METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

According to Zikmund (2003:66), the technique that is most often used by researchers to produce primary data, is the use of surveys. A survey can be defined as a research technique where information is collected from a sample of people by means of a questionnaire. Surveys present researchers with a swift, cost-effective, efficient and accurate means of evaluating information regarding a population (Zikmund 2003:175). The survey technique was used in this study to gather raw data

on the factors that influence the Perceived success of copreneurships in South Africa. The respondents were sent a structured, self-administered questionnaire via postal mail or email.

The process of developing the measuring instrument will be described in the sections that follow. This description will include the questions used to determine if the respondents were suitable to participate in the study, as well as an operational definition for each of the variables of interest. In addition, the process of developing valid and reliable measurement scales and the administration of the questionnaires will be discussed.

5.2.3.1 Instrument development

In the present study, the measuring instrument employed consisted of a covering letter and two sections (See Annexure A). A detailed description of the purpose of the study and the type of information requested was provided in the cover letter. The cover letter also included a promise of confidentiality and instructions on how to complete and return the questionnaire. The survey was sponsored by a registered research centre at the NMMU, namely the Unit of Applied Management Sciences (previously known as the Unit for Applied Business Management). In addition, the official stationery of this unit was used as the template for the cover letter.

Section 1 consisted of 104 statements (items) relating to the various relational and organisational-based factors influencing a copreneurship. A 7-point Likert-type interval scale was employed, and each respondent was asked to indicate the extent to which he/she agreed with each statement. The 7-point Likert-type interval scale was understood as 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree. Items were adapted and designed to measure the factors influencing the success of copreneurships, as perceived by the respondents.

Section 2 requested demographic information relating to both the respondent and the copreneurial business. The information requested concerning the respondent included the respondent’s gender, ethnicity, age and involvement in the business.

The information requested that related to the copreneurial business included the

status of the copreneurship, the tenure of the business, location of the business, leadership, number of employees, and activities of the business. In addition, Section 3 requested demographic information relating to the family, such as the stage of the children, number of children and length of time married. Section 4 of the questionnaire requested information relating to the ownership structure of the copreneurship.

5.2.3.2 Qualifying questions

As already mentioned, a sampling unit is a single element or group of elements that are subject to selection in the sample (Zikmund 2003:375). For the purpose of this study, copreneurial partners were considered the sampling units. A copreneurship consists of a husband-and-wife team (or life-partners) who share the ownership and/or management of a business, which includes sharing the responsibility for all the activities within that business. The husband and wife (or life-partners) must both be actively involved in the management and/or decision-making of the business, and both have considerable influence over decision-making in the business. In terms of this definition, the spouses need not share ownership of the business in order to qualify as copreneurs.

Individuals who were previously involved in a copreneurship also qualified to participate in this study. It was requested that these respondents answer the statements contained in the questionnaire in a way that best reflected the conditions present in their final year of involvement in the copreneurial business.

Potential respondents were contacted telephonically to determine if they were willing to participate in the study. These respondents were also asked several qualifying questions to ensure that they did in fact qualify to partake in the study. Section 2 of the questionnaire included several questions that required the respondents to verify that their family business could be described as a copreneurship, either currently or formerly in operation. The respondents were asked to specify whether both spouses had an influence over the management and/or decision-making of the business, as well as how the business ownership was shared between them. Respondents were also asked to indicate the number of full-time employees working in their business, to

ensure that the business was in fact a small or medium-sized family business. As a result of the above-mentioned qualifying questions, it was possible to minimise response error.

5.2.3.3 Scale development and operationalisation

According to Cooper and Schindler (2007:38), an operational definition is stated in terms of specific criteria for testing or measurement. The operational definition should state the particular features of the object being defined, as well as how these features are to be observed. Hair et al. (2006:735) propose that the process of operationalisation commences by defining the constructs concerned, thus providing a foundation for selecting the individual indicator items. The actual operationalisation of the construct then entails selecting suitable items for the measurement scale, as well as the type of measurement scale.

The measuring scale developed by Farrington (2009), in her study investigating the effectiveness of sibling teams, was used as the primary source to generate items to measure the constructs in the present study. The literature study revealed several factors not accounted for in Farrington’s (2009) scales that could influence the success of copreneurial businesses. Additional items were therefore formulated to measure these factors from a rigorous analysis of secondary sources, as well as items that had proved valid and reliable in previous empirical studies.

The various operational definitions of the dependent and intervening variables used in this study will be presented in Table 5.1. These definitions are based on an interpretation of secondary sources as well as existing empirical studies. In addition, the source of the items used to measure the selected variables will be provided.

Where necessary, the items have been reworded to make them more relevant to couples in business together.

Table 5.1: Operationalisation of the dependent, intervening and independent variables influencing the Perceived success of copreneurships

Dependent variable: Perceived success Items Source

The degree to which the copreneurs find their ongoing involvement in the copreneurship as both satisfying and beneficial to their family, marriage and personal development.

3 Farrington 2009 Intervening variable: Financial performance Items Source Refers to positive trends of growth in the number of employees

and profits, as well as increasing revenue experienced by the copreneurial business.

6 Farrington 2009 Independent variables: Relational-based Items Source

Spousal relationship

Refers to a relationship characterised by

support, understanding and managed conflict. 7 Farrington 2009 Respect and

trust

Refers to the copreneurs respecting each other and each other’s opinions, as well as trusting each other’s integrity, judgement and abilities.

6 Farrington 2009

Fairness

Refers to the copreneurs believing that their working arrangement is fair in terms of workload, compensation, status and family responsibilities.

4 Farrington 2009

3

Charles 2006; Cox et al.

1984; Millman & Martin 2007; Ponthieu &

Caudill 1993.

Open

communication

Refers to the copreneurs being able to communicate openly as well as sharing all information with each other.

5 Farrington 2009

Balance

between work and family

The spouses’ business does not interfere with their family obligations and time to attend to household responsibilities, and work and family obligations are not in conflict with each other.

1 Charles 2006; Van Auken & Werbel 2006.

3 Farrington, Gray &

Sharp 2009.

3 Cox et al. 1984

Family harmony

Refers to copreneurs being emotionally attached to one another, appreciative of each other, caring about one another’s welfare, enjoying spending special time together, sharing common interests, and getting along well both inside and outside the working environment.

3 Farrington 2009

3 Cox et al. 1984

Commitment to the business

Refers to the copreneurs being committed to their business, in that they really care about its fate and feel emotionally attached to the business. It demonstrates copreneurs’

readiness and commitment to work with their spouses in the business and to exert a considerable amount of effort to aid the success and continuation of the spouse’s business.

10 Arnolds 2005; Boshoff &

Arnolds 1995.

Table 5.1: Operationalisation of the dependent, intervening and independent variables influencing the Perceived success of copreneurships continued

Non-family involvement

Refers to copreneurs involving non-family members in their family business. The nature of this involvement, may include, among others, consultants, advisors, board members or non-family employees.

6 Farrington 2009

Independent variables: Organisational-based Items Source

Shared dream

Refers to the extent to which the dreams that individual spouses have for themselves in the copreneurship are aligned with each other’s dreams, and that their involvement in the copreneurship is entirely willing and voluntary.

The extent to which the spouses agree on the future direction of the copreneurship also forms part of this factor.

6 Farrington 2009

Leadership and planning

Refers to the spouses having a consultative or participative leadership style, having referent and expert leadership, and being visionary in terms of strategic planning.

8 Farrington 2009

Complementary skills

Refers to the spouses being competent and possessing complementary competencies.

These competencies should exist in different areas, meaning that the spouses should possess a diversity of skills within their team.

Diversity will exist if the spouses have strengths in different areas and their skills and competencies complement each other’s.

6 Farrington 2009

Division of labour

Refers to each spouse being assigned a clearly demarcated area of authority and responsibility in the business, as well as the spouses being in agreement on this assignment.

6 Farrington 2009

Internal context

Refers to the internal environment of the copreneurial business, particularly in terms of access to adequate and suitable resources, information, equipment, employees and working conditions.

6 Farrington 2009

Governance

Refers to the overall existence of governance structures, policies and procedures in the copreneurship.

6 Farrington 2009

Certain factors operationalised in Table 5.1 above warrant further discussion. These factors were developed for the purpose of this study, and were not taken from Farrington’s (2009) study.

In this study, seven items were used to measure the dependent variable Perceived success. With slight adjustment to the wording, three of Farrington’s (2009) items were used, and four additional items were self-constructed. The four additional items were based on the literature (Garza 2003; Handler 1991; Ivancevich et al. 2005;

Sharma 2004; Venter 2003).

To measure the independent factor Fairness, a seven-item scale was developed.

This scale was based on the literature (Charles 2006; Millman & Martin 2007;

Ponthieu & Caudill 1993), and with minor changes to the wording, two of Cox et al.’s (1984) and four of Farrington’s (2009) items were used.

In order to measure the factor Balance between work and family, a seven-item scale was constructed. With minor changes to the wording, to make the items more suited to couples in business together, three items were obtained from Cox et al.’s (1984) scale and another three items were from Farrington et al. (2009). Farrington et al. (2009) reported a Cronbach-alpha coefficient of 0.85 for their scale. The remaining item was based on the literature (Charles 2006; Van Auken & Werbel 2006).

For the purpose of measuring the factor Family harmony, a six-item scale was developed. With minor adjustments to the wording, four of Farrington’s (2009) and one of Cox et al.’s (1984) items were used. The remaining item was developed from the literature (Adendorff 2004; Charles 2006; Hess 2006).

The factor Commitment to the business was measured using a self-constructed 10-item scale. With slight changes to the wording, selected 10-items from the scales of Arnolds (2005) and Boshoff and Arnolds (1995), were used in the development of this scale. Arnolds (2005) and Boshoff and Arnolds (1995) reported Cronbach-alpha coefficients of 0.92 and 0.87 respectively, for these scales.