination when it comes to
funding. Banks look at business size, rather than the sex of the owner.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 17

In summary, women are facing challenges in owning their own businesses, which include
sexual and racial discrimination, not receiving government contracts, and overcoming the fear of
taking on additional capital from an institutional lender. Three out of these four challenges are
external, with fear being internal or innate. Through the support of other women business
owners, finding mentors, and the help of women’s business centers, women can begin to
overcome both the external and internal obstacles to business success.
Future Research on Women Entrepreneurs
As female business ownership grows and develops, so should the research supporting it.
According to Dr. Helena Ahi (2006), research into women’s entrepreneurship needs a new
direction, since much of the empirical focus tends to be one-sided. Ahi added that there is a lack
of explicit feminist analysis and a neglect of structural, historical, and cultural factors. Most
scholars studying female entrepreneurship appear to accept the mainstream discussion on
methodology as guiding principles of research; however, the use of male-gendered measuring
instruments raises concerns about the measurement of women’s businesses (Ahi, 2006; de Bruin,
Brush, & Welter, 2007; Maes et al., 2014).
Many researchers of female business ownership accept the concept that entrepreneurship
is gendered; however, this is not often a principle that women entrepreneurs themselves draw
upon to understand their individual circumstances (Brush, de Bruin, & Welter, 2006). Moving
forward, an intergraded framework for research into women business owners must reflect the
embeddedness of women’s entrepreneurship in macro, meso, and micro environments, which
may produce new research results that acknowledge the multifarious embeddedness of women
entrepreneurship (de Bruin, Brush, & Welter, 2009). Researchers must revise research on
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 18

women entrepreneurship to fit unbiased and modern ideas, and they need to review the way
research measures women business owners for change.
Gap Analysis Model
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
In their book, Turning Research into Results, Clark and Estes (2002) addressed the issues
of organizational change and what entrepreneurs need to address to be successful. They
developed a system that looks at three critical factors that researchers must examine in an
organizations analysis process. Those three factors are employees’ knowledge and skills, their
motivation to achieve goals, and organizational barriers (Clark & Estes, 2008). Researchers
know these three factors as the KMO. The skills and knowledge identified by Krathwohl (2010)
are (a) factual: looks at discrete, isolated content elements; (b) conceptual: the differences
between approaches to learning and complex, organized forms of knowledge; (c) procedural:
how to do something; and (d) metacognitive: awareness of and knowledge about a person’s own
cognition, including knowledge of self-strengths, weaknesses, and challenges. Motivation is
what gets us going, keeps us going, and helps us to determine how much effort to spend on a
specific task (Clark & Estes, 2002). When a person has positive expectancies for success and an
organization uses models that build self-efficacy, this enhances motivation (Pajares, 2009).
When reviewing organizational influences, having employees with knowledge, skills, and
motivation may not be enough. Missing and/or inadequate processes and materials can prevent
the achievement of an organization’s performance goals (Clark & Estes, 2002). Organizations
use the KMO framework when addressing organizational change and conducting gap analyses.
A gap analysis helps an organization to determine the gap between where it currently is and
where it wants to be regarding performance.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 19

The researcher used each of these elements of Clark and Estes’s (2002) gap analysis to
examine the stakeholder IEWBC’s knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs to meet its
goal of supporting 353 women-owned start-up and established businesses by the end of 2018. A
discussion of the assumed influences on IEWBC’s performance goal in the context of knowledge
and skills follows. Next, there is a review of assumed influences on the attainment of the goal
from the perspective of motivation. Finally, there is an exploration of assumed organizational
influences on achievement of the goal. A further examination of each of these: assumed
stakeholder knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on performance will follow in
Chapter 3.
Knowledge and Motivation Literature
Knowledge and Skills
As knowledge increasingly becomes a key factor for productivity, it has also become a
currency for competitive success. This study focused on knowledge-related influences pertinent
to the achievement of the stakeholder groups to meet their goal of supporting 353 women-owned
start-ups and established businesses by the end of 2018. This goal supports the organization’s
goal, which looks at past performance and community necessary to determine projected
milestones and economic impacts. These milestones focus on helping women to start and grow
businesses by providing services that develop long-term relationships. It is important to
understand the role of knowledge and motivation in problem solving in the success of this or any
organization. Problem solving is one of the most important cognitive activities in people’s
everyday lives, as well as in their professional lives (Jonassen, 2000). Knowledge explains the
how, what, and where of a problem.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 20

Knowledge Influences
This section examines literature on the stakeholder group, the staff members and
volunteers at the IEWBC. To achieve their goal and the global goal of the organization, they
must understand how knowledge affects their ability to teach and educate small business owners
at various levels of development. IEWBC leaders need to know that just because a woman
business owner understands a problem, it does not mean that she can apply a solution. A goal of
the IEWBC is to ensure that its instructors and staff have the knowledge and skills to deliver
essential information to women business owners who are seeking guidance and support to help
their businesses to become successful. Several different knowledge influences can affect this
ability to succeed. A needs assessment, or needs analysis, is the process of determining the
organization’s developmental needs and addressing the question of whether training can meet the
organization’s needs, objectives, and problems (Authur, Bennett, Bell, & Edens, 2003). Once
that information is available, then IEWBC can feel confident in its training of staff members and
volunteers and the successful outcomes for its clients: women small business owners.
There are four main categories of knowledge dimension, namely factual, conceptual,
procedural, and metacognitive (Krathwohl, 2010). Factual knowledge is comprised of discrete,
isolated content elements. The IEWBC leaders and employees need to know how to solve
problems with information. Conceptual knowledge is a complex, organized form of knowledge.
It concerns the interrelationships among elements in a larger organizational structure that allows
the pieces to work together to accomplish a goal. Procedural knowledge concerns how to do
something, including methods of inquiry, qualitative methodology, and the use of skills,
techniques, methods, and algorithms. Last, metacognitive knowledge is awareness of and
knowledge about one’s own cognition and learning skills (Krathwohl, 2010).
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 21

Procedural Knowledge
The staff members at the IEWBC need to understand the factors and indicators of a
conducive learning environment in the workplace. To have a successful learning environment,
the IEWBC staff members need to find ways to educate women business owners in ways that
make the information accessible in long-term memory (LTM) and easy to apply to everyday
operations. To ensure that accurate measurements of the training were taking place, the staff
members observed instructors during training to gauge their understanding of business
knowledge and their ability to support clients. A second evaluation was necessary for post
training evaluation and to determine whether the women business owners had retained and were
applying what they had learned. A post training evaluation can take place immediately after and
up to 6 months after training. These evaluations allow the training staff to see if the training met
Kirkpatrick’s 2nd (understanding) and 3rd (implementing) levels of learning (Kirkpatrick
Partners, 2016). The training was not successful if new business owners did not understand or
apply the information, which would not support the IEWBC goal.
Conceptual Knowledge
The IEWBC trains different business owners from many different backgrounds. To
educate these people, IEWBC needs to have knowledge of the different types of research-based
learning processes. A quality, research-based training program needs to demonstrate the
necessity of rigorously and scientifically training and testing measures that predict business
outcomes (Andreassen, Aksoy, Coolil, & Keningham, 2007). This knowledge will allow
instructors to match an individual’s unique approach to learning, which gives him or her a better
chance of success. Wittrock (1989) explained in his generative theory of learning that people
learn more thoroughly when they are engaged in learning strategies that use the appropriate
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 22

cognitive processes during learning. To track instructor knowledge of different learning
strategies and styles, IEWBC needs to have instructors paraphrase, classify, interpret, and
explain different learning styles and to explain how they apply to the women business owners. If
the instructors understand the ways people learn, they can produce business owners who
understand the concepts and operational procedures of running successful businesses. This
understanding will allow the center to provide a consistent quality of service to women business
owners and to achieve its goal of supporting 353 women-owned start-up and established
businesses by the end of 2018.
Metacognitive Knowledge
To be an effective teacher, one must be an effective learner. The IEWBC staff members
need to self-assess and understand their instructors’ knowledge and how they learn new ways of
teaching. The IEWBC needs to understand how its instructors are staying up to date in their own
particular fields to provide the latest tools necessary to become successful. Putnam and Borko
(2000) explored issues about instructor learning and found that learning experiences outside the
classroom have a meaningful impact on day-to-day teaching. An example of this philosophy
would be that an instructor can improve his or her learning and teaching skills by conducting a
presentation using prior knowledge in staff meetings to see the gaps in his or her areas of
knowledge. Instructors now have an opportunity to engage in guided self-monitoring and self-
assessment, and to model their own metacognitive processes by talking out loud and assessing
their strengths and challenges and by participating in peer collaboration and discussion.
Reflecting on what they know and how they learn will help instructors to become better teachers.
Table 2 looks at knowledge influence, knowledge type, and knowledge assessment.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 23

Table 2
Knowledge Influences on Stakeholder Goal
Organizational Mission
To look at past performance and community need to determine projected milestones and economic
impacts. These milestones focus on helping women to start and grow businesses by providing services
that develop long-term relationships.
Organizational Goal
The IEWBC counsels, teaches, encourages, and inspires women business owners at every stage of
developing and expanding their businesses.
Stakeholder Goal
By the end of 2018, the IEWBC will support 353 women-owned start-up and established businesses.
Knowledge Influence
Knowledge Type (i.e.,
declarative [factual or
conceptual], procedural, or
metacognitive)
Knowledge Influence Assessment
IEWBC staff members need to
find ways to educate employees
so that the information becomes
accessible from LTM and easy
to apply.
Procedural.
To determine how the leaders at the
IEWBC are ensuring that staff members
are retaining what they learn about
policies and procedures.
IEWBC needs to have
knowledge of strategies and
research-based learning
processes.
Conceptual.
To track instructor knowledge of
different learning styles, IEWBC needs
to have instructors paraphrase, classify,
interpret, and explain different learning
styles.
IEWBC staff members need to
self-assess and understand their
instructors’ knowledge and how
they learn new ways of learning
and teaching.
Metacognitive.
Participate in outside classroom
activities such as talking out loud while
giving presentations, engaging in self-
monitoring and self-assessment, and
using peer collaboration and discussion.
Motivation
The literature focuses on motivation-related influences that are pertinent to the
achievement of stakeholder goals. According to a 2015 Gallup poll, 70% of employees are not
engaged at work (Seppala, 2016); therefore, motivation is extremely important to any
organization in achieving its goals, values, and mission. In most cases, what influences people at
work is ability, environment, and motivation. If an employee lacks knowledge of how to do a
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 24

task or the ability to complete it, then the company provides more training. If the issues are
organizational in nature, the company can change its culture. But if the issue is motivation, then
that information needs to come from the employees themselves. Employers must ask employees
continuously what sparks and motivates them at work (Wiley, 1995). The impacts of personal
and professional goals on motivation are effort, duration or persistence, direction of attention,
strategic planning, and reference point. If the staff members at the IEWBC can determine what
motivates women business owners, they will be in a better position to stimulate them to perform
better once they are done with learning (Kovach, 1987).
Goal Orientation Theory
Goal orientation theory is a social-cognitive theory of achievement motivation, and it
examines the reasons why learners engage in academic work (Anderman, 2015). There are also
many existing survey-based measures of goal orientation, such as the Patterns of Adaptive
Learning Survey and the Achievement Goal Questionnaire of Elliot and colleagues, and measure
development by Dweck can be useful to measure employee goal orientation (Anderman, 2015).
There are two approaches for goal orientation theory: mastery goal orientation and performance
goal orientation. With mastery goal orientation, the employee’s goal is to gain competence and
mastery of a goal. In contrast, the performance goal orientation is where an employee wants to
look knowledgeable in front of others (Rueda, 2011).
Goal Orientation Allows an Employee ’s Past to Matter
Goal orientation theory suggests that learners construct knowledge out of their own
experiences, beliefs, and motivation (Anderman, 2015). A factor to look at is the learner’s
intelligence about goal setting and goal orientation in general. If the staff members at the
IEWBC use motivational materials in curriculum and training processes, this may help staff
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 25

members and volunteers to get excited about their own goals and the organizational global goal.
The research methods the IEWBC can use to test goal theory methods include self-report surveys
asking employees about their personal goals and their perceptions of the organization as a whole.
Goal theory is something the staff members at the IEWBC can look at and make observations
about during the training process. To achieve the global goal of the company and the supportive
goal of the center, the staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC need to ensure that their
trainers and employees are goal directed and that they will work to support the organization
through hard work and motivation.
Self-Efficacy Theory
According to Bandura (1986), self-efficacy is people’s own judgements of their
capabilities to organize and execute plans of action to achieve performance goals. Self-efficacy
beliefs are not the same as expectations, which are people’s judgements of the consequences that
their behavior will produce. Self-efficacy beliefs help to foster the outcomes one expects
(Pajares, 2009), and self-efficacy beliefs provide the foundation for human motivation, well-
being, and personal accomplishments. Self-efficacy is also a critical determinant of the self-
regulatory practices in which an individual engages as he or she goes about the important task of
self-correcting actions and cognitions (Pajares, 2009). There are four sources of self-efficacy
beliefs, namely mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological
reactions. Self-efficacy beliefs also influence an individual’s thoughts patterns and emotional
reactions (Pajares, 2009). Self-efficacy is the belief that, with effort and appropriate support, a
goal is achievable (Rueda, 2011).
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 26

Self-Efficacy Drives Motivation and Goals
The staff members and instructors should believe they have the talent and skills to help to
motivate women business owners to be successful and to achieve their personal and professional
goals. To support self-efficacy at IEWBC, feedback on staff member and volunteer performance
must be clear and accurate to facilitate and build positive working relationships, and to show
interest and involvement in the staff members’ work performance (Rueda, 2011). To support
healthy self-efficacy at work, the leadership at the IEWBC should provide verbal praise and
cultivate staff members’ and volunteers’ beliefs in their performance capabilities (Pajares, 2009).
Praise can take place daily thorough observations, monthly at meetings, or at yearly evaluations.
In supporting staff members’ and volunteers’ self-efficacy, the leadership at the IEWBC is
motivating them and encouraging a willingness to drive the organizational goal.
It is important to understand that motivation and knowledge help organizations, such as
the IEWBC, to achieve their goals. Leaders need to ensure that staff members and volunteers
have factual knowledge of a goal and understand the basic elements of, major facts about, and
purposes of the goal, and the terminology relating to the goal. The conceptual knowledge of a
goal encompasses the principals of a goal, the structure of a goal, and the interrelationships
among the organization and the goal it is trying to achieve. Procedural knowledge helps staff
members and volunteers to understand the techniques and skills necessary to accomplish their
personal and professional goals as well as the goals of the company. Finally, metacognitive
knowledge is an extremely important step in closing the gap between where the IEWBC is now
and where it wants to be in relation to its organizational goals. The staff members and volunteers
at the IEWBC need to believe they have the skill, talent, and cognitive ability to achieve the
goals and to inspire others through education and motivation.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 27

Motivation is also necessary in moving toward organizational objectives and goals.
There needs to be an understanding that one cannot teach or learn motivation. Motivation comes
from inside an individual. Motivation is the result of the beliefs and experiences a person has
through his or her lifetime. To educate and motivate people, it is necessary to tap into their
internal beliefs about whom they are, what they can accomplish, and how they view the goals in
front of them. Do they feel the goals are worthwhile? Are they achievable? Do the goals
interest the employee? The IEWBC leadership needs to conduct research in the form of surveys
and observations to have a better understanding of the motivational levels of staff members or
volunteers. Table 3 shows the motivational influences on stakeholder goals.
Table 3
Motivational Influences on Stakeholder Goal
Organizational Mission
To look at past performance and community need to determine projected milestones and economic
impacts. These milestones focus on helping women to start and grow businesses by providing services
that develop long-term relationships.
Organizational Goal
The IEWBC counsels, teaches, encourages, and inspires women business owners at every stage of
developing and expanding their businesses.
Stakeholder Goal
By the end of 2018, the IEWBC will support 353 women-owned start-up and established businesses.
Assumed Motivation Influences Motivational Influence Assessment
Goal orientation: providing motivational
materials to staff members and volunteers to get
excited about the company’s global goal.
Asked in the focus group, “What new skills would
you need that would enable you to better motivate
women business owners to become successful
businesses owners?”
Self-efficacy: IEWBC staff members and
volunteers should believe they have the talent
and skills to motivate women business owners to
be successful.
“What motivates you to help women business
owners?”
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 28

Organization Assessment
In addition to knowledge and motivation, organizational influences affect all aspects of
day-to-day operations, whether in a positive or negative fashion. These organizational influences
need to align with a company’s goals, values, and mission statements. Goals must be clear and
concise, and leaders must communicate them to all levels of employees. To accomplish goals,
leaders must translate them into the performance of staff members and volunteers (Clark &
Estes, 2002). Barriers to organizational success can include a lack of communication, poor
policies and procedures, or a lack of the resources an employee needs to get the job done. These
barriers drive wedges into employee and organizational performance, culture and cultural
context, and employee motivation.
Resource Allocation
Over the past decades there has been extensive research on women business owners and
the challenges they face. According to American Express (2016), as of 2016, there were
11,313,900 women-owned businesses in the United States, employing 8,976,100 people and
generating $1,622,763,800,000 in revenues. Women business owners need to manage resources,
including financial and physical assets, intellectual assets, and their professional experience to
advocate for their organizational goals differently than their male counterparts. The IEWBC
faces some of those same challenges. The staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC need to
have the knowledge and understanding of how to achieve the goals of the center and of the
women they serve. They also need to understand and anticipate future challenges that may arise
due to internal, external, and political changes. To meet those challenges, the organization’s
leaders need to ensure that the administrative staff members and the instructional team have the
correct training and resources to be successful.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 29

Work Processes
To become successful, leaders need to apply resources to organizational work processes.
According to Clark and Estes (2002), organizational culture is the most important element in an
organization. Clark and Estes added that the culture in an organization dictates how employees
work together to accomplish the company’s goals and objectives. Organizations are
multidimensional and multifaceted, and the way employees manage resources and change results
from the work processes.
The IEWBC has an additional element pertaining to the organization’s work process,
which is funding. The IEWBC receives funding through the SBA, with oversight from the
IECE, CSUSB. Since the IEWBC has compliance requirements, the leaders need to ensure their
staff members understand these requirements and reporting measures. It is fundamentally
important for IEWBC leaders to communicate standards and to evaluate training and knowledge
continuously.
Organizational Culture
It is important that the culture of the IEWBC is one of collaboration and transparency.
According to Fournies (1978), there are four common reasons why people do not perform well at
work: they do not know what to do, how to do it, why they should do it, and how to identify
obstacles beyond their control. These may be behind the feelings of the organizational staff
about the culture and climate, which derives from the policies, practices, procedures, and
routines that employers expect of them. Change will only begin to occur when employees see a
need to grow, learn, and/or change their behaviors. Cultural models tell us that organizational
change will occur naturally due to changes in human and political environments, and that
cultures are always changing and evolving.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 30

A culture that includes motivation is essential for the success of any organization,
especially when it is ingrained into the culture of an organization. Employees will find more
satisfaction and meaning in the work they produce, which in turn increases the profits of the
company. The right approach to motivation may strengthen the bond between an individual and
the organization, creating a strong team and organization (Bolman & Deal, 2013). When the
organizational leaders’ goals, policies, or procedures conflict with a company’s culture, there is a
strong likelihood that there will be performance issues (Clark & Estes, 2002). Understanding
that an organization’s resources and processes must be congruent with the knowledge and
motivation influences of the employees will help to identify gaps in performance. Table 4 shows
the organizational influences on stakeholder goals.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 31

Table 4
Organizational Influences on Stakeholder Goal
Organizational Mission
To look at past performance and community need to determine projected milestones and economic
impacts. These milestones focus on helping women to start and grow businesses by providing services
that develop long-term relationships.
Organizational Goal
The IEWBS counsels, teaches, encourages, and inspires women business owners at every stage of
developing and expanding their businesses.
Stakeholder Goal
By the end of 2018, the IEWBC will support 353 women-owned start-up and established businesses.
Assumed Organizational Influences Organization Influence Assessment
Cultural Model Influence 1: There is resistance from the
office staff to change management from the
organizational director.
“Would you vigorously support change in the
IEWBC if the reason for the change was
effectively communicated to you?”
Cultural Model Influence 2: There is a culture of pride
and wanting to be the best women’s business center
available; therefore, there is a pressure to excel at all
times.
“Are you proud of the work being done at the
IEWBC? What specifically?”
Cultural Setting Influence 1: There is too much “busy
work”: directors are spread too thin.
“Do you ever feel overwhelmed when
working with women business owners?”
“Do you feel appreciated for what you
contribute to the IEWBC?”
Cultural Setting Influence 2: There is a lack of
accountability for staff concerning following the rules.
“Do you understand the policies and
procedures of the IEWBC?”
Conclusion
The purpose of this project was to evaluate to what degree the IEWBC is on track to
achieve its goal of supporting 353 women-owned start-up and established businesses by the end
of 2018. Therefore, Chapter 2 has presented literature on women business owners, their needs
and limitations, and how their opportunities and challenges differ from those of men business
owners. The literature supports the critical importance of the additional support many women
business owners need to become successful entrepreneurs. Chapter 2 has also presented a gap
analysis perspective, which suggests that IEWBC success might relate to stakeholder knowledge,
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 32

motivation, and organizational influences. While the literature addressed various aspects of
these influencers, there is no known direct application of the gap analysis framework to the
success of women business owners. Chapter 3 begins with the validation process described in
Chapter 2, and it explains the methods by which the researcher applied the gap analysis
framework to IEWBC’s stakeholder of focus to determine its goal of assisting women business
owners to start and run successful businesses.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 33

Chapter Three: Methodology
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the IEWBC assists women
business owners to become successful, whether they own a start-up or an existing business. The
IEWBC participates in community outreach and develops and maintains relationships and
partnerships with successful, women-owned businesses.
The stakeholder group of focus in this study is the staff members and volunteers at the
IEWBC. These personnel are the first line of contact with women business owners or potential
business owners. They are responsible for managing the delivery of programs and services,
overseeing the budget for the office, developing marketing and outreach programs, and
managing external affairs.
It is important to study the influences and solutions the IEWBC offers women-owned
businesses. The staff members’ goal is to build alliances with community groups to offer
programs collaboratively to develop and maintain a broad network of community organizations.
In doing so, the IEWBC can ensure that women business owners can grow through education
and counseling and can network with other successful women-owned businesses.
The following questions guided this study:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences relating to
achieving the stakeholder goal of supporting 353 women-owned start-up and
established businesses by the end of 2018?
2. How do the IEWBC staff members and volunteers use their knowledge and
motivational expertise to provide women business owners the skills and tools to run
successful businesses?
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 34

Conceptual Framework with Narrative
The purpose of the conceptual framework was to study the concepts, assumptions,
expectations, beliefs, and theories that support this research study, which is the key part of the
design. Maxwell (2013) mentioned that the main areas of the study are the key factors, concepts,
or variables and the relationships among them. It is also important to understand that the
conceptual framework for this research is something that researchers have constructed, not
found. The study incorporated information from a variety of different avenues of information;
the structure and coherence, however, does not already exist, and it is something that the
researcher built during her research. The researcher asserted that there are two separate, relevant
constructs, namely organizational culture and leadership. These constructs allowed the
researcher to understand whether the IEWBC was conducive to training women business owners
to become successful.
The literature identified key constructs of interest, including that the culture of the
IEWBC is one of support, education, and counseling of women business owners. Therefore, the
center needs the full support of staff members and volunteers in accomplishing the
organization’s mission and vision statements. Therefore, there must be a desire to overcome the
hurdles of fund raising, politics, and compliance. According to Bruni, Gherardi, and Poggio
(2004), in general, the entry of women into entrepreneurship seems to be a complex mix of
constraints and opportunities, of external pressures and subjective aspirations. They explained
that during the start-up and development phases of their businesses, women business owners
should use more of a deliberate approach; that is, a management model characterized by a
distinct and rational sequence of actions (the identification of opportunities, the setting of
objectives for corporate growth, the obtaining of resources, the production and marketing of
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 35

goods/services, the articulation of a formally defined organizational structure) (Bruni et al.,
2004). The IEWBC is there to help women business owners to address and manage those
actions, opportunities, and resources. It accomplishes this by creating an organizational culture
that gives women business owners a place to come and identify opportunities, set objectives, and
create plans of action to become successful.
The researcher defined the construct of leadership as the ability of staff members and
instructors of the organization who help to set directions and seek to help others to achieve goals
through inspiring vision, motivation, and education. The aim of leadership, when dealing with
helping women business owners grow, is to use servant leadership. Servant leadership is when
an organization puts serving the needs of others before its own needs. According to Spears
(2004), Robert K. Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership emphasizes increased service to others,
including employees, customers, and community, as a major priority. It may be beneficial to the
IEWBC to apply the servant leadership style in both formal and informal education and in the
training programs it provides to women business owners. The use of servant leadership may
support and encourage women business owners as they move through the various programs the
IEWBC has to offer. A summary of this conceptual framework is in Figure 1.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 36

Figure 1. Conceptual framework.

IEWBC cultural influences: organizational mission
dedicated to helping women business owners to become
successful; staff members focus on achieving the mission
of the company and instructors have the business owners’
best interests in mind

IEWBC staff members/volunteers
Conceptual and procedural
knowledge, metacognitive skills,
and motivation relating to staff
development and monitoring

By the end of 2018, the IEWBC will support 353
women-owned start-up and established businesses.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 37

Methodological Approach
This study utilized Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis framework, which is a
systematic problem-solving process for identifying the possible causes in performance gaps and
determining appropriate performance solutions. The gap analysis process falls into multiple
stages, as Figure 2 shows.

Figure 2. Gap analysis process. Adapted from Setting Performance Goals that Support
Organizational Goals,” in Turning Research into Results, Atlanta, GA: CEP Press.
Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis process uses several different types of approaches
to gather and analyze data from an organization. The researcher used a qualitative approach to
the research questions. This approach tested the leadership and organizational knowledge and
motivation to determine to what extent the IEWBC imparts knowledge and education in helping
women business owners to become successful. The researcher collected data from a focus group
and from document and artifact collections. The researcher used random sampling so that all
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 38

persons had an equal chance of taking part in the focus group, and the results were more likely to
reflect the entire population of the study accurately (Creswell, 2014).
The researcher highlighted the assumed influences of knowledge, motivational, and
organizational problems in performance gaps in the practice of the IEWBC providing women-
owned businesses with education, support, and counseling, and she verified them against theories
and related literature. Subsequently, she used qualitative measures (e.g., interviews and
document collection) to validate the causes. These methods and insights from the data provided
a more in-depth understanding of problems that face the IEWBC, and potential solutions.
Summary of Assumed Causes/Assets/Needs Assignment
Table 5 summarizes the assumed influences on the performance of the IEWBC.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 39

Table 5
Assumed Influences on Performance of the IEWBC
Sources Knowledge Motivation Organization
Learning and
Motivation
Theory
• Needs knowledge about
strategies necessary to
carry out specific tasks of
each member of the
IEWBC.
• Needs ability to monitor
skills relating to coaching
and training programs and
to make any necessary
adjustments.
• Needs knowledge of how
to develop, or steps
involved in, coaching and
training of women
business owners.
• Needs knowledge and
understanding of the
relationship between
professional classes
and/or coaching and the
success of women
business owners.
• Needs desire to find and
schedule a variety of
professional training
classes.
• Needs desire to coach and
support women business
owners and their individual
and personal goals.
• Needs clearly defined
goals relating to
training, coaching, and
assisting women
business owners.
• Needs resources
devoted to training and
coaching women
business owners.
• Needs a structure in
compliance and
accountability at all
levels.
• Needs an environment
that supports women
business owners and
helps them to become
successful.
Assumed Needs
Sources Knowledge Motivation Organization
Related
General
Literature
• Needs clear definition of
each class available to
women business owners.
• Needs knowledge of how
combining coaching and
classes can improve
development.
• Needs skills to develop
and integrate classes and
coaching within and
across professional
disciplines.
• Needs to see value of the
need for women business
owners to complete all
programs available to them
from the IEWBC and the
assessment their impact on
these women.
• Needs to see the value in
the importance of coaching
between new and emerging
business using the IEWBC.
• Needs support to
develop new types of
training and
professional coaching.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 40

To achieve the organization’s objective in supporting women business owners, the staff
members need self-efficacy to produce positive outcomes for these women. After spending time
at the IEWBC, the researcher knows they are motivated and have the human resources and
organizational structure to align in this direction. It is important that all staff members, both
regular and volunteers, have the knowledge and skills to provide guidance and support to women
business owners. The staff members, volunteers, and instructors need to have metacognitive
awareness to examine their own skills and knowledge, to appreciate the understandings and
experiences of women business owners, and to train and develop the women business owners in
light of their own professional knowledge and influencing factors (Darling-Hammond, 2000).
In addition to knowledge and skills, the IEWBC staff members and volunteers need to
want these women to learn and grow their businesses, and it is the staff members’ and
volunteers’ self-efficacy and judgments of their own capabilities that can bring about the desired
outcomes of the woman’s engagement and learning (Hoy & Tschannen-Moran, 2001).
The organizational culture needs to be conducive to creating a supportive culture. The
leaders, staff members, and volunteers of the center need to have the knowledge, skills,
motivation, and confidence (self-efficacy) to provide leadership and direction in a structured and
welcoming environment. The IEWBC provides an atmosphere in which women feel safe and
can share their fears and concerns with staff members and counselors in private rooms at the
center. Being in an environment like the IEWBC, which is conducive to learning and
brainstorming, is beneficial to women business owners, who may feel intimidated by the process
of starting a small business.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 41

Knowledge Assessment
Table 6 describes the three assumed knowledge influences relating to staff/volunteer
practices and how they impact the women business owners. The table provides a description of
how the researcher assessed these assumed influences through the focus group interview.
Table 6
Assumed Knowledge Influences and Proposed Assessments
Assumed Knowledge Influence Knowledge Influence Assessment
The IEWBC staff members and
volunteers need to know what skills
are necessary to assist women
business owners to be successful
(P).
Procedural. The researcher asked the staff members and
volunteers at the IEWBC about their
understanding of what skills are necessary for
women business owners to be successful.
The IEWBC needs to have
knowledge of strategies and
research-based learning processes
(C).
Conceptual. To track knowledge of different business
concepts, the IEWBC needs to have its
instructors paraphrase, classify, interpret, and
explain different business concepts for
understanding and delivery of information.
The IEWBC needs to self-assess
and understand its program
knowledge and how it can find new
ways train and develop educational
programs (M).
Metacognitive. Participating in training activities, engaging in
self-monitoring and self-assessment, and using
peer collaboration and discussion.
Note. Knowledge types for each assumed influence are as follows: (D) = declarative; (P) = procedural; (M) =
metacognitive.
Motivational Assessment
Table 7 describes the three assumed knowledge influences relating to staff/volunteer
practices and how they impact the women business owners. The table provides a description of
how the researcher assessed these assumed influences through the use of a focus group
interview.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 42

Table 7
Assumed Motivational Influences and Proposed Assessments
Influence Focus Group Interview Question
Goal orientation. “What new skills do you want to learn to
become more effective in your role at the
IEWBC?”
Self-efficacy.
Staff members and volunteers are confident in their
abilities to train, motivate, and enhance the business
skills of women business owners.
“Do you feel your interactions with women
business owners are motivating and
empowering?”
Organization/Culture/Context Assessment
Table 8 describes the four assumed organizational influences relating to staff/volunteer
practices and how they impact the women business owners. The table provides a description of
how the researcher assessed these assumed influences through the focus group and through
collection of key documents and artifacts. These influences include cultural models and settings
of the organization and how the staff members and volunteers feel about these influences.
Table 8
Assumed Organizational Influences
Assumed Organizational Influences Organizational Influences Assessment
Cultural Model Influence 1: There is
resistance among the office staff to change
management by the organizational director.
“What can the director do to communicate change better
to reduce resistance?”
Cultural Model Influence 2: There is a
culture of pride and wanting to be the best
woman’s business center available.
“Do you hear about the successes of the women business
owners using the center?”
Cultural Setting Influence 1: There is too
much busy work: directors are spread too
thin.
“Do you feel the center’s director has enough time for
staff development, training, and communication?”
Cultural Setting Influence 2: There is a lack
of accountability for office staff concerning
following the rules.
“Do you feel staff and volunteers are being held
accountable for following the rules and regulations of the
IEWBC?”
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 43

Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder group consisted of staff members and volunteers who are participating or
have participated in training, counseling, and business development of women business owners
through the IEWBC. The term “staff member or volunteer” includes both men and women who
work or have worked at the IEWBC in the past 2 years and who are either paid (staff) or unpaid
(volunteer) workers.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
The researcher used a qualitative method to determine the assumed knowledge,
motivation, and organizational factors concerning the IEWBC’s support of women business
owners in the form of a focus group and artifact and document analysis. This also created a
better understanding of how the staff members and volunteers perceive their role in the
organization and the impact they have on the success of women business owners. The focus
group interview documented the distinction of each influence, with information provided by the
staff members and volunteers of the IEWBC.
Interview Sampling
Criterion 1: Participants must be staff members and/or volunteers who are currently
working at the IEWBC.
Criterion 2: Participants must have interacted with women business owners while
working or volunteering at the IEWBC. For this study, interaction includes counseling,
teaching classes, assisting in business planning, and encouraging women business
owners.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 44

Interview Recruitment and Rationale
A focus group interview is a method in which the researcher and the participants
participate in a discussion focusing on questions associated with the research study (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). The researcher conducted this phase of the research by holding an informal,
focus group of employees/volunteers from the three IEWBC locations who work at the IEWBC.
Interview Protocol Design and Data Collection
The qualitative study helped the researcher to understand how the participants interpret
their knowledge, motivation, and organizational practices and experiences and the meanings they
attribute to them (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The focus group interview took place at one of the
three IEWBC locations. The discussion took place in English, using a semi-structured interview
protocol that allowed for the flexibility of open-ended questions. The researcher contacted the
staff or volunteers who participated in interviews via e-mail and invited them to participate in a
one-hour focus group interview. The researcher sent out e-mail invitations to participate until
there were a total of 8-10 participants for the focus group interview. The qualitative analysis
came from this focus group interview.
In a semi-structured interview protocol, a list of questions or issues guides the interview,
and questions are not always in a predetermined order. This format allowed the researcher to
respond to the circumstances at hand and to question any new themes that came up during the
interview (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This interview protocol type allowed for understanding of
and insight into the thinking and experiences of the participants. The questions supported the
conceptual framework and the answers determined whether the knowledge, motivation, and
organization of the IEWBC supports the success, education, and counselling of women business
owners.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 45

The researcher audiotaped the focus group and took interview notes. The interview
protocol is in Appendix A. The researcher also took field notes (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
researcher obtained permission from all participants to take notes and to use the audio recorder.
The researcher considered all the field notes from the focus group highly descriptive, and
the observer’s commentary reflects this. The researcher used direct quotations, as well as
observer’s comments, which she placed in the margins under “OC” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Document and Artifacts
The second source of data collection for this research project was an analysis of key
documents. The researcher used document analysis to identify a wide range of written, visual,
and physical material relevant to the study. Artifacts are three-dimensional physical objects in
the environment that are meaningful to the participants (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
researcher used the data to assist in answering the research questions. The director of the
IEWBC provided the collection of documents and artifact information throughout the study. The
documents for this research included the training material the IEWBC staff members and
volunteer instructors used, policies and procedures of the IEWBC, and/or any counseling
material the IEWBC provided to the women business owners.
Document Analysis Plan
Once the research study data were complete, the researcher conducted a methodical
examination using common analytic approaches and methods. The results determined the
development of the research-based performance proposals that appear in Chapter 5. In the data
analysis, the researcher reminds the reader of the research questions, what information emerged
from the data collection, and any differences or variances that appeared. The data analysis also
highlights any evidence of important trends.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 46

The following section describes the analytic procedures the researcher used for focus
group analysis.
Focus Group Interview
The analysis of the focus group interview occurred concurrently with the data collection.
The researcher conducted an analysis of the focus group immediately following the interview.
The researcher took notes and documented any initial thoughts, reactions, and/or primary
inferences or implications. While the information was current and new, the researcher coded the
information immediately after the focus group. The coding process included reading through the
data, categorizing the data into codes, and using memos for clarification and interpretation. The
researcher looked for patterns and themes. These patterns and themes assisted the researcher to
examine the assumed influences concerning the KMO framework. This information led to new
suggestions about the development of the gap analysis.
Reliability and Validity
Reliability means that the researcher’s approach is consistent and unchanging over time,
while validity means that the researcher checks for accuracy of outcomes by applying certain
procedures to the study (Creswell, 2014). Since the goal is to maintain validity and reliability in
the research, the questions for the focus group interview were relevant to the purpose of the
study, and they collected information with the utmost reliability. To ensure construct validity,
the researcher used peer reviews, instructor reviews, and/or committee reviews to measure the
empirical and theoretical support for the interpretation of the construct. In other words, the
interview questions measured what the researcher designed them to measure. The researcher
used a custom-designed focus group interview procedure, which provided a better understanding
of the participants’ views on the questions. The researcher checked all transcripts for errors to
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 47

ensure the coding was consistent, and she found another researcher who could cross-check the
codes for accuracy.
Credibility and Trustworthiness
In this study, the researcher used four strategies and approaches to ensure the credibility
and trustworthiness of the data. First, there was confidentiality of the research participants. The
researcher assured the participants of their confidentiality before, during, and after the study to
encourage them to share their true thoughts and opinions. The researcher communicated this
verbally prior to the focus group interview. The second strategy was member checks, also
known as respondent validation (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This procedure included soliciting
feedback on any preliminary or emerging findings from the participants in the focus group. The
researcher chose these participants randomly from the list of staff members and volunteers at the
three IEWBC locations. This feedback assisted in identifying the researcher’s own biases and
any misunderstandings of what she observed or learned during the focus group. The process
involved taking the preliminary analysis back to the participants and asking whether the
researcher’s interpretation was correct. The participants reviewed their interview transcripts and
they authenticated the information the transcripts contained. Finally, the researcher looked for
data that supported alternative explanations and purposefully looked for any variation in the
understanding of the data (Patton, 2015). The researcher gathered this information during the
focus group interview or document collection phases. Evidence of alternate ways of presenting
the data or opposing explanations helped to increase confidence in the initial study findings.
Also, to ensure credibility and trustworthiness prior to the focus group interview, the
researcher provided all participants with a consent form (Appendix B). The consent form let the
participants know that their participation was confidential and voluntary, and it posed no risk to
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 48

them. The researcher read the consent form to the participants prior to beginning the focus group
session. The researcher also asked the participants for permission to record the focus group
interview. Participants had an opportunity to review or edit their answers on the audio recording
or a written transcript of that recording. The researcher let the participants know that the
recording would remain confidential. The only people who might hear the audio recording were
the researcher and her academic advisor. The researcher destroyed the audio recording after
transcription. Last, the researcher’s biases are among the most important threats to validity in
qualitative research; therefore, the researcher explained any potential biases up front to
participants.
Role of Researcher
This researcher is a volunteer instructor at the organization that is subject of this research
study. She has taught three 2-hour classes in the past 6 months, and she has participated in
helping to provide feedback in the initial stages of the Ignite program.
Ethics
This study used a qualitative research approach. It began with a focus group study
segment, followed by document and artifact collection. The University of Southern California
(USC) Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviewed the study protocol for approval prior to the
start of the research. Once the IRB approved the study, the researched contacted the executive
director of the IEWBC, asking her to send out e-mail invitations to staff members and volunteers
who are involved in training and/or counseling women business owners.
The researcher selected focus group interview participants through simple random section
from a list the executive director at the IEWBC provided. Prior to the focus group interview, the
researcher provided consent forms to each participant. The consent form, included as Appendix
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 49

B, explained that the information would be confidential, participation was voluntary, and
participants could leave the study without penalty. The researcher notified participants that they
did not have to answer any questions, and they could end their involvement in the focus group
interview at any time. Once all parties had signed the paperwork, the participant received a copy
of the signed and dated participant consent form and an information sheet. The researcher placed
a copy of the signed and dated consent form in the main project file, which is in a secure
location. The researcher obtained permission to audio record the interview, and she let the
participants know that they would receive transcripts of their conversation to show that she had
not changed their words, but had recorded them as spoken. The participants received the
opportunity to review and edit the transcripts. The researcher read the consent form for
participants out loud at the start of the audio recordings. All recordings were confidential, and
only the lead researcher and the academic advisor had access to the information. The researcher
destroyed all recordings once REV.com, a transcribing company, had transcribed them.
The researcher notified the participants that there was no incentive for their participation.
The researcher did, however, send the participants thank you cards with a small monetary gift
card to show appreciation of their participation in the study. Initially communicating the absence
of an incentive allowed the participants to feel they were not under coercion, and they could be
honest and open in their feedback.
To ensure ethics in the study, the researcher acknowledged any personal biases that may
have impacted the data collection, analysis, and/or reporting activities (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). One potential bias is that the researcher has been a volunteer instructor for the IEBWC
for the past 12 months. The researcher was involved in the early development of a secondary,
advanced program for women business owners who are established and who need additional
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 50

support and/or guidance. As a start-up women business owner, the researcher has a high level of
interest in women business owners and how the IEWBC impacts women utilizing their
programs. The impact had the potential of influencing the researcher’s interpretations of the data
concerning the impact of the IEWBC in helping women business owners to become successful
through education, counseling, and support. By acknowledging this potential source of bias, the
researcher helped to ensure that it remained in the forefront throughout the collection and
analysis of the data.
Limitations and Delimitations
One limitation of the study was that the participants knew each other, and this may have
had an impact on the honesty and sharing of additional information. Some of the participants are
close to the executive director of the centers, and this may have caused some participants issues
regarding honesty. Another limitation was the time limit for the focus group, which was one
hour. This was due to time constraints and prior obligations of the participants. The researcher
felt that with more time, there might have been an opportunity to gather additional data
concerning the day-to-day operations of the center.
The person whose job at the IEWBC is to send out focus group invitations to the
participants was slow in getting the information to participants and to the researcher. This delay
created confusion among the participants and researcher, and it may have limited the flow of
information once the focus group actually met.
The document and artifact information were in the possession of the executive director,
and they were unavailable for several months during the data collection process. This
unavailability created a gap of several months between the focus group and the documentation
data collection.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 51

Summary
Chapter 3 has presented the methodological framework for examining the assumed
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact the IEWBC and how they
interact the women business owners the IEWBC helps. The qualitative approach provided a
comprehensive, in-depth research study and provided a thoughtful and reflective understanding
of each element of influence. With this approach, the researcher evaluated the relationship
between the IEWBC and the women business owners using their services. Chapter 4 describes
the performance of the IEWBC and its relationship to women business owners using the results
of the qualitative portions of this study. Chapter 5 looks at the findings of this study and offers
recommendations to the IEWBC to help it to service its customers, women business owners,
better.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 52

Chapter Four: Results and Finding
Overview of Purpose and Questions
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree to which the staff members and
volunteers at the IEWBC are supporting 353 women business owners to achieve success by the
end of 2018. The study focused on the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational
influences that impact how the staff members and volunteers interact with women business
owners who utilize their centers. Although a complete evaluation should focus on all
stakeholder groups, to all intents and purposes, this study only focused on the staff members and
volunteers at the IEWBC.
The questions that guided this study were:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences relating to
achieving the stakeholder goal of supporting 353 women-owned start-up and
established businesses by the end of 2018?
2. How do the IEWBC staff members and volunteers use their knowledge and
motivational expertise to provide women business owners the skills and tools to run
successful businesses?
Data collection included a focus group, literature review, and document and context analysis.
Recommendations and an evaluation plan follow in Chapter 5.
Participating Stakeholders
The sample of participants for the focus group consisted of seven staff members and three
volunteers working at one or more of the IEWBC’s three locations. The participants were two
males and eight females. The breakdown of staff members and volunteers is in Figure 3, and the
sex of the participants is in Figure 4.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 53

Figure 3. Percentages of volunteers and staff members participating in the focus group.
Six staff members (60%) and four volunteers (40%) participated in the focus group.

Figure 4. Sexes of the volunteers and staff members participating in the focus group.
Eight females (80%) and two males (20%) participated in the focus group.
The focus group sampling strategy was simple random selection, which provided a
systematic way of selecting participants that did not require an advanced understanding of the
likely outcome of the study. The purpose of simple random selection was to increase reliability
and trustworthiness in the study and to provide a sampling of the IEWBC staff members and
volunteers. The sampling included staff members and volunteers who have a variety of times
Volunteers
Staff
Male
Female
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 54

and responsibilities working with the IEWBC, from novice to experienced. The goal of using
this criterion for selection was to gain a clearer understanding of how the staff members and
volunteers feel they impact women business owners who use the centers. Participant information
for the focus group is in Table 9.
Table 9
Focus Group Participant Information
Staff or Volunteer Responsibilities Years at the IEWBC
Staff or Volunteer A Staff: Student Assistant from CSUSB 1 year
Staff or Volunteer B Volunteer Instructor and Counselor 2 years
Staff or Volunteer C Staff Member: Administrative 5 years
Staff or Volunteer D Volunteer Instructor and Marketing 5 years
Staff or Volunteer E Staff Member: Administrative 2 years
Staff or Volunteer F Staff Member: Administrative and Instructor 10 years
Staff or Volunteer G Staff Member: Administrative 11 years
Staff or Volunteer H Staff Member: Administrative 4 years
Staff or Volunteer I Temporary Staff 4 years
Staff or Volunteer J Volunteer Instructor and Counselor 3 years
To protect the anonymity of the participants, the researcher labeled them as “staff or volunteer.”
The average combined years worked of the participating staff members and volunteers in the
focus groups were 4.7 years.
Results
This section represents the findings of the study, and its structure follows Clark and
Estes’s (2008) model, which compares knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences to
the organization’s goal and the results they produce. Within each of these results are answers to
the research questions, which helped to determine whether the IEWBC is achieving its goal of
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 55

assisting 353 women business owners by the end of 2018. Chapter 4 concludes with a synthesis
that recapitulates the results and findings and explains the importance of the research. Chapter 5
addresses Kirkpatrick’s new world model (Kirkpatrick Partnership, 2016) in relation to the
findings and recommendations for the IEWBC.
Findings
Research Question 1
The first research question asked, “What are the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences relating to achieving the stakeholder goal of supporting 353 women-
owned start-up and established businesses by the end of 2018?
Knowledge influences on assisting women business owners to become successful.
For the staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC to meet their goal of assisting 353 women
business owners to become successful, they must have procedural knowledge, an understanding
of the IEWBC policies and procedures, and an understanding of what leaders expect of them as
staff or volunteers. The data in the study validated two other knowledge influences. First, the
staff members and volunteers implemented strategies to help the women business owners in the
learning processes; however, the staff members and volunteers lacked understanding of different
learning styles. Second, staff members and volunteers exhibited some degree of metacognitive
knowledge by self-monitoring, based on a post training survey the women business owners filled
out. This section discusses these influences.
Procedural knowledge of policies and procedures. To provide consistent training from
one of the three IEWBCs to the other, the staff members and volunteers must understand what
leaders expect of them, including having a procedural knowledge of policies and procedures.
Onboarding new staff or volunteers has been an issue at the IEWBC, and the participants shared
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 56

their frustrations in the focus group. The facilitator asked the participants what their staff
members and volunteer training looked like and what they needed to get ready for new hires to
be successful. Participant 7 stated,
They [new hires] basically shadow our administrative assistant and/or our training
assistant for several days. We require them to take notes as to what they are being trained
on. Because our experience has been that they don’t have those notes to refer back to that
are really specific to them and the way they learn. Then we find them making more and
more mistakes.
When onboarding new staff members and volunteers, the IEWBC requires that certain
activities take place, such as shadowing other staff members or volunteers, taking notes to help
as a job aid, referring back to those notes, and job specific training. This onboarding does not
seem to be working, because the new hires are continuously repeating mistakes and not utilizing
their notes, if they took any. Also, several days may not be enough time to train a person fully
on his or her job descriptions and duties. The IEWBC conducts interviews as part of its hiring
process; however, it does not seem to hire for the skills it is seeking. During the initial
interviews, the IEWBC primarily looks at whether the person has basic office skills. If the
interviewee does not understand or know the basics the IEWBC is looking for, the IEWBC will
dedicate time training the new hire. The onboarding and new hire training is not happening to
the degree necessary for employees to do their jobs confidently and correctly. Whether the
IEWBC hires qualified or non-qualified staff or volunteers, finding the time and people to
provide a quality onboarding experience has been challenging.
Conducting an initial interview is an example of what Kirkpatrick calls a pre-training
activity, which helps with on-the-job application of what the trainee has learned by recognizing
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 57

other factors that may be preventing him or her from becoming successful (Kirkpatrick Partners,
2016). In conducting a thorough initial interview, the staff at the IEWBC can gauge an
applicant’s skill and commitment level better, which in turn may reduce volunteer turnover.
Another challenge the participants discussed was that when the IEWBC uses an outside agency
to fill open positions, the candidates are unlikely to have a commitment to the IEWBC’s vision,
mission, and values. The goal of these outside agencies is to place individuals, not to find
matches for an organization’s culture and cultural settings.
It appears that the IEWBC could also improve organizational culture by creating a better
onboarding process through a thorough interviewing process, determining an applicant’s skill
level and motivation, and ensuring that staff members/volunteers have a clear understanding of
policies and procedures and what leaders expect of them. Once leaders have discussed these
expectations with a new hire, the IEWBC must make sure the new hire meets the expectations,
ensuring consistency in operational practices. The IEWBC will need to make sure there is
adequate time and resources available to new hires to guarantee strongly skilled workers who
understand what leaders expect of them.
Having conceptual knowledge and utilizing strategic learning processes. According
to Kirkpatrick, effective training provides not only relevant knowledge and skills to participants,
but also the confidence to apply those skills (Kirkpatrick Associates, 2016). The staff members
and volunteers appear to have the skills, knowledge, and strategies that women business owners
need to become successful. During the focus group, the participants who counseled and taught
classes shared that they have been in their fields for many years (most well over 5 years) and
consider themselves as experts. Participants also stated that they deal primarily with the mindset,
behaviors, and the actions necessary for the women business owners to become successful. The
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 58

staff members and volunteers work on addressing these concerns, mindsets, road blocks, or any
other types of behavior that get in the way of women succeeding in their businesses.
As well as having the knowledge and skills in their profession, the focus group
participants shared strategies they implement to interact effectively with women business owners
and to increase their motivation and confidence. One strategy is assessing the women business
owners’ knowledge and abilities and assisting women business owners to understand that they
can be successful in their business endeavors.
Participant 6 added,
My perspective [is] on the biggest picture and one of [women business owners’] most
valuable roles is getting into the mindset of running a business and how to manage their
business[es]. So many of them are used to coming from jobs, and they’re used to doing
rather than sitting back, taking a look at the big picture and strategizing and learning the
basics of management.
When dealing with a woman business owner’s mindset and behaviors, the IEWBC is
supporting a woman’s self-efficacy and addressing the whole person; rather than just providing a
step-by-step process, it is endeavoring to address training holistically. The IEWBC uses
comprehensive training programs to build strong relationships with not only the women business
owners, but also the training and counseling volunteers. The center has evolved from collecting
data to building relationships with clients and within the organization, providing longevity in its
services to women business owners. Participant 8 described the process as follows:
They’re [clients] beginning to know the instructors; they’re [staff members and volunteers]
beginning to know the clients that call in, and that makes a big difference when you’re
developing relationships and not just taking a message to pass along. I appreciate what
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 59

they [staff members and volunteers] have done; it makes it easier for me when I call back
someone.
The staff members and volunteers are the first points of contact when women business
owners walk in or phone the center, and they can answer a variety of questions about possible
entrepreneurship opportunities. These staff members and volunteers have a conceptual
knowledge of staff members’ skills and expertise, and they can connect women business owners
to the appropriate staff members to help the prospective entrepreneur to succeed in her business
endeavors. This study shows that staff members and volunteers at the IWEBC have the
conceptual knowledge, skills, and strategies to be better providers of information to the women
they serve. However, it would benefit them to have an advanced understanding of different
learning styles and how to classify and interpret them into their day-to-day interactions with their
clients.
Metacognitive understanding and assessment of skills. Metacognitive knowledge
includes knowledge about when and by what method to approach a specific learning
objective or to solve a problem. Metacognitive knowledge also includes understanding self-
knowledge, which can be either an important facilitator or a constraint (Pintrich, 2002). The
staff members and volunteers who know the IEWBC’s strengths and weaknesses can adjust their
own cognition and thinking to assist women business owners more effectively in learning and
development. As a volunteer instructor, the facilitator knows firsthand that after each class or
workshop, the women present fill out an assessment of what they have learned and how they feel
about the presentation of the material. Those assessments go to the center coordinator, who
reviews the information with the speaker. This assessment allows the speaker to change and to
adjust the material moving forward. Also, during a workshop or training session, a staff member
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 60

from the IEWBC is always present and observing the class/workshop to assess the teaching of
the material and to provide any necessary feedback. This type of self-monitoring and self-
assessment assists with staff members and volunteers’ understanding of how they can learn what
is working and what is not working in their presentations.
The participants discussed communication and how communication plays a role in
supporting each other through peer collaboration and discussion. The consensus of the group
was that communication was good, and there is an organizational culture of respect in ensuring
that information and messages go to the appropriate people.
Participant 2 stated on communication,
I think we have all the pieces. I think we haven’t tied the treads together and put some
great strategies and messaging to it. I would suggest one thing that we could do is to use
this focus group, or a group of folks to do some strategic planning over a day and come
away with that. When it’s time for the woman’s business center to say let’s go to the
next level.
Motivational influences. The participants agreed that most staff members and
volunteers want to see women business owners become successful and achieve their goals. This
motivation provides more organizational trust between the staff members and volunteers and the
women they serve. When women business owners have trust in the IEWBC, they are more
likely to take the advice and direction they receive. Also, motivated staff members and
volunteers enjoy their work and take time to do their jobs correctly, to make decisions, to be
innovative, and to embrace the IEWBC’s vision, mission, and values (Colquitt, Scott, & LePine,
2007).
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 61

Goal orientation. The staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC use organizational
structures that encourage personal and social responsibility and provide a safe, comfortable, and
predictable environment (Pintrich, 2002). Being well informed about organizational issues, such
as goal setting, objectives, activities and achievements, will help staff members and volunteers to
discover characteristics that separate them from other women business centers (Smidts, Pruyn, &
van Riel, 2001). The participants consider that they provide services to women business owners
with excellence, dedication, and a willingness to go the extra mile.
To help women to overcome some obstacles they may face in their journey to
entrepreneurialism, such as racism or sexism, the IEWBC has a commitment to inclusion and
acceptance of women from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Participant 4 shared,
I think what stands out is inclusion to me. It doesn’t matter what walk of life a woman
comes in through those doors: [she’s] welcomed, and [she has] just [as much] of a chance
to make it as the next person. I just appreciate everybody who supports this organization.
The participants feel that the IEWBC has a strong sense of comradery with women
business owners, and some women who have used the center in the past have now become part
of a culture of women helping women. These women are helping to empower other women
through entrepreneurship, and they are part of the future direction of the organization. The
IEWBC understands the unique challenges women business owners face, and it has the
capabilities, skills, and expertise to help them to overcome these challenges.
The discussion turned to how IEWBC leaders can better do a better job of supporting
staff members and volunteers in reaching organizational goals. Several of the participants
discussed wanting to know about successes in each center as well as having updates on the
progress of their clients. Sharing the success of women business owners who are using the
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 62

center helps the staff members and volunteers to understand the importance of what they are
doing, and they can begin to see the results of all their hard work. Since some of the participants
do not counsel women business owners, they are not aware of how clients using the center are
doing. Participant 3 stated,
I think when we are just trying to do our jobs, all we see is problems. If I had one wish it
would be that we could do a little bit more of sharing the success.
When staff members and volunteers have a full understanding of the positive impact their
work has on women business owners, it reinforces their own motivation and increases their self-
efficacy (Bandura, 2009). Therefore, not sharing success stories could be a barrier to motivation
of staff members and volunteers, and it may influence how staff members and volunteers interact
with women business owners.
Self-efficacy. The staff members and volunteers, who teach classes and workshops as
well as counseling women business owners, feel they have the skills and knowledge to help their
clients to become successful. The source of the self-efficacy they share is mastery experience,
meaning that the focus group participants have a strong sense of efficacy through mastery of
skills in each of their business professions. The staff members and volunteers who have previous
experience with on-the-job success have more confidence in teaching and counseling women in
similar topics than those who do not. The IEWBC looks for instructors to teach workshops who
run their own successful businesses because they have lived through that process.
Participant 5 added to the conversation about instructors and staff,
Both in the Coachella Valley and here in the Inland Empire, they’re not selfish with their
knowledge, so that’s very helpful. [The staff members and volunteers are] very willing to
answer any questions [women business owners] might have.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 63

The IEWBC also has outside experts come in and conduct workshops (such as business
banking and SBA loans) to ensure information delivery by authorities on the topics. This type of
self-efficacy is vicarious experience, where one gains and shares knowledge through some
means other than one’s own experience. Participant 7 shared,
One of the things that has been consistently popular out here is lender sort of roundtables.
Where we’ll get together various lenders and micro lenders and they’ll do presentations,
and it’s very, very informative for the clients.
The datum show that the IEWBC seeks staff members and volunteers who teach and
counsel women business owners based on their experience in their particular fields and who have
the self-efficacy to deliver the information confidently. If women business owners need
additional expertise, the IEWBC will bring professionals and experts from the outside to deliver
that information. The IEWBC has the self-confidence to understand the needs of women
business owners and to choose experts and learning materials for both internal and external
support and leadership.
IEWBC as an organization. To become successful, the IEWBC needs to have work
processes that are clear and concise, and to communicate them well. This section looks at the
data collection based on resource allocation, work processes, and organizational culture.
Resource allocation. Resource allocation is a process and strategy involving the
IEWBC’s decisions on where to deploy scarce resources in the production of organizational
services, such as training and counseling. The IEWBC has several resources available to it. One
is the staff members’ and volunteers’ knowledge, skills, and understanding of policies and
procedures, and a second is the funding of the center. As stated earlier in this chapter, the staff
members and volunteers have the knowledge and skills through experience and expertise, and
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 64

they have received training and onboarding, including an understanding of policies and
procedures. The staff members and volunteers in the focus group had shared that even though
they feel motivated and dedicated to women business owners, some of the staff members and
volunteers do not, creating a gap in this resource.
Like any other organization, when trying to find motivated and dedicated staff members
and volunteers, the IEWBC has unintentionally hired people who are not as motivated as the rest.
If the IEWBC has staff members and/or volunteers who do not care about or appreciate the
company’s brand, they will eventually weaken the organization (C. Mitchell, 2002). Therefore,
even with some highly motivated staff, the IEWBC still has some staff members and volunteers
who are not a good fit for the company. The group participants felt the IEWBC has accepted
good conscientious volunteers from a variety of outside programs, but it has also hired those who
are just not as dependable, creating difficulty once those people join the center. They felt that
the people who are the least successful are the ones who are not invested in the job, but are just
there to get a paycheck. That is probably true across the board for any work environment.
During the focus group discussion, the topic of a high turnover came up several times, since it
was an issue for quite a few participants. The focus group facilitator asked, “At what level are
we [the IEWBC] turning them over, and what you think is causing that?” Participant 7 stated,
For us there is not a tremendous amount of turnover, and it’s not with our staff per se, our
paid staff, but rather with the volunteers. The [office] volunteers we use 99% of the time
are through the [names an organization] program, workforce development, so this is
something that they’re volunteering in return for receiving free child care, gas, things like
that.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 65

There seemed to be a consensus that this gap in human resource allocation came from the
volunteer side of the workers, rather than the paid staff members.
The center leaders are responsible for the allocation of funding in the center. They use
most of the funds to maintain the day-to-day operations of the center. Since the IEWBC is a
non-profit, it does not have additional funding for areas such as marketing, which limits the
exposure of the IEWBC to more women entrepreneurs.
Participant 7 shared,
I would have to say it’s at every single women’s business center across the country that
this frustration exists because we only have X amount of dollars and X amount of staff
and X amount of time, and we have an incredible amount to do. For me, that’s the
frustration. I get around it finally by saying okay; I can only do so much.
One common frustration was a lack of marketing funds. The focus group participants
shared that they could reach more people if they had the funds to market and brand the IEWBC
to more women business owners. The IEWBC does conduct some marketing through staff
members and volunteers, which includes e-mailing and a Facebook page. The IEWBC e-mail
campaigns consist of a newsletter giving information on future classes, introducing new
programs (like Ignite), and sharing information on the yearly women’s conference or a
fundraising event. The IEWBC also has a Facebook page where it shares posts and videos about
training and events held at or by the center. The IEWBC Facebook page has 1,442 followers.
Allotting money towards marketing can be a challenge for a non-profit organization, which may
need the money somewhere else.
During the discussion, participants noted that the IEWBC needs to reach more women
business owners who have some money to invest in their own training and who have money for
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 66

working capital. The participants feel they are missing a tremendous market, namely existing
women business owners who need training for themselves or their staff members. The fastest
way to do that is through the chambers of commerce; however, the IEWBC cannot afford to pay
the annual fees. The focus group facilitator asked, “Do you think the marketing is working, or is
it not working?” Participant 7 expressed the following:
We are still engaged in trying to figure out how much to market with no funds for
number one. We’re trying to figure out how to engage people. It is a really difficult
situation because there are so many other entities out there that are offering workshops,
that are offering programs, that are offering different things, and they have a marketing
budget.
This study shows that the IEWBC’s human resources, which are the staff members and
volunteers, have received training and development and have the skills, knowledge, and drive to
want to achieve the IEWBC goal of supporting 353 women business owners by the end of 2018.
Most staff members and volunteers have the motivation and drive to help women business
owners to succeed; however, some staff members and volunteers do not. The lack of motivation
of some staff members and volunteers was a cause of frustration among the focus group
participants.
There is also an agreement that not having additional funds available for marketing is
creating a negative impact in the communities IEWBC serves. By not marketing to a larger
population, the IEWBC cannot reach more women owners who may need their services but may
not be aware the centers exist.
Figures 5 and 6 indicate where the IEWBC collects its funds and in what areas it spends
them. The director of the IEWBC provided the information below.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 67

Figure 5. Where the IEWBC gets its funding.
The funding for the center comes from an SBA Grant (50%), in kind (25%), fundraising
(15%), the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) (5%), and program income (5%).

Figure 6. How the IEWBC spends funds.
The funds coming into the center go to salaries, benefits, and taxes (61%) and the
operations of the center (39%). As a nonprofit, the IEWBC uses its funds to balance the needs of
the center with the goal of supporting women business owners and the communities in which
they live.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
SBA Grant In-Kind Fundraising CDBG Program
Income
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Salary/Benefits/Taxes Operations
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 68

Work processes. As a non-profit entity, the IEWBC must meet compliance requirements,
and the leaders need to make sure that it collects information properly and that the staff members
understand the importance of it. When a woman business owner uses the center, she fills out a
client intake form, which allows the IEWBC to collect information. The center tracks
appointments and workshops, and administrators enter the information into NeoSerra.
Additionally, the IEWBC collects information on how training and workshops impact the
economics of the local communities by determining how the women-owned businesses are doing
and how many workers they employ. NeoSerra is a customer relationship management system
designed specifically for non-profit economic development programs. NeoSerra also tracks
detailed demographic and economic information about the IEWBC’s clients, as well as the
assistance they receive. NeoSerra provides the IEWBC with the scorecards it uses to monitor
organizational performance against strategic goals. Table 10 sets out the reporting requirements
for the IEWBC.
Table 10
Who the IEWBC reports to and how often
Who the IEWBC Reports to and How Often
IECE, CSUSB Once a month
SBA (via EDMIS, see below) Quarterly
SBA Twice a year
EDMIS is a centralized, web-based reporting system that allows entrepreneurial
development programs, such as the IEWBC, the ability to upload information on training and
counseling activity. Resource partners and SBA field offices gather key information on
businesses using SBA Forms 641 and 888. The captured EDMIS data is the repository for the
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 69

IEWBC’s activity data, and it uses the data to ensure effective management of entrepreneurial
development programs, as well as providing sound statistical reports for the Office of
Management and Budget and Congress (Small Business Administration, n.d.).
Organizational culture influences. Organizational culture arises through shared
experiences, shared learning, and stability of association. Organizational culture is something
that staff members and volunteers learn, and not an external imposition (Schein, 2010). Positive,
employee-focused organizational practices that are consistent with the standards supported by a
group culture that inspires staff members and volunteers to contribute more value and effort to
their work result in higher levels of organizational success (Armenakis, Gregory, & Harris,
2009). In focusing on a positive culture, the IEWBC allows its staff members and volunteers to
feel empowered to pass on knowledge and skills in a manner that allows freedoms and
autonomy. The participants shared that they feel that the culture of the IEWBC encourages the
staff members and volunteers to think outside the box and do something extra for their clients, if
they can. The participants feel that the culture creates a spirit that sets them apart from other
centers in helping women business owners to become successful.
Participant 7 expressed,
I walked through the door and started as an administrative assistant. I really honestly
never thought that I would stay more than a year or so, but I began to love this job so
much through the years that I literally don’t know what I’d do without it. It is so much
part of my life. I have no idea what I would do without it. I love this place.
Even with a culture as positive as the IEWBC, there can be challenges. One challenge is
the focus of the center on mostly start-up businesses, second is the turnover of staff, and finally
onboarding staff members. There is an unflagging spirit of “we can do this and let’s get it done”;
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 70

however, not having consistent staff makes the job harder. Participant 3 spoke about her
perspective on the culture as follows:
It’s really hard to have consistency when you have people coming in and out, and there is
a learning curve about what we do, and how best to help clients. I think we stumble, at
least at the IEWBC [does]. We’ve had a lot of staff turnover over the past years, and I’ve
only been there four years, but a lot of people have come and go[ne].
Cultural Model Influence 1 questions whether there is resistance by the office staff to
support change management from the organizational leader. The participants stated that the
communication at the centers is good, but not always consistent, and that they want to see more
information sharing at meetings. Participants felt there is a fine line between what too much
information is and what is not enough, but overall the communication processes was significant.
On communication, Participant 3 stated,
I think overall, it’s [communication] gotten better, and that is certainly helped by having
a bigger staff and more people to help us.
No one on the focus group expressed any resistance to change in the centers. The
participants shared that the high turnover creates issues with communication, but overall, they
are in support of each other and the vision of the center. If there is any resistance to change, the
participants were not aware of it, or were unwilling to say so.
Cultural Model Influence 2 asks if there is a culture of pride and wanting to be the best
business center available, and therefore if there is pressure to exceed. The participants discussed
their pride in working with the IEWBC and in the work that they do. They did not, however,
express any organizational pressure to be the best women’s business center, but rather said it was
something they enjoyed. The participants feel they are empowering women through
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 71

entrepreneurship, and when a woman business owner comes into the center, they can feel
positive energy. The only downside is they want to reach more women at a larger scale. The
participants are also proud that many of the women using the centers stay engaged after using the
center, which shows that there is a connection and that women business owners are staying
involved. Participant 6 shared,
It is a sorority: all of those IYT (“It’s Your Time”) graduates love to get together after the
fact, and stay in touch with each other, and help each other. I really think that’s what the
future of this organization is all about. It is creating that, and truly, and I hate to say this
because it is so trite.
Cultural Setting Influence 1 asks the participants if there is too much busy time and if the
director is spread too thin and unavailable. As a volunteer instructor, the facilitator of this study
has witnessed and has heard from other volunteers and staff that they feel the director has a lot of
work to do and is very busy; however, this has not had a negative impact on the staff
members/volunteers. In discussing their experience working with the executive director,
participants felt more connected to the center’s vision and to other centers in the Inland Empire
of Southern California and nationwide. The participants did not feel the director’s schedule had
a negative influence on the day-to-day operations of the center. They understood she had
responsibilities and was on timelines to complete those responsibilities.
The conversation then turned to whether the participants feel overwhelmed when
working with women business owners, and the group shared some frustrations. Participants felt
that not only did they have to train women business owners in new business concepts, but they
also had to work with them in developing other basic skills, including becoming computer
literate, which includes learning how to use Microsoft Office. This lack of basic skills means it
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 72

takes longer for the staff members and volunteers to teach women business owners how to move
their businesses forward. Once the teaching of the basics is complete, the staff members and
volunteers feel frustration that some women are not as serious about the success of their
businesses as they need to be.
Participant 2 stated,
I run into quite a few of them that treat their business like they’re playing house, they
don’t understand the.… We’ve talked about marketing and sales strategies and
financials, and how to put that all together. They’ve learned the basics, but when they
come out, they do need to go into that next level in order to see how that works.
The study shows there is no animosity towards the director for being very busy and often
unavailable. They understand that director has obligations to get tasks done in a timely manner,
and with running three centers, her time is limited. The staff members feel some frustration, but
they are not overwhelmed when having to teach soft skills to women business owners, such as
how to use a computer or using programs like Microsoft Word. Needing to teach soft skills and
having some women business owners go through the motions of wanting to run their own
businesses slows down the process of learning and increases the frustration of the staff members
and volunteers at the IEWBC.
Cultural Setting Influence 2 asks if there is a lack of accountability for staff concerning
following the rules. The participants discussed the lack of professionalism of some volunteers
and the impact it has on the IEWBC. During the hiring process, potential staff members and
volunteers tell the IEWBC what it wants to hear to be hired, but once hired, they are not quality
employees. The participants wanted more accountability in holding new hires responsible for
not properly performing their job duties in the form of a probationary period. When new hires
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 73

do not perform to their job expectation, the participants feel they must work harder, taking away
from their own job duties.
Participant 8 stated,
When they come in for an interview they say yes to everything, then when we actually
hire them or tell the agency that they’re coming from that we want to hire them.… Then
they get here and don’t do anything, and then we’re kind of stuck. If I could have one
thing, it is that we could have them at least a week before we say okay, they can stay.
The frustration the group had about the volunteers’ lack of commitment to the
organization and lack of professionalism comes out in this comment. Like any business, the
IEWBC seeks out the best potential staff members or volunteers; however, it is difficult when the
person applying for the position is not honest about his or her intentions. The potential staff
member or volunteer comes into the center and tells the IEWBC during the interview he or she
can meet the objectives of the job, without having the will or desire to do so.
There was no additional discussion on what has happened to volunteers or staff members
who do not follow rules and regulations. The frustration centered on staff members and
volunteers not performing their tasks. This study facilitator’s personal experience with
volunteering at the IEWBC was that there is no discussion of policies and procedures when
entering and working with the IEWBC, which may be causing the undesired behaviors.
Synthesis. The IEWBC organization has positive organizational practices when dealing
with the staff members, volunteers, and women business owners. There is a culture of
community and of giving both knowledge and skills to their clients, but there seems a lack of
accountability on the part of some volunteers. The IEWBC’s knowledge and skills, motivation
and organizational influences leave it well placed to achieve the stakeholder goal of supporting
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 74

353 women-owned start-up and established businesses by the end of 2018. The staff members
and volunteers have the motivation and dedication to help women business owners to become
successful and to support the IEWBC in its mission, vision, and values, as well as its goals.
There are also volunteers who are not as dedicated, but the organization as a whole is dedicated
to women business owners.
To reach more people, the participants would like to see more marketing, but they also
understand that being a non-profit, there is not a lot of money available for this type of activity.
The IEWBC will need to find other ways to market the center that does not require additional
funds.
Research Question 2
The second research question asked how the IEWBC staff members and volunteers use
their knowledge and motivational expertise to provide women business owners the skills and
tools to run successful businesses. They need these skills and knowledge to impact women
business owners through counseling, classes, and educational programs to help women to face
the challenges of being entrepreneurs. Since volunteers run most classes and do most
counseling, dedication is necessary to empower women business owners, now and well into the
future. When women business owners are successful, there is a positive community impact
through the production of more jobs and increased services for the general public.
This section uses the following three themes to review the extent to which IEWBC has
met this organizational goal.
 The staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC have the servant leadership
mentality.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 75

 The staff members and volunteers use communication to spread their knowledge and
skills with women business owners.
 What additional classes are necessary?
Servant leadership. As Chapter 3 showed, Robert K. Greenleaf’s idea of servant
leadership is the natural feeling that one wants to serve and to serve foremost. The
characteristics of servant leadership are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, encouragement,
conceptualization, forethought, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building
community (Spears, 2010). The IEWBC staff members and volunteers practice servant
leadership through positive attitudes, organizational practices, and the services they offer.
Practicing servant leadership advances the lives of women business owners through assessing
their need(s), assisting women in build better businesses, and eventually creating more objective
and considerate communities in which they work.
Before the staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC can help women business owners,
they must recognize where the need is and how to address it. Assistance comes through an
assessment of the skills and knowledge levels of the women and determining at what stage the
business is in its life span (e.g., start-up, emerging). Those assessments take place through
several avenues of interaction with women business owners. One way is the initial contact,
whether it is a walk-in or a phone call. The initial contact will give the IEWBC information on
what services the woman is seeking and how it can assist. Second is through counseling, in
which the IEWBC staff members and volunteers spend time with a women business owner and
discover firsthand the specific needs of her business. Finally, through training classes, the staff
members or volunteers can determine needs by observing the classes or programs in which
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 76

women choose to enroll, what questions they ask in class, and the comments they make on their
classroom evaluation forms.
Participant 3 discussed her role in working with women business owners
I do primarily workshop instruction and [I] do counseling, so it is a process of
assessment. What do they need and how can we help them. I think [the center’s director]
has always worked very, very hard to make the women’s business center inclusive and
positive. I think if I had to pick two words to describe what we do, it’s that.
Communication. For the IEWBC center and the staff members and volunteers who
work there to be consistent in helping women business, there needs to be quality communication.
As confirmation of its significance, some have called organizational communication the life-
blood of the organization and the glue that binds the organization together (Goldhaber, 1990).
Communication with the clients is something that the IEWBC practices daily. The staff
members and volunteers call to verify attendance at workshops and training classes and in doing
so they begin to establish positive working relationships with women business owners.
However, like any organization, there are issues with communication. The issues for the
IEWBC tended to lean toward a lack of sharing success stories of the women business owners
using the center. Participants stated that they would like to see more sharing in meetings about
what is happening with clients and their experiences, whether positive of negative, and not
always to talk about what tasks they need to accomplish. To have some positivity in meetings
would really lift everyone’s spirits and increase their motivation by making other people aware
of big successes surrounding the IEWBC. The participants suggested having a center meeting
once a week to provide better and more detailed communication with each other.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 77

Classes or workshops. For the staff members and volunteers to use their skills and
knowledge to help women business owners to become successful, they need to evaluate the
classes the IEWBC offers to determine whether they are working or whether pertinent
information is missing. If information is missing, the IEWBC will need to add that information
to the center’s curriculum including financial information, how to obtain business loans, and the
need for working capital. It is very important to ensure that women business owners understand
their financials and participate in several types of financial education workshops. The IEWBC
suggests that woman go through their “It’s Your Time” program, which takes them through three
different financial classes. Participant 1 stated,
I feel like that’s something [financial information] that we need to focus on a little more
with the clients when it comes to workshops and stuff. I know we’re not allowed to give
out loans, but maybe a workshop on how to write the paperwork you need for loans, or
where to go.
Understanding the financial information about a business is not the only area that the
participants felt was missing from the classes at the IEWBC. Other classes or workshops include
social media marketing, selling and sales (tactics to drive business), creative problem solving,
and moving into a mindset of how to run a business. Adding these classes would support the
IEWBC’s goal of assisting 353 women business owners to become successful, and it would
allow the staff members and volunteers to use their knowledge and skills to make a larger impact
on their clients. Participant 1 shared,
[What] I would really love to see that we have not taught much is sales. Everybody,
really everybody’s business comes down to sales, and a lot of people are afraid to sell,
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 78

they are unsure [of] themselves. If we could do more sales classes on a regular basis, I
would love that.
This statement supports the claim in Chapter One that a woman business owner’s lack of
self-efficacy and her low confidence level may be barriers to becoming successful. Women
business owners may be uncomfortable about sales, and the IEWBC can focus more on in the
future through one-on-one counseling and training. The Coachella Valley location has tried
several sales-focused workshops over the past few years, and the attendance has been poor.
Some focus group participants felt that there is a negative perception towards the act of selling,
and they thought that understanding marketing strategies may help to turn this perception around.
Understanding problem solving is important to the success of any business. Problem
solving is an area in which the focus group participants felt the center needed to provide more
education to business owners and give them the solutions to overcome problems they may face.
Participant 6 said,
One of the business topics that [is] often used that I haven’t seen around the center is
creative problem solving. Because we all have problems, okay. We’re not doing much
to bring to them the different methodologies for creative problem solving, so that they
can work themselves through the problems.
The philosophy of “Catch a fish for a man and he is fed for a day; teach him to fish and
he is fed for life” allows a business owner to make decisions now and in the future. Most
educational programs for entrepreneurs in business lack training in creativity, innovation, and
problem solving (Henry, Hill, & Leitch, 2005).
Participant 2 agreed and summed this up:
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 79

There are a couple of things that we’re recognizing in there. Number one, they don’t
know, they’re not necessarily versed on the best strategies for their business and their
clientele. Number two, they’re not used to thinking creatively. Many of these ladies
have come from being employees, so they’re not used to what is required of an
entrepreneur, so that’s a big shift, and they can become quickly overwhelmed.
When working with a woman business owner, whether her business is a start-up or an
established business, the woman may expect the IEWBC to do everything for her, rather than
teaching her the elements of running a business. This mindset limits the IEWBC’s ability to
teach women business owners to become independently successful. Some women business
owners expect the IEWBC to do things for them, rather than doing things themselves with
IEWBC guidance. Some women business owners expect others to hand everything to them free
of cost or at next to no cost.
Participant 2 also shared some challenges when working with women business owners,
The women [need to] understand that there will be skin in the game to work with the
women’s business center, and I’m not talking about money. Yes, there should be a
modest investment, but beyond that I think what that does is it sets the foundation for
letting them [know] that they’re going to have to roll up their sleeves a bit to be able to
do this.
The other participants agreed with Participant 2. Before IEWBC can help women business
owners to become successful, they must first want to be successful. Having the women business
owners invest in their businesses helps the staff members and volunteers to focus on training and
development of the owners themselves rather than spending time motivating them to get started.
Many of the women business owners do not take their own businesses seriously, and the IEWBC
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 80

needs to help them to recognize that they must stand up and invest in what they are doing,
including investing both financial and emotionally.
To teach skills and knowledge to woman business owners successfully, the staff members
and volunteers need to understand all aspects of business, but it is also important to understand
what is lacking in the business owner’s education or training. Giving both hard tools
(understanding marketing or financials) and soft skills (innovation and creative thinking) helps
women business owners to become well rounded and boosts their self-efficacy.
Synthesis. The IEWBC has a passion for helping women business owners, and staff
members can use the servant leadership mentality, communication, and the ability to identify
necessary classes and workshops to help women business owners to become successful. The
passion comes out in how the staff members and volunteers at the IEWBC interact with the
clients and how they can use their knowledge and skills to make an impact in these women’s
lives and businesses. As in any organization, there are obstacles that may interfere with the
ability to make a lasting impression on clients and coworkers. Some of those issues are lack of
communication in sharing positive results to staff members not involved with that client or
particular center, having a culture high turnover that affects consistency, and doing a better job
interviewing and onboarding staff. Finally, even with motivation and dedication, staff members
and volunteers often experience frustration with the mindset and expectations of women business
owners. The staff members and volunteers understand the importance of ensuring that women
business owners have a hands-on approach to their own businesses, so that they can become
independent and can become self-sufficient in the day-to-day operations of their businesses.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 81

Summary
The findings from the analysis of the focus group demonstrated the variety of positives
and areas for improvement, which affects how the IEWBC interacts with women business
owners and how its performance reflects in the research questions. The study revealed that even
through staff members and volunteers respect the IEWBC and have commitment to the work
they do, they can still identify things they want to change. First, they have the conceptual
knowledge to help women business owners to become successful. Second, the focus group
participants have the motivation and the drive to see women business owners become successful,
despite any frustrations they may feel.
Third, there is a need for additional funding, which limits in the ability of the IEWBC to
market to a wider range of women business owners. Many of the focus group participants felt
this frustration, as they felt that the marketing they were doing or had done (social media
marketing and new letter) had not been working. Also, funding in general is an issue for the
IEWBC to provide additional training programs and to hire further staff members to serve
women business owners. Fourth, to use their skills and knowledge in the most positive manner
possible, the staff members and volunteers use servant leadership. Servant leadership is a set of
attitudes and practices the IEWBC uses to service its clients to the best of its ability.
Fifth, communication is necessary between staff members and volunteers as well as
between staff members and women business owners. Even though the staff members and
volunteers feel that their communication has improved, they feel that it could improve more by
sharing positive stories of the successes of the clients using the center. Positive communication
will increase the self-efficacy and motivation of the staff members/volunteers. Sixth, the
IEWBC needs to review its current hiring and onboarding practices for new staff members and
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 82

volunteers. There needs to be a standardized interview process, onboarding process, and new
hire training, which will create consistency. Finally, the culture of the center is inclusive and it
gives autonomy to staff members and volunteers to do what it takes to use their skills and
knowledge to assist the women using the center. The participants agreed that the situation has
improved throughout the past few years, but it could be better. The lack of autonomy may be
due to the poor interviewing, onboarding, and training of new and current staff members and
volunteers.
Chapter 5 discusses these limitations and challenges, offering recommendations to
address the obstacles that hinder the IEWBC from achieving its goal of assisting 353 women
business owners by the end of 2018.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 83

Chapter Five: Discussion and Recommendations
In the previous chapter, the researcher validated the assumed influences in the study
through qualitative data collection and document analysis, and she structured them into
knowledge, motivation, and organizational challenges. Chapter 5 discusses the meaning of the
data findings with regard to conjectural ideologies and provides recommendations to address
limitations and areas in need of improvement. Like Chapter 4, the recommendations are based
on knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences. The recommendations are also based
on the study findings and research-based literature. Also, this chapter discusses the
implementation and evaluation of the recommendations using the Kirkpatrick new world model
(Kirkpatrick Partners, 2016), which focuses on the importance of the transfer of learning to
behavior. The Kirkpatrick new world model has four levels, which this chapter discusses in
reverse order. The levels are results, behavior, learning, and reaction.
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences
Knowledge Recommendations
Introduction. The knowledge influences in Table 11 represent the current list of
assumed knowledge influences and the probabilities that the data validated them. Table 11 also
shows the recommendations for these knowledge influences based on theoretical principles.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 84

Table 11
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Knowledge
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Validated
Yes, High
Probability,
or No (V,
HP, N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
The staff
members/volunteers
at the IEWBC need
to find ways to
educate employees so
that the information
becomes accessible
from the LTM and
easy to apply (P).
HP Y Procedural knowledge
increases when
declarative knowledge
is essential to
performing a specific
skill (Clark & Estes,
2008).
Identify specific
behavioral objectives
that affect the behavior
(Tuckman, 2009).
Provide worked
examples (Paas et al.,
2006, Mayer, 2011,
van Gerven et al.,
2002).
People store
information they learn
meaningfully and
connect with prior
knowledge more
quickly, and they
remember it more
accurately because it
elaborates prior
learning (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).
Provide a job aid in the form
of cheat sheets that remind
the staff members/volunteers
of information they have
learned.
Provide training that
emphasizes the needs of the
organization and evaluates
Kirkpatrick’s four levels of
learning to determine how
much information people are
retaining. The training
provides experiences that
help people to make sense of
the material, rather than just
focusing on memorization.
The IEWBC needs to
have knowledge of
strategies and
research-based
learning processes
(C).
HP Y Helps individuals to
identify and
understand important
points (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).
Education is an
effective way of
preparing people to
handle novel and
unexpected situations
(Clark & Estes, 2008).
Provide education in
strategies for improving
processes. Education is
research-based about why
things happen and what
causes them.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 85

Assumed Knowledge
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Validated
Yes, High
Probability,
or No (V,
HP, N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
The IEWBC staff
members need to
self-assess and
understand their
instructor’s
knowledge and how
they learn and teach
(M).
HP Y Learners identify prior
knowledge (what they
know and what they do
not know about a
topic) before a learning
task (Mayer, 2011).
The use of
metacognitive
strategies to assist in
facilitates learning
(Baker, 2006).
Guided practice
accompanied by
constructive feedback
leads to high-impact
learning (Clark &
Estes, 2008).
Provide education for staff
members/volunteers that
helps them to engage in
guided self-monitoring and
self-assessment.
Ensure people practice the
information and resources
they learn in metacognitive
process by talking out loud
and assessing strengths and
weaknesses.
Provide job aids to teach
staff members/volunteers to
examine the thinking process
upon completion of learning
a task or procedure.
* (D) = declarative; (P) = procedural; (M) = metacognitive.
Declarative knowledge solutions, or description of needs or assets. The staff
members and volunteers at the IEWBC need to find ways to educate employees so that the
information becomes accessible from LTM and easy to apply. The following recommendations
to close the performance gaps arise from the knowledge influences. The IEWBC needs to build
on the experience and knowledge the staff members and volunteers already have. When
information that is meaningful and that connects to prior knowledge arises, staff members and
volunteers can learn the new information quickly and remember it more easily (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006). They can build on experience by breaking down complex procedural and
conceptual tasks and thinking about situations or themes they encounter in strategic ways
(Schraw & McCrudden, 2006).
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 86

Another factor is the organization itself. It may produce organizational barriers such as
missing tools, inadequate facilities, or faulty processes or procedures (Clark & Estes, 2008). An
evaluation of the organizational faculties may be necessary from the point of view of employees
or volunteers to determine whether the resources are available to allow them to provide the best
possible support to women business owners. The IEWBC will need to address any such
obstacles immediately. Removing potential obstacles will allow the operations of the center to
run more smoothly and accordingly, it will help the volunteers and staff to provide services and
education in a smoother and efficient manner.
Procedural knowledge solutions, or description of needs or assets. To assist with
procedural knowledge, the IEWBC needs to communicate its procedures and how it wants staff
members/volunteers to behave, interact with women business owners, and comply with other
organizational requirements. Once this occurs, the IEWBC needs to be clear and to follow
through on reinforcements and consequences (Tuckerman, 2009). To decrease the extraneous
load, the IEWBC can use job aids by placing printed words and pictures that show the
organization’s procedures near each other to support learning (Kirshner et al., 2006; Mayer,
2011). These words or pictures should be interesting, and they should come directly from the
training and learning the IEWBC provides (Kirshner et al., 2006).
When providing education to staff members and volunteers, the IEWBC needs to
communicate in an effective and efficient manner that prepares staff members and volunteers
and gives them the skills to handle any unusual and unexpected situations that may arise (Clark
& Estes, 2008). This preparation can occur through demonstrations, guided practices, and
feedback (Clark & Estes, 2002). Through education and learning, staff members and volunteers
can then have a better understanding of the goals, vision, and direction of the organization.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 87

Understanding the direction and vision of the organization may help to reduce stress and
extraneous load, allowing for a smoother transference of information from staff members and
volunteers to women business owners.
Metacognitive knowledge solutions or description of needs or assets. The IEWBC
staff members need to self-assess and understand their instructor’s knowledge and how they
learn new styles of learning and teaching. To help to address metacognitive learning goals, the
IEWBC should implement and apply several strategies. A useful strategy to improve knowledge
influences is to allow staff members/volunteers to engage in self-monitoring and self-assessment
(Baker, 2002). Another strategy is to have participants talk out loud and assess their own
strengths and weaknesses (Baker, 2002). Conducting reflection on action allows staff members
and volunteers to discern what worked and what did not work in their interactions with women
business owners. During reflection on action, staff members and volunteers can evaluate their
performance during an event (such as training) they are conducting, and they can benefit from
that internal evaluation.
To support the organization’s policies and procedures, the IEWBC can also provide job
aids in the form of cheat sheets that remind staff members and volunteers of policies and
practices they need to implement. This allows staff members and volunteers to identify their
own strengths and weaknesses without feeling they must expose their weaknesses. Finally, the
IEWBC should have staff members and volunteers identify prior knowledge, what they know or
do not know about a topic, before completing a training session (Mayer, 2011). The use of job
aids allows the IEWBC to provide training that has a real impact on the professional
development of staff members and volunteers.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 88

These strategies will help participants to use reflection in action (Schon, 1983) and
reflection in the future (Wilson, 2008), which enables participants to understand and identify
what they learned and how it applies to their strengths or affects their weaknesses, enabling
change. The impact will be education that is meaningful and relevant to the current needs of the
organization, which in turn will have a greater impact on the organization as a whole.
When it comes to goals, the IEWBC organizational leadership needs to communicate and
translate performance goals that are clear and concise (Clark & Estes, 2002). This
communication will enable staff members and volunteers to engage in guided self-monitoring
and self-assessment and to reflect on the material and IEWBC’s expectations of them. This will
benefit the staff members/volunteers, because individuals are often unaware of their own lack of
knowledge and skills, and they do not like to expose any weaknesses (Clark & Estes, 2002).
Motivation Recommendations
Introduction. The motivation influences in Table 12 represent the current list of
assumed motivational influences and whether the data validated them. As in Table 11, these
influences had a high probability of validation. Table 12 also shows the recommendations for
these knowledge influences based on theoretical principles.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 89

Table 12
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Validated
Yes, High
Probability,
No (V, HP,
N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Goal orientation:
providing
motivational
materials to staff
members and
volunteers to get
excited about the
company’s global
goal.
HP Y Focus on mastery,
individual
improvement,
learning, and
progress promotes
motivation (Yough &
Anderman, 2006).
Goals motivate and
direct staff
members/volunteers
(Pintrich, 2002).
Encourage staff
members/volunteers to set
specific goals and measurable
performance goals.
Use a cooperative and
collaborative group of staff
members/volunteers to allow
for opportunities to attain both
organizational and professional
goals such as being a better
presenter or counselor for
women business owners.
Self-efficacy:
IEWBC staff
members and
volunteers should
believe they have
the talent and skills
to motivate women
business owners to
be successful.
HP Y High self-efficacy
can positively
influence motivation
(Pajares, 2009).
There is an
enhancement to
learning and
motivation when staff
members and
volunteers have
positive expectancies
for success (Pajares,
2009).
Have monthly informal
recognition for staff
members/volunteers who
receive positive feedback from
women business owners,
whether in class or in other
interactions.
Motivation Recommendations
Goal orientation. Providing motivational materials to staff members and volunteers may
help them to become more passionate about the company’s global goal. To be successful, it is
important to create feelings of success in an organization that occur to the degree that staff
members and volunteers see that they can grow and meet job expectations by pursuing and
attaining goals that are important and meaningful to them, as well as to the women business
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 90

owners they serve (Latham & Locke, 2006). By providing a cooperative and collaborative group
of staff members/volunteers with opportunities to attain both organizational and professional
goals, such as being better presenters or counselors for women business owners, helps to focus
on mastery, individual improvement, and goal setting.
The IEWBC needs to encourage staff members and volunteers to set specific goals and
measurable performance goals that help to move the organization towards achieving its goal of
assisting 353 women to become successful by the end of 2018. In doing this, it will create a
“we” culture in the organization. According to Clark and Estes (2002), a “we” culture in an
organization values collective effort and teamwork. When team members see themselves as part
of something bigger and more important than the efforts of an individual, this can create a
motivated and goal-oriented team. Creating a “we” atmosphere develops more strength and
energy for the organization to meet its goals, and the staff members and volunteers feel part of
something bigger than themselves, namely the support of women business owners.
Self-efficacy. To succeed, the IEWBC needs to ensure that staff members and volunteers
believe they have the talent and skills to motivate women business owners to be successful.
Bandura (1986) believed that self-efficacy has a significant, positive relationship to future
performance, and that it influences the choice of actions and performance of individuals.
Therefore, to help staff members and volunteers to improve self-efficacy, having monthly,
informal recognition for staff members/volunteers who receive positive feedback from women
business owners, whether in class or in other interactions, will provide a boost to the staff
members’/volunteers’ self-efficacy, and there is a greater chance of them repeating the positive
behavior.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 91

Helping to create high self-efficacy within the organization can positively influence
motivation and the desired outcomes of the center (Pajares, 2009). It is important that staff
members and volunteers feel they are having an impact on the lives of the women business
owners and feel they are receiving acknowledgement for their efforts. It would be worthwhile to
recognize the staff members/volunteers publicly so that everyone can celebrate with those
receiving recognition and share what the women business owners say about their experience.
This may allow other staff members and volunteers to reflect on how they could use this best
practice when interacting with clients.
Organization Recommendations
Introduction. The organization influences in Table 13 represent the current list of
assumed organizational influences and whether the data validated them. As in Table 11, these
influences had a high probability of validation. The influences also reflect a high priority for
achieving the stakeholders’ goal. Table 13 also shows the recommendations for these highly
probable knowledge influences based on theoretical principles.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 92

Table 13
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Organization
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Validated
Yes, High
Probability,
No (V, HP,
N)
Priority
Yes,
No (Y,
N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Cultural Model
Influence 1: There is
resistance by the
office staff to
support any change
management efforts
from the
organizational
director.
HP Y Leaders should not focus
on culture change.
Focus on the business
problem: what is not
working. The key to
problem identification is
to be very specific
(Schein, 2004).
“Communicate” so the
staff members and
volunteers have some
input into problem
identification and change,
leading to buy-in and
support.
Model possible outcomes
using data, where possible,
prior to decision making.
The greater the potential
for negative consequences,
the greater the need for
due diligence prior to
making a decision.
Use servant leadership to
lead staff
members/volunteers to buy
into the goals.
Cultural Model
Influence 2: There is
a culture of pride and
wanting to be the
best women’s
business center
available; therefore,
there may be
pressure to excel at
all times.
HP Y It will enhance learning,
motivation, and
performance if
participants have clear,
current, and challenging
goals. They should be
timely, concrete (task-
focused), and goal-
focused (Kluger &
DeNisi, 1996).
When setting a goal, allow
the team to determine how
to reach it; demonstrate
confidence in the team’s
ability to succeed.
Provide timely, concrete,
goal-focused feedback to
the team monthly.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 93

Assumed Organization
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Validated
Yes, High
Probability,
No (V, HP,
N)
Priority
Yes,
No (Y,
N)
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Cultural Setting
Influence 1: There is
too much busy work:
directors are spread
too thin.
HP Y Expectancy/value: the
more people value a task
and the more they think
they are likely to
succeed at it, the better
they are likely to do it
(Eccles & Wigfield,
2000).
Take some time out to
reflect in action, on action,
and in future action to stay
focused and on task.
Train and utilize others to
delegate tasks to feel time
to focus on more important
tasks (80/20 rule).
Cultural Setting
Influence 2: There is
a lack of
accountability for
office staff
concerning following
the rules.
HP Y Adults are more
motivated to participate
(and learn) when they
see the relevance of
information, a request,
or a task (the “why”) to
their own circumstances.
(Knowles, 1980).
Ensure the staff
members/volunteers know
and understand the mission
and vision of the
organization. When a
behavior that does not
support the vision and
mission emerges, remind
the staff
members/volunteers of
them and why they are
important to the
organization.
Prepare a complete
organizational policies and
procedure binder, and ask
leaders to review it with all
staff members/volunteers.
Cultural Model Influence 1. According to Schein (2004), organizational leaders should
not focus on culture change, but they should focus change efforts on the organizational
problem(s). They should determine what is working and what is not working. The leaders at the
IEWBC need to have a clear understanding of operations and their functions in their
environment, what the strengths and weaknesses are, and how the proposed changes will affect
the organization (Dalziel & Schoonover, 1988). To be successful, the IEWBC leadership will
need to model possible outcomes using data, where possible, prior to decision making. This
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 94

approach will enable the IEWBC to become more innovative through careful consideration of all
dimensions and aspects of its business operations and systems (Schumpeter, 1934). The IEWBC
will need to understand that all organizations are systems that have their own cultures and that
special attention to performance issues that result from change efforts is necessary (Clark &
Estes, 2002).
To address performance issues resulting from change efforts, the IEWBC needs to have
its staff members and volunteers buy into the perspective change. The greater the potential for
negative consequences, the more important it is to conduct due diligence. Due diligence can be
the result of data collection, motivation, feedback, and access to expert skills, as well as team
collaboration and individual initiative (Clark & Estes, 2002). By helping staff members and
volunteers to accept change, the IEWBC can apply servant leadership. Servant leadership is
when an organization puts serving the needs of others before its own needs. Robert K.
Greenleaf’s idea of servant leadership emphasized increased service to others, including
employees, as a major priority (Spears, 2004). The IEWBC could apply a servant leadership
style in either formal and informal change programs or processes. The use of servant leadership
may assist staff members/volunteers to feel more supported and encouraged during the change
process, and it may assist buy-in of the new goals.
Cultural Model Influence 2. There is a culture of wanting to be the best business center
available for women business owners. Excellence depends on the ability of the IEWBC to find
funding and support for its centers, whether that funding is from state or government agencies or
is private/public funding. Learning, motivation, and performance will improve if staff members
and volunteers have clear, current, and challenging goals that are timely, concrete (task-focused),
and goal-focused (Kruger & DeNisi, 1996). When setting an organizational goal, the IEWBC
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 95

should allow some staff members/volunteers to assist in determining how to reach this goal,
demonstrating confidence in their ability to succeed and providing timely (monthly), concrete,
goal-focused feedback. Clear and candid communication demonstrates trust and allows staff
members/volunteers to adjust performance to overcome unexpected obstacles that prevent the
organizational excellence the IEWBC seeks (Clark & Estes, 2002).
Cultural Setting Influence 1. There is too much busy work: The director is spread too
thin and overextended. The center’s executive director needs more time to analyze problems and
master concerns by taking the time to review issues and problems and formulating ways to
overcome them. The best leaders learn to slow down and master time so that they become wiser,
have more energy, have better use of resources, and make more ethical decisions (Bennis &
Goldsmith, 2010). Managers need to train and utilize others to delegate tasks so they have time
to focus on more important tasks (80/20 rule). Another way to become more productive is to
block out half an hour each day to focus on the big picture and to listen to one’s inner voice
(Bennis & Goldsmith, 2010). Leaders should take time out to reflect in action, on action, and in
future action to stay focused and on task. To reflect on action helps to determine what worked
and what did not work in the past; reflection on action allows leaders to analyze at any given
moment or interaction, and it allows for immediate adjustment; and finally reflection in the
future allows managers to reflect on how they will apply what they learn to future endeavors.
Cultural Setting Influence 2. There is a lack of accountability for office staff
concerning following the rules. The staff members/volunteers have more motivation to
participate in achieving goals when they see the relevance of information, a request, or a task
(the “why”) to their own circumstances (Knowles, 1980).
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 96

Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
The implementation and evaluation plan the researcher has utilized in this section is the
Kirkpatrick new world model (Kirkpatrick Partners, 2016). According to the Kirkpatrick new
world model, an organization needs to begin with Level 4, desired results, and work its way
backwards through the other three levels: Level 3, behavior, Level 2, learning, and Level 1,
reaction. Starting at Level 4, desired results, assists an organization to determine how to observe
and measure leading indicators and critical behaviors to track the success of goals and to make a
positive impact on the desired results before beginning any change incentive (Kirkpatrick
Partners, 2016). In this upside-down approach to problem solving, once the desired goals or
outcomes are clear, it is easier to decide what critical behaviors are necessary to accomplish
those goals. Using this approach saves time and money on training and learning initiatives by
helping an organization to connect performance and results, whether formal or informal, with the
company’s values, making a larger impact for the organization.
Organizational Purpose, Need, and Expectations
The mission of the IEWBC is to look at past performance and community needs to
determine projected milestones and economic impacts. These milestones focus on helping
women to start and grow businesses by providing services that help to develop long-term
relationships. The IEWBC can counsel, teach, encourage, and inspire women business owners at
every stage of developing and expanding their businesses. In doing this, the IEWBC can support
353 women-owned start-up and established businesses to become more successful by the end of
2018.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 97

Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
Table 14 indicates the proposed Level 4 results and leading indicators, whether internal
or external outcomes, metrics, or methods for the IEWBC. If the IEWBC achieves its internal
outcomes, it will lead to greater success in external outcomes.
Table 14
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
1. Increase the number of women
business owners using the IEWBC
to assist in the economic health of
local communities.
The number of women
business owners increases
monthly, quarterly, and/or
year-over-year.
Evaluate the programs on offer
and determine whether it is
necessary to teach additional
classes or topics.
2. Increase the funding the center
receives.
The amount of money given to
the center increases.
Reach out to community leaders
and/or private owned business
that are willing to give
additional funding to the center.
3. Build a community brand. Attend one community event
monthly.
Visit business networking
groups, chambers of commerce,
college and university career
fairs.
4. Increase marketing efforts to
increase IEWBC brand profile.
Additional dollars spent on
marketing efforts. Track
marketing avenues to see what
is successful and what is not.
Use social media marketing and
use more e-mail marketing
campaigns.
Internal Outcomes
Reduce attrition of volunteers/staff
members.
a. Increase the quality of
people being hired. Ensure
that new hires want to do a
great job.
a. Increase funding to hire better
quality employees.
b. Conduct a training program
that does a better job of
onboarding employees.
b. Create an onboarding
program that covers all areas of
skills and knowledge for
success.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 98

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. The stakeholders of focus are the IEWBC staff members and
volunteers who are training and developing women business owners. The specific critical
behaviors, metrics, methods, and timing for each critical behavior are in Table 15.
Table 15
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s) Method(s) Timing
1. Share the
successes of the
women using the
center.
Hold meetings to notify
staff
members/volunteers.
1. Executive directors
will provide the status of
current women using the
centers and what
successes they have
achieved.
Monthly.
2. Have better
trained
administrative
staff.
Have a checklist for
necessary skills.
2a. On-the-job training. At the beginning of
employment.
Follow up to ensure
work is taking place
correctly.
2b. Observation and work
review.
Monthly.
3. Servant
leadership.
Servant leadership lifts
up the team with
confidence, which leads
to high performance.
3a. Staff
members/volunteers
understand and
implement servant
leadership.
Part of the day-to-day
operations.
Servant leadership leads
to more supportive and
creative employees.
3b. Give surveys to staff
members/volunteers and
women business owners.
Give bi-yearly surveys to
staff members/volunteers.
Give women business
owners surveys when they
complete a program. Do the
surveys online, if possible.
4. Use business
practices that
emphasize skills
women business
owners need in
training and
development.
The number of
performance-based
assessments staff
members/volunteers
use.
Use feedback from the
women business owners.
Part of monthly meetings.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 99

Required drivers. Staff members and volunteers need continuous support from the
executive leadership at IEWBC. Leaders need to exemplify servant leadership to show staff
members and volunteers how to interact with women business owners. Staff members and
volunteers need training and development from the time of employment through their tenure
with the IEWBC. This approach will assist in consistent practices and services that assist women
business owners to become successful. Table 16 lists these drivers.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 100

Table 16
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing Critical Behaviors
Supported: 1, 2, 3, etc.
Reinforcing
Job aid that includes techniques on how to interact with women
business owners when setting up both education and counseling.
Ongoing. 2, 3.
Have refresher training programs that provide leadership and
communication skills.
Quarterly. 2, 3, 4.
Have meetings to discuss the feedback of women business owners
to determine what is missing from the current training schedule.
Monthly. 4.
Encouraging
Have meetings so staff members and volunteers can support each
other and share best practices.
Quarterly. 2, 3, 4.
Have the center post positive comments from women business
owners about staff members and employees.
Monthly. 1, 3, 4.
Rewarding
Give a certificate to staff members and volunteers for following the
center’s policy and procedures. Example: employee of the month.
Monthly. 2.
Give fun trophies to staff members/volunteers who score the
highest in women business owners’ satisfaction.
Quarterly. 2, 3.
Monitoring
Observe staff members/volunteers on day-to-day operations,
classes, or counseling.
Monthly. 2, 3.
Ensure classes on offer are current and reflect the needs of women
business owners.
Quarterly. 4.
Organizational support. The executives at the IEWBC need to support the staff
members and volunteers by creating a culture model and setting that provides an environment
that is both supportive and directive in its expectations and organizational goals. Each staff
member and volunteer has a set of critical behaviors that are leading indicators for the success of
the center (Kirkpatrick Partners, 2016). The necessary critical behavior includes daily, weekly,
or monthly tasks and then observations and assessments to ensure that staff members and
volunteers follow the correct policy and procedure. The executive director needs to hold all staff
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 101

members and volunteers accountable to the same organizational guidelines. She can publicize
these guidelines by sharing calendars, by touching bases frequently, and at staff meetings. To
assist in the growth of the center, the staff members and volunteers also need to identify and
replicate best practices, as well as identifying any areas of weakness and moving to remove
them.
Level 2: Learning.
Learning goals. After completion of the recommended solutions, especially the initial
training, the staff members and volunteers will be able:
1. To have a clear understanding of the IEWBC operational and educational policies and
procedures (P).
2. To find better ways of marketing the center through social media marketing,
attending local chamber meetings, and networking with local business owners (P).
3. To develop new classes and programs to attract established women business owners
(C).
4. To self-assess and understand their instructor’s knowledge and how they learn new
ways of learning and teaching (M).
5. To create strategies and research-based learning processes (C).
6. To find ways to educate employees so that the information becomes accessible from
LTM and easy to apply (P).
Program. The learning goals in the previous section will be achievable with a training
program that thoroughly assists in achieving the learning and development of the staff members
and volunteers at the IEWBC. This training and development will cover the policies,
procedures, and operational practices of the IEWBC. The staff members and volunteers will
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 102

learn about what leaders expect of them in their respective roles and how they can better support
the center and the women business owners who use it. The training and development of new
staff members or volunteers will start immediately upon hiring, and it will last the first 90 days
of employment. During this time, the director of the center will provide training and evaluation
of job performance, create monthly action plans to support areas of weakness, and create an
evaluation schedule with follow-up dates.
With the existing staff members, the director of the center will evaluate job performance
through making observations, reviewing feedback from clients, and creating an ongoing strategic
plan that will improve the skills, knowledge, and motivation of the participants. These action
items should take place within the first 6 months of the training and development program to
bring the participants to an understanding of their job duties and to enhance their interactions
with the women business owners. The training will also include what managers expect
concerning the organization’s cultural setting, and it will help the participants to feel they are
part of something bigger than themselves.
Components of learning. It is imperative when planning a training program,
to make the training purposeful and deliberate to the degree to which participants receive the
knowledge, skills, attitudes, confidence, and commitment based on their participation in the
training program (Kirkpatrick Partners, 2016). Table 17 sets out these components of learning.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 103

Table 17
Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge: “I know it.”
Knowledge checks using multiple
choices.
After reviewing and learning the IEWBC policies and procedural
manuals.
Check for understanding throughout
the training through discussion in
small groups.
Throughout the new hire orientation and follow-up training, have
open discussions on why it is important to follow policies and
procedures.
Procedural Skills: “I can do it right now.”
Checklist of observations. During and after training.
Asking questions for understanding
during training and through a survey
at the end of the training program.
During and after training.
Attitude: “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Discussion on the values of the
IEWBC.
During training.
Discussion of any areas of concern
about the center or women business
owners.
During and after training.
Workshop and counseling
observations by center leadership.
After training.
Confidence: “I think I can do it on the job.”
Mentoring and coaching. After training.
Survey about staff members’ and
volunteers’ abilities to apply what
they learn.
During and after training.
Commitment: “I will do it on the job.”
Discussion of any issues and praise
goals.
During and after training.
Self-report abilities to apply what
participants learn.
After training.
Create an action plan on how to
implement new skills.
After training.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 104

Level 1: Reaction
After training takes place, it is imperative to get immediate feedback from the staff
members and volunteers about the quality of the training programs. Table 18 lists the methods
or tools to evaluate the three components of Level 1, reaction: engagement, relevance, and
customer satisfaction.
Table 18
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program.
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Individual knowledge test (hand-out). Ongoing during portions of the
training.
Teach back: participants teach portions of the material to other
participants to check for understanding.
During training.
Action planning: participants create an action plan on how they will
apply what they learn.
After training.
Survey via e-mail. After training
Relevance
Course training evaluation. Immediately after training and
three weeks later.
Pulse check after training to check for relevance. Immediately after training and
three weeks later.
Customer Satisfaction
Ask how to improve the training via a survey question. Three weeks later.
Ask if participants would recommend this training to other staff
members/volunteers in the future via a survey question.
Three weeks later.
Evaluation Tools
Immediately following the program implementation. During the initial and follow-up
surveys, the staff members and volunteers will receive a survey via e-mail which will include
both multiple-choice survey questions and open-ended questions. These data will show how
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 105

engaged the participant was in the training program. Additionally, the director of the center
should apply the training material to the appropriate operations, counseling, or training sessions.
Also, after the observations, the director should follow up with questions about the relevance of
the material. This follow-up can take place through one-on-ones or in group meetings. After the
initial training, participants will receive an e-mail survey that assesses their satisfaction and the
relevance of the training (Level 1) and their knowledge of, confidence in, and the value of the
training (Level 2). During the training, there will be opportunities for the center leaders to pause
and answer questions about the relevance of the material as well as their overall satisfaction with
the content and the means of delivery of the training (Appendix C).
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. About four weeks after the
initial training, and then again at 12 weeks, the leaders will e-mail surveys to all participants
containing both open and scaled questions using the Blended Evaluation Approach. Using this
timeline will allow enough time for staff members and volunteers to put into practice what they
learned in training and to share their thoughts on its implementation and relevance. The
objective of the survey is to gather information from the participants on their satisfaction and the
relevance of the training (Level 1), the confidence level of the participants and the value they
place on the training (Level 2), how they are applying what they have learned to the operations,
educational workshops, and counseling of women business owners (Level 3), and how the staff
members’ and volunteers’ actions reflect the center’s organizational values and mission (Level 4;
see Appendix D).
Data Analysis and Reporting
The measure of the Level 4 goal for the staff members and volunteers is how they
conform to new policies and procedures of the organization and how they apply the skills and
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 106

knowledge they learn in training the IEWBC provides. These data result from several types of
analysis. One type of analysis is leadership observations, with a section for additional notes for
sharing with the staff member or volunteer. Table 19 shows the observation checklist for staff
members’ or volunteers’ ability to follow policies and procedures and implement the training
they receive. The second analysis uses informal performance evaluation, and it happens once a
quarter. These performance evaluations rate the staff members’ and volunteers’ application of
skills and knowledge from previous training.
Once the staff member or volunteer has undergone evaluation, leaders will provide a
simple SMART action plan to assist the staff member/volunteer to achieve organizational goals
for the next quarter. The managers will share the information from the observations with the
participants at these quarterly evaluations. They will discuss any immediate concerns about
performance with the staff members/volunteers at the time of the concern to redirect the
performance behavior towards the goals and expectations of the IEWBC. The IEWBC
leadership team will receive information from observations at monthly meetings, whether in
person or via Zoom. The observation worksheets and quarterly action plans will include
principles from all four levels of Kirkpatrick Partners’ (2016) new world model. This analysis
and data collection should be successful, because it should aid the ongoing development of the
staff members and volunteers, which in turn will allow for the success of the IEWBC.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 107

Table 19
IEWBC Observation Worksheet
Observation 100-90% 89-80% 79-65% <65%
Level 4 - Results
Staff member or volunteer is following the mission, values,
and vision of the IEWBC.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff member or volunteer is following organizational
policies and procedures when interacting with women
business owners.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Participants receive a formative assessment after each
training class or counseling session to modify information
delivery effectively, if necessary.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Level 3 - Behavior
Staff member or volunteer is following the IEWBC policies
and procedures.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff member or volunteer is actively working on achieving
goals set in quarterly action plans.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff member or volunteer has received a reward or
recognition for quality performance.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff member or volunteer is working in a professional
manner when interacting with women business owners as
determined by the IEWBC.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff member or volunteer is sharing information during
meetings on how the center can provide better assistance to
women business owners.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Level 2 - Learning
Staff members and volunteers have demonstrated knowledge
of the IEWBC policies and procedures in post evaluation and
feedback.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 108

Observation 100-90% 89-80% 79-65% <65%
Staff members or volunteers can demonstrate that they can
implement and apply skills, knowledge and feedback on the
post evaluation.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff members or volunteers show confidence that they can
implement the operational policies and procedures of the
IEWBC.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff members or volunteers are indicating commitment to
implementing policies and procedures they learn in post
evaluation.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Level 1 - Reaction
Staff members or volunteers indicate engagement in the
initial training program.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff member or volunteer is indicating that the initial
training was relevant to his or her job responsibilities.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Staff or volunteer is indicating that the training was useful.
◽ ◽ ◽ ◽
Summary
The researcher used the Kirkpatrick new world model (Kirkpatrick Partners, 2016) to
plan, implement, and evaluate the recommendations for the IEWBC to achieve its goal of
helping 353 women business owners to become successful by the end of 2018. This model was
useful in evaluating whether the IEWBC would meet the expectations for the Kirkpatrick model:
results, behavior, learning, and reaction. The Kirkpatrick model supports the notion that the
organization can determine how it will evaluate and collect data on the success of any training
program before starting and throughout the training and outcomes processes. This model will
allow the IEWBC to adjust or modify the training process to ensure that it is meeting the goals
and expectations of the organization and the participants. Level 1 has the potential for success,
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 109

because the IEWBC will continuously ask the participants for understanding and it will modify
the training as necessary.
Because of the modification process in Level 1, Level 2 will also create success. The
participants will feel they have more confidence in understanding and applying the operational
policies and procedures, as well as being able to understand and implement the organization’s
mission, vision, and values when dealing with women business owners. The success of the
program will result in staff members and volunteers having the ability to apply what they learn to
their day-to-day duties and responsibilities (Level 3). When the staff members and volunteers
apply what they have learned, it will affect the financial success of the center, as more women
business owners will take classes and there will be more donations to the center from outside
organizations, like Citibank or the SBA. The implementation of the Kirkpatrick new world
model may help to create a positive impact on the IEWBC in its goal to assist 353 women
business owners to become successful and to grow and reach more women, which in turn will
support the communities they serve.
Limitations and Delimitations
The researcher used a qualitative approach that included a focus group and document and
artifact analysis. The researcher also conducted a focus group. Prior to the focus group, the
researcher told the participants that their identities within the research project would remain
confidential to ensure that they felt safe in sharing their viewpoints about the IEWBC and their
roles in it. Due to the long distances between the centers, some participants were present at the
Colton location, while others phoned in and participated via Zoom. Zoom is a program that
enables an easy, reliable cloud audio conferencing platform. The researcher’s goal was to have
8-10 participants, which was difficult until the researcher decided to use Zoom. Using Zoom in
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 110

this qualitative data collection impacted the study in two ways, one with a positive effect and one
with a negative effect. The positive effect was the ability to use audio conferencing, which
enabled the researcher to assemble the necessary number of staff members and volunteer
participants in the focus group. Out of the 10 focus group participants, three were present with
the researcher and seven conferenced in from a variety of locations.
The negative effect was that the researcher could not see the body language or facial
expressions of participant's conferencing in during the focus group discussion. Having the
opportunity to read subtle facial expressions and body language would have allowed the
researcher to see how all 10 participants related to each other during the discussion.
Only one hour was available for the focus group due to time constraints of participants.
The researcher feels this hindered the opportunity to ask more questions and dig deeper into the
answers the participants gave. There were several topics the researcher wanted to have the
participants elaborate more on, which would have provided a better rounded discussion.
The data collected took place over a two-month period, due to the center having to go
through a reaccreditation, which kept the director and other staff members very busy. This
reaccreditation made it difficult to reach the director of the center for the documentation and
information the researcher needed for the study. Once this reaccreditation was complete, the
director allowed time to meet with the researcher. The director provided information regarding
the reception and distribution of funds; however, the researcher did not receive any
documentation.
The researcher restricted the data collection to staff members and volunteers of the
IEWBC. These delimitations were necessary to complete the study in the allotted time frame,
which had an impact on the study. Women business owners and other women (or men) using the
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 111

center might have provided important perspectives and further detail about how the IEWBC is
achieving its goals. Additionally, this study focused solely on staff members and volunteers of
the IEWBC’s three locations; therefore, the findings may not reflect or represent the views or
operations of other women business centers in California or across the United States.
Future Research
After reviewing the limitations and delimitations of the study, the researcher developed
several recommendations for future research. A recommendation would be to conduct a
longitudinal study that includes women business owners, representative(s) from the IECE at
CSUSB, and representative(s) from the SBA, who work with and support the center. This
research would allow for a wider perspective of individuals and organizations who are partnering
with the IEWBC to help it to achieve its goals of supporting and educating women business
owners. Also, this additional research would give the viewpoint of women who use or have used
the center and have an understanding how the IEWBC affected their businesses and
communities.
Another recommendation would be to conduct a comparison study of women business
centers across the United States to determine whether the challenges facing the IEWBC are
unique to it or widespread. By conducting a nationwide comparative study, it may be possible to
identify best practices, allowing woman business centers to learn from each other.
While conducting research for this project, the researcher found that from the late 1970s
to the early 1990s, there were many studies of women business owners and the struggles they
faced. This interest seems to have waned in the decades since; however, the problems that
women business owners face are still as relevant today as they were then. In 1992, an article
published in the Journal of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice discussed the differences
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 112

between male and female business owners in educational and professional backgrounds, their
motivations for business ownership, business goals, and business growth, and their approaches to
starting a business (Brush, 1992). Brush (1992) stated that to that date, researchers had
recognized those differences, but they had not fully explained or clarified them. The researcher
speculates that this last situation is still prevalent today. To have a deeper understanding of the
problems women business owners face, the reasons behind them, and how they can be overcome,
more research on this topic is necessary.
Conclusion
At the IEWBC and other women business centers across California and the United States,
helping women business owners to become successful is the goal and passion. The researcher
set out to evaluate how successful the IEWBC was in its goal to help 353 women business
owners by the end of 2018. The researcher selected the staff members and volunteers as the
primary stakeholders, as they are the primary providers of the training, workshops, counseling,
and any other interactions with women business owners using their centers. To understand any
gaps in the services provided, the researcher used Clark and Estes’s (2008) gap analysis model to
produce and examine any knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that may have
affected the staff members and volunteers. Within this framework, the data revealed that the
staff members and volunteers who participated in the focus group have the knowledge and
motivation to assist women business owners, while some other volunteers are not as dedicated
and are only volunteering for personal gain through a social program working with the center.
Recommendations to address these organizational issues include better hiring and interviewing
techniques, as well as better onboarding and training. Other recommendations include
improving communication, increasing the use of job aids, and increasing spending on marketing.
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 113

This study will help the IEWBC to understand current organizational practices and how
they impact its ability to achieve its organizational goals. It identified gaps in performance
within the IEWBC that leaders can address through evaluation, training, and individual goal
getting (that supports the organization’s overall goals). Furthermore, the results of this study
could impact other women business centers in California and in the United States that may face
the same struggles as the IEWBC. Since research in women business owners has waned in the
past decades, this study and future studies can shed light to the ongoing issues facing women
business owners in their desires to become successful entrepreneurs. It is important to
implement strategies to support women business owners not only to reach their full potential, but
also to be competitive and successful.

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 114

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SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 126

Appendix A: Focus Group Interview Questions
The following questions were used to determine the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational aspects of the IEWBC and how they meet their objective in helping women
business owners become successful. The staff members and volunteers were randomly selected
for the focus group interview and contacted by e-mail and invited to participate in a one-hour
focus group interview. The qualitative analysis will consist of a total of 8-10 staff members and
volunteers who work at one of the three IEWBC locations.
The focus group interview was conducted in one of the IEWBC locations. The
researcher conducted the focus group interview by taking notes and audio recorded the
participants. The researcher thanked the participants for allowing her to interview them provided
the participants a release form for both the interview and the audio recording. The researcher
took notes and had several audio devices to ensure no information is lost due to a technical
malfunction. The researcher explained to the participant that the information will be stored in a
safe place and not shared with anyone and that their identity will be kept anonymous. The
questions below were answered during the focus group interview:
(Introductory text here)
1. Describe the daily process which you typically work with woman business owners?
2. If I was in one of the training classes, what would my experience be like?
3. How are decisions made to the content and delivery of training?
4. Do you feel the center director has enough time for staff development and training?
5. What is your opinion of the courses offered at the IEWBC? What would you like to
see added or removed?
6. How satisfied are you with the programs offered at the IEWBC? Why?
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 127

7. How did you become part of the IEWBC program? Describe the process.
8. Do you feel the center director has enough time for staff development and training?
Assumed Motivational Influences and Proposed Assessments.
9. What do you want to accomplish when working with women business owners?
10. What are your thoughts about your own effectiveness or ineffectiveness as an
instructor or counselor?
11. How do you feel about your ability to motivate women business owners to become
successful?
12. Do you feel your interactions with women business owners are motivating and
empowering?
Culture
13. Do you feel some staff or volunteers resist change? If yes: What can the director do
to better communicate change to reduce resistance?
14. Do you feel staff members/volunteers are being held accountable for following rules
and regulations of the IEWBC?
15. What can the director do a better job communicating with the staff
members/volunteers?
16. Do you feel the center’s director has enough time for staff development and training?

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 128

Appendix B: Informed Consent Form Focus Group Interview
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
INFORMED CONSENT FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH
The IEWBC and Their Support of Women Business Owners
You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Colleen Meyer, MBA, who is
supported by her Dissertation Chair, Dr. Monique Datta at the University of Southern California,
because you are a staff member or volunteer for the IEWBC. Your participation is voluntary.
You should read the information below, and ask questions about anything you do not understand,
before deciding whether to participate. Please take as much time as you need to read the consent
form. You may also decide to discuss participation with your family or friends. If you decide to
participate, you will be asked to sign this form. You will be given a copy of this form.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study is to determine how well the IEWBC is doing in regards to their goals
in providing support, education, and counseling to women business owners.
STUDY PROCEDURES
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you may be asked to participate in a focus group
interview.
 The focus group interview will be held at one of the three IEWBC locations. Questions
will be asked in regards to the knowledge, motivation, and organizational aspects of the
IEWBC. The focus group interview will be audio taped and notes will be taken by the
researcher. All information is confidential and will be destroyed at the end of the study.
Focus group interview should be approx. one hour long. Focus group interview
participants will be randomly chosen from a list of staff members/volunteers, similar to
“tossing a coin”.
POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS
There are no anticipated risks to participants of this study.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
The benefit to participating in this study is providing insight into the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational aspects of the IEWBC and assist in evaluating the daily operations. As part of the
IEWBC, your voice can be heard. In doing this, ideas may be developed to assist the IEWBC
become a stronger organization, through education, staff development, or culture. Since this is a
research study, the ideas and benefits are contingent upon the results. The benefits and ideas are
anticipated, not guaranteed.
The benefit to society is that the IEWBC can find additional ways to service women business
owners, who in turn, may have greater success and improve the communities around them.
Since this is a research study, the ideas and benefits to the community are contingent upon the
results. The benefits and ideas are anticipated, not guaranteed
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 129

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
 Participants will not be paid for participating in this research study.

POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST OF THE INVESTIGATOR
 The researcher is a volunteer (non-paid) instructor for the IEWBC-Colton location. The
researcher conducts approx. 2 classes a quarter or approx. 6 classes a year (2 x 4 = 6).
The researcher has NO financial interest in the IEWBC.
CONFIDENTIALITY
We will keep records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law. The members of the
research team and the University of Southern California’s Human Subjects Protection Program
(HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors research studies to protect the
rights and welfare of research subjects.
 The data will be stored in the researchers lap top and travel drive. The laptop and travel
drive are password protected. The lap top and travel drive will be kept in a locked office.
No one except the researcher will have access to these items.
 The participant’s right to review/edit the audio recordings or transcripts. The researcher,
the dissertation chair, and the transcriber will be the only ones with access to the audio–
recordings.
 Personal identities will be disguised by referring the participants as Participant 1 (P1),
Participant 2 (P2), etc.
 The audio-recordings will be erased at the end of the study.
 Please note that data must be kept for a minimum of three years after the completion of
the study.
PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your participation is voluntary. Your refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of
benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at any time and
discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or
remedies because of your participation in this research study.
INVESTIGATOR ’S CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact Colleen
Meyer, Researcher at 909-647-7474 or via e-mail at meyercol@usc.edu or Dr. Monique Datta,
Dissertation Chair, at mdatta@usc.edu.
RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT – IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant or the
research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone
independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board
(UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 130

I agree to participate and have read and understand above consent form:
Participant Name Date

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 131

Appendix C: Assessment and Grading Initial Training Workshop Evaluation
The purpose of this survey is to evaluate the training provided regarding improving the daily
operations, training workshops, and counseling sessions at the IEWBC. Your feedback is
important to assess the quality of the training as well as ongoing support that may be needed to
reinforce your learning. Your responses to this survey will help determine any future training
sessions.
Factor Strongly
Agree
Agree Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Level 1 – Engagement
This training held my interest.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
My participation was encouraged by the facilitator.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
Level 1 – Relevance
What I learned in training will help me perform my
job.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
I am clear about what is expected of me when
working at the center.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
Level 1 – Customer Satisfaction
Looking back, this training was a good use of my
time.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
Level 2 – Knowledge
I clearly understand the IEWBC policies and
procedures.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 132

Factor Strongly
Agree
Agree Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Level 2 – Attitude
I believe it is worthwhile to apply what I learned.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
Level 2 - Confidence
I am confident I will receive the necessary support
to successfully support what I learned.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
Level 2 - Commitment
I am committed to applying what I learned to my
responsibilities at the IEWBC.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4

SUPPORTING WOMEN’S BUSINESS OWNERS 133

Appendix D: Assessment and Training Program Evaluation
The purpose of this survey is to evaluate the ongoing training you have participated in
regarding operations teaching workshops, and counseling session at the IEWBC. Your responses
will assist in understanding your level of satisfaction, level of learning, and level of
implementation of the training, and how successful the training has been in helping you achieve
your goals at the IEWBC.
Factor Strongly
Agree
Agree Disagree Strongly
Disagree
L1: Reaction
What I learned in training has been useful in
understanding the expectations of the IEWBC of
me.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
This training was a good use of my time.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
L2: Learning
I find that the skills, knowledge, and strategies
learned in training help me provide a higher
quality of service to women business owners.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
L3: Behavior
I have successfully applied what I learned in
training to my position at the IEWBC.
❍ 1 ❍ 2 ❍ 3 ❍ 4
L4: Results
The new skills and knowledge.
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study employed a qualitative research approach to evaluate how the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center (IEWBC) is performing in regard to its goal of helping 353 women business owners to become successful by the end of 2018. The researcher assessed the organization, including staff members and volunteers, on its interactions with women business owners in the form of training, workshops, and counseling sessions. Staff members and volunteers representing all three of IEWBC locations participated in a focus group regarding their dealings with women business owners and the general operations of the center. The researcher used Clark and Estes’s Gap Analysis Framework to assess the knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences of staff members and volunteers in training, workshops, counseling, and the operations of the center. The findings of this assessment revealed that the staff members and volunteers possessed the skills and knowledge to understand what women business owners needed to be successful, and they knew how to deliver the information. The responses from the staff members and volunteers indicated that they had the motivation to help women business owners to achieve their professional goals, and they dedicated time to assist women to overcome any obstacles they faced. Even with the knowledge and motivation of the staff members and volunteers, the IEWBC faced organizational barriers to reaching and supporting a larger audience of women business owners. Those barriers included lack of funds to market the center, lack of training and development of staff members and volunteers, especially during the on boarding process, and finding and hiring quality staff members and volunteers. The findings of this study emphasized the need for training and development of staff members and volunteers, utilizing developmental action plans with follow-up, and finding new and innovative ways to market to the center. The development and implementation of an effective plan to address these organizational issues could allow the IEWBC to expand its ability to provide a larger variety of programs to women business owners and to increase the success and funding of the organization.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Meyer, Colleen Elizabeth (author)

Core Title Supporting women business owners: the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center: an evaluation study

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 03/29/2018

Defense Date 03/29/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Business,Discrimination,Family,OAI-PMH Harvest,Race,Sex,Women

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Datta, Monique (committee chair), Hanson, Kathy (committee member), Picus, Lawrence (committee member)

Creator Email meyerandmintz@gmail.com,meyercol@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-487839

Unique identifier UC11267206

Identifier etd-MeyerColle-6133.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-487839 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-MeyerColle-6133.pdf

Dmrecord 487839

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Meyer, Colleen Elizabeth

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA