Entrepreneurship as a solution: the allure of self-employment for women and minorities Madeline E. Heilman*, Julie J. Chen Department of Psychology, New York University, Room 576, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003, USA Abstract In this paper, we discuss the experiences that women and minorities encounter in organizational settings that result in frustration and discontent with corporate life and their opportunities for advancement. We suggest that such experiences push many of these individuals out of organizations, attracting them to entrepreneurship as an alternate route to both personal and professional success. Our discussion includes an examination of the issues that give rise to these experiences and a consideration of how entrepreneurship appears to provide a solution to them. It also identifies some of the potential pitfalls of entrepreneurship for women and minorities. In our concluding comments, we urge organizations to recognize the unique problems women and minorities face and the necessity of addressing these problems if they are to retain these potentially valuable members of the workforce. D 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Women; Minorities; Entrepreneurship 1. Introduction Recent years have witnessed a dramatic increase in the popularity of entrepreneurship. The exploding interest in owning or starting a small business has resulted in record-breaking numbers of new business formation. In 1998 alone, an estimated 898,000 new firms with employees opened their doors for business—the highest number ever, and a 1.5% increase from 1997 (U.S. Small Business Administration [SBA], 1999). In fact, from 1982 to 1998, the number of business tax returns filed in the United States increased 73%, totaling 24.8 million in 1998. 1053-4822/03/$ – see front matter D 2003 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S1053-4822(03)00021-4 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-212-998-7813; fax: +1-212-995-4826. E-mail address: madeline.heilman@nyu.edu (M.E. Heilman). www.socscinet.com/bam/humres Human Resource Management Review 13 (2003) 347 – 364