Introduction

This paper analyzes the factors that make a worker decide to stay in his/her job and the likelihood of entrepreneurship in the context of Highly Specialized Communities (HSC); HSCs refer to a territory with a specific productive profile representing the main economic activity and source of employment in a region, organized around micro and small productive units, primarily family-owned, with small-scale production, mainly but not entirely destined to local markets (Chávez & Maza, 2017); empirical studies about HSCs in México find positive characteristics in their economic performance (such as social mobility, low unemployment rate, low poverty rate, and low inequality index) linked to the belief that subjects can start up a precarious business by using their social capital and personal networks as a means of access to a business environment.

This paper studies the HSCs in the metropolitan area formed by the municipalities of Moroleón and Uriangato in the state of Guanajuato in Central Mexico, dedicated to producing and selling textiles and clothing. In 2019, the municipality of Moroleón had more than six thousand economic units dedicated to the textile and clothing industry; 45.9% of those units were dedicated to retail trade and 23.5% to manufacturing industries, which employed 39% and 28.4% of the labor force respectively (2019). The data for the municipality of Uriangato are very similar, comprising five thousand economic units. Those related to the manufacturing industry represented 23.7% (24.8% labor force) and retail trade 47.3% (35% labor force) (INEGI, 2019).

The theoretical approach to the employment relationship can be addressed from the employees’ or the employers’ point of view or from the market perspective. For this article, we decided to explore the workers’ perspective because workers are complex agents (economically and psychologically) with their own voices and beliefs, and the agreements they reach frame a pluralistic employment relationship that allows us to model the links that consent negotiation between agents given their own economic or social interests (Budd & Bhave, 2009).

In this sense, the construct proposed by Mitchell et al. (2001) on Job Embeddedness (JE) was adopted; since it is based on factors that connect an employee in a social, physical, and financial network that includes friends, community, and physical environment in which they live, this composition will allow us to understand how social relations affect economic relations, which leads us to deepen and model the working relationship taking into account complex aspects on the individual and community interests.

Karl Polanyi used the concept of embeddedness for the first time to describe those economic relations that were subject to social relations, seeing economic relations embedded in social relations (Polanyi, 2003). Thus, the concept of embeddedness refers to the multiple ways the economy is embedded in the social structure, meaning that the economic action is inserted in social structures since the actors do not behave as “atoms” outside of a social context. Instead, the actors and their actions are embedded in concrete systems of social relations (Granovetter, 1985).

As Varman & Costa (2008, p. 142) argue, the role of the community and the behavioral dimensions of the subjects are socially rooted and form and sustain relationships within communities: There are social motives that transcend utility that arises from social roots in which norms are central social constructions, in that sense, we will focus in how social dynamics shapes economic dynamics in which we will see if the model is capable of reflecting the norms of the social environment that are a reference of its particular behavior.

How these actors interact, whether they have a high or low level of embedding in the employment relationship, will give us a focus on social norms, exchanges, commitments, and the social complexity of the efficient coordination of relational mechanisms that resolve uncertainty, competition, information exchange, and empowerment of individuals within the community.

The aims of this article are two: First, to understand the factors that shape the employment relationship that allows workers to remain in their jobs, and second, to make a probabilistic inference about entrepreneurship based on the configuration of a productive model that allows its inhabitants to develop entrepreneurial desire and capabilities in this particular social context.

This research analyzes job tenure in a specific context of work organization in Mexico (informal micro and small enterprises in the textile sector), contributing to the field since most of the literature focuses on regions, industries, and occupations that do not represent a specific Latin American occupational context. At the methodological level, the instrument was adapted, tested, and validated with a particular semantic category (Mexican Spanish); this could only be achieved through the participation of specialists with extensive knowledge of the local context in order to ensure that the translation had a regional linguistic meaning that was clear to the participants. The instrument was applied face to face, which in addition to a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews during the first stage of the research strengthen the quality of the information and allowed us to perform more robust analyses.

At the technical level, carrying out fieldwork during the COVID-19 confinement period was a logistical challenge since there were temporary closures of workshops and other complications hindered the application of the questionnaires; however, this research was conducted face to face to avoid interpretation biases.

The paper has two sections: The first section analyzes the factors that make workers decide to stay in their jobs using the dimensions proposed in Mitchell et al. (2001) Job Embeddedness construct, in which hypotheses on different aspects of the workers’ context have on Job Embeddedness (i.e., links to their community, fit with the company, perceived sacrifice of leaving their job, relationship with their employer, and self-awareness of entrepreneurship capabilities) are tested. In the second section, using the same construct, we explored the reasons that influence the probability that workers decide to start their own business in which hypotheses on different aspects of the workers’ context have on entrepreneurial intention (i.e., Job Embeddedness, links to their community, fit with the company, perceived sacrifice of leaving their job, and relationship with the employer) are tested.

Results demonstrated that the relationship with the employer and the sacrifice perceived by the subjects for losing their job are variables that significantly intervene in the decision to remain in their job; meanwhile, the relationship with his/her employer increases the likelihood of entrepreneurship, while job embeddedness and perceived sacrifice of losing their job reduce it, which can be seen as an indicative to the insecurity and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Should I stay?

Effect of individual and community organization on JE

Although there is no generalized concept of job embeddedness, we will refer to it in the endogenous and exogenous social conditions of the workplace that allows a worker to remain in his/her job, centered on the referential framework of the construct proposed by Mitchell et al. (2001), which highlights the introduction of non-work-related factors that are often important in an attachment such as family, or having children. Table 1 resumes the three essential components of the JE construct and our proposal extension called capabilities to become an entrepreneur and relation with the employer because exploratory in-depth interviews showed that workers tend to have a close relationship with the owners of the workshop, and we aim to explore how this relation can affect JE.

Table 1.Dimensions of Job Embeddedness extended version
Links Fit Sacrifice Relation with the employer Capabilities to become entrepreneur
Organization of the individual Family, being married or not, having children or not. Company according to future professional and personal goals. Personal cost perceived for losing your job. Captures the closeness or empathy that the worker has with his/her employer Self-awareness of the possibilities and abilities necessary to become an entrepreneur
Organization with their community Religion, social group, friends, environment, age group Work climate, community organization, local values Perceived social cost of losing your job

Note: Adapted from Dimensions of Job Embeddedness, by Mitchell et al. (2001, p. 11)

Mitchell et al. (2001) define the three essential components of their model as follows:

  1. Links are formal or informal connections between a person and institutions or other people. This concept refers to the threads that connect an employee and their family in a social, psychological, and financial network that includes friends, work and non-work groups, and the community and physical environment in which they live. It is implicit that the greater a person’s links, the more she is linked to work and the organization. Tremblay (2012) points out that there is a conflict when individuals perceive their family’s demands as incompatible with their job’s demands, so the components of this factor help us understand how well-suited the worker is to his/her community. Therefore, according to the information presented, it is possible to propose the following research hypotheses:

    H1. Links with the community and other individuals have a significant positive impact on JE.

  2. Fit is an employee’s perceived compatibility or comfort with an organization and its environment. According to this, an employee’s values, career goals, and plans should fit with the broader corporate culture and the demands of his immediate job (job knowledge, skills, and abilities). Lack of values congruence with the company or the perception of a bad working environment is associated with conflicts and low productivity (Goldman & Van Houten, 1980), which could represent a greater propensity to turnover. Thus, a person’s fit with the job and organization relates to attachments to the organization. Therefore, according to the information presented, the following research hypotheses are considered:

    H2. Fit with the company has a significant positive impact on JE.

  3. Sacrifice: captures the perceived cost of material or psychological benefits that can be lost by leaving a job. Sacrifice implies that the employee’s perception of what he/she leaves behind after resignation, the more difficult it will be for him/her to break his/her working relationship with the organization. The perception of sacrifice in small communities makes this factor especially important since quitting a job implies not only the costs concerning the company but there is a cost to the community that can seriously affect the career path of a worker, so it is proposed the following hypothesis:

    H3. Sacrifice perceived of leaving the job has a significant positive impact on JE.

    The extra components of the model that allows us to infer how the relationship with the workshop owner and experience in the job can develop the desire and capabilities to become an entrepreneur are defined as follows:

  4. Relationship with the employer: We propose an extension of the JE construct with a new component to identify the workers’ entrepreneurial eagerness and capabilities through the social image of a regional entrepreneur and their relationship with the workshop owner. Entrepreneurial intentions depend on three elements: the perception of what is desirable, the propensity to act, and the perception of feasibility (Izquierdo & Buelens, 2011). These three elements can be observed in the in-depth interviews with the identification of the workers with the employer. It would be expected that the self-perception of the worker is related to the relationship with his/her employer and vice versa, so we could say that the greater the identification with his employer the worker increases his probability of starting a business, so the following hypothesis is defined:

    H4. A good relationship with the employer has a significant negative impact on JE.

  5. Capabilities to become an entrepreneur: Self-awareness of the possibilities and abilities necessary to become an entrepreneur. In this section, there will be two kinds of items, those referred as communal capacities and those that require formal knowledge to acquire them. As Bacq et al. (2016) point out, the effect of this perception is associated with an entrepreneur-rich environment. Hence, the possibility is viable for many of the workers since there is a positive perception of becoming an entrepreneur. The capabilities include social, family, and occupational influences. We must also consider that the occupation and the environment set the motivations and drive the behavior towards a possible and desirable goal for the workers since they believe that they will succeed in that role. In this sense, the following hypothesis is tested:

    H5. Self-awareness of the capabilities of entrepreneurship has a significant negative impact on JE.

We will focus on the fact that JE is a construct that tries to answer the causes why people stay in their jobs. Nevertheless, we also expect to find the causes workers in HSC tend to quit their job to start their own businesses, so it is expected to find low JE values and strong community ties that encourage entrepreneurship.

Should I go?

Effect of JE and its components on Entrepreneurial Intention

The study of entrepreneurial intention from various perspectives, such as motivations, behavioral prediction, or characteristics of an entrepreneur, is varied, and there does not seem to be a consensus on the forms they take or the conclusions reached; the analytical frameworks on the study of entrepreneurs seem to be atomized where certain local/regional patterns are found with little explanatory power in general. However, these have been the subject of study since increasing our understanding of this phenomenon can help economic development. Table 2 shows some of the perspectives from which entrepreneurial intention has been approached and how these can be addressed through the inputs to the extended JE construct:

Table 2.Models on entrepreneurial intention and the JE dimension that addresses it.
Author Characteristics JE dimension
Anderson,1980* The factor influencing whether individuals are treated as role models is whether the information fits into existing patterns or can be easily related; this process is accomplished through cognitive cues that are accumulated and attached to cognitive frames or representations. Perception of capabilities to become an entrepreneur.
Relationship with the employer.
Shapero, 1982* Entrepreneurial intentions depend on three elements: a) the perception of desirability, b) the propensity to act, and c) the perception of feasibility. Perception of capabilities to become an entrepreneur.
Relationship with the employer.
North, 1990* Applied to the field of entrepreneurship, it considers that the role of the environment in the decision to start a business is fundamental, not only in terms of legal aspects, public policies, and support services (formal institutions) but especially in relation to the socio-cultural context (informal institutions). Adjustment with the company.
Personal and community ties.
Relationship with employer.
Ajzen, 1991* Entrepreneurial intentions are explained by a) the subject's attitudes towards the behavior, b) subjective norms, and c) the subject's perception of behavioral control. Adjustment with the company.
Personal and community ties.
Relationship with employer.
Davidson, 1995* Entrepreneurial intentions can be influenced by a) conviction, defined by general attitudes (change, competing, money, achievement, and autonomy) and mastery attitudes (payoff, contribution to society, and know-how); conviction, in turn, is related to personal variables including age, gender, education, vicarious experience and experience of radical change. Perception of sacrifice.
Links with the community.
Socio-demographic variables.
Yang et al., 2019 Startup entrepreneurs should strive to integrate employees into the environment and make them feel satisfied and more emotionally attached to the organization to prolong their stay with the company. Relationship with the employer.
Adjustment with the company
Mahfud et al., 2020 Entrepreneurial intention is influenced by entrepreneurial attitude and social and psychological capitals. Perception of capabilities to become an entrepreneur.
Personal and community ties
Links with the community
Georgescu & Herman, 2020 Students who have an entrepreneurial family environment show high entrepreneurial intentions. Informal and formal education students receive from their entrepreneurial parents and schools encourages students' entrepreneurial intentions. Perception of capabilities to become an entrepreneur.
Personal and community ties
Dubey & Sahu, 2022 Gender, locality, family income, cultural factors, and environmental factors are predictors of entrepreneurial intention. Personal and community ties.
Links with the community.
Socio-demographic variables.

Note: (*) Adapted from Competing models of entrepreneurial intentions: the influence of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and attitudes from Izquierdo & Buelens, 2011.

Under the criteria described in Table 2, we can support how the proposed construct can help us to capture the entrepreneurial intention of the subjects, given that, in some way, they are related to how individuals and communities develop capacities that can help them to start (or not) a business, especially in the aspects that have to do with the ties with the community, since the environment in which the subjects develop is a factor that encourages and prepares the subjects to start their own business.

Because intentions are conceived as immediate antecedents of actual behavior (Ajzen, 1991 in Izquierdo & Buelens, 2011), a probabilistic model on the components of the JE construct linked to entrepreneurial intention is proposed based on the following hypotheses:

H6: JE is significant and negatively impacts entrepreneurial intention.

H7: Linkages with the community are significant and positively impact entrepreneurial intention.

H8: Fit with the company is significant and positively impacts entrepreneurial intention.

H9: Perceived sacrifice is significant and negatively impacts entrepreneurial intention.

H10: Relationship with the employer is a significant variable and positively impacts entrepreneurial intention.

H11: Perceived skills needed to be an entrepreneur significantly and positively impact entrepreneurial intention.

Methods

Sample and Data Collection

A convenience sampling survey was conducted of male and female workers in an HSC in 2020 (n= 400, reliability level= 95%, error=5%). The non-random sampling technique was designed due to the complexity of doing fieldwork during the COVID-19 pandemic. The response rate was 74.33%. The instrument consisted of 23 items with 69 indicators, of which 50 were applied on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5). This type of scale generally provides an adequate balance between the complexity of responses and the ease of information analysis (Forza, 2016).

The instrument was divided into five sections that defined the position of the workers with respect to their community, their workplace, their perception of sacrifice, the perceived abilities and skills that the worker think she/he has to become an entrepreneur, and the relation with his/her employer. Characteristics of the sample are summarized in Table 3.

Table 3.Sample characteristics
Variable Frequency Percentage
Gender
Female 228 57
Male 172 53
Total 400 100.0%
Place of birth
Metropolitan Area (HSC) 350 87.5
Municipality in the same state 42 10.5
Out-of-state municipality 8 2
Total 400 100.0%
Level of education
Basic (Less than 9 years of study) 264 66
Baccalaureate (Over 9 and under 15 years) 116 29
Higher Education (More than 15 years) 20 5
Total 400 100.0%
Company size
Micro (1-10 workers) 224 56
Small (11-50 workers) 164 41
Medium & large (+51 workers) 12 3
Total 400 100.0%

Job Embeddedness

JE is a measure made up of five dimensions, which are assumed to be the cause, not the effect, of the dimensions of integration, which participate in the perception of a worker feeling integrated into his/her job. It is not expected that the dimensions are correlated among them. Mitchell et al. (2001) define JE as an aggregate. Figure 1 summarizes the steps proposed by the author for its calculation.

Figure 1
Figure 1.Steps for the JE calculation

Note: Adapted from: Why People Stay: Using Job Embeddedness to Predict Voluntary Turnover, from Mitchell et al. (2001, p. 1111)

Entrepreneurial Intention

A logistic regression model (LRM) was performed to elicit how JE components influence entrepreneurial intention among workers to determine which variables weigh most heavily in increasing or decreasing the probability of becoming an entrepreneur. As in linear regression, each predictor variable in the logistic equation has its coefficient. The parameter values are estimated using the maximum likelihood method that selects the coefficients that make the observed values most likely to occur. We used the statistical platform R version 4.0.2 (R Core Team, 2020) and the “lavaan” package for EFA and CFA models (Oberski et al., 2021).

Results

The extended JE construct was applied, EFA and an internal consistency test were performed using a Cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis, the item-total correlation was evaluated, the squared correlation (explained variance) with the scale items, and the reliability value if the item was eliminated. The items were eliminated if they had a lower relationship with the scale and thus lowered the alpha value. Items that were not grouped in a factor with factor loadings greater than 0.5, grouped within a theoretical factor other than the one proposed, or not grouped in a factor with at least three items were eliminated.

In the final solution, the eigenvalues greater than 1 showed five factors. This solution converged in five iterations and explained 60.87% of the variance. The items present factor loadings greater than .50 within their factor and communalities greater than .50.

The final instrument was made up of 25 reagents. Bartlett’s sphericity test was significant (341.93, df = 220, p-value = .001), and the indicator of adequacy of the sample size Kaiser- Meyer-Olkin was adequate (.858). The Cronbach’s alpha of the total instrument was .828, which shows the theoretical consistency of the instrument.

Table 4.Factor weights for the exploratory factor analysis of the Job Embeddedness locus inventory
Links with the community Fit with organization Perceived
Sacrifice		 Relation with employer Perceived entrepreneurial capabilities
Rank 1-5 1-5 1-5 1-5 1-5
Variance explained within the factor 63.10% 44.20% 58.85% 50.54% 51.56%
Total variance explained within the instrument 13.78% 10.27% 12.08% 11.92% 12.82%
Cronbach's alpha 0.820 0.784 0.824 0.757 0.809
Average Variance Extracted (AVE) 0.68 0.51 0.59 0.60 0.72
KMO 0.793 0.752 0.829 0.691 0.813
Item Factor loading per theoretical factor
AC01 I really like the town where I live. 0.749
AC05 The place where I live offers the leisure activities that I like. 0.828
AC06 I like the family environment in my community. 0.785
AC04 I feel that the community where I live is my home. 0.612
AC03 I feel integrated into my community. 0.620
AO07 My values are compatible with those of the company/workshop. 0.667
AO06 I like the authority and responsibility I am given in this company. 0.633
AO09 I feel good about my job. 0.784
AO08 I feel that working in this company helps me with my future goals. 0.753
SP05 The advantages of this work are exceptional. 0.531
SP10 Labor conditions are good in this job. 0.714
SP09 I am well compensated for my performance. 0.602
SP03 I live in a safe place. 0.603
SP11 I plan to remain employed with this company for a long time. 0.672
SP08 I have the opportunity to start my own business in the future. 0.696
RP04 I have freedom at work to decide my goals. 0.632
RP03 I have a lot of respect for the owner of the company/workshop where I work. 0.700
RP06 I maintain a friendly relationship with the owner of the company where I work. 0.730
RP02 I feel that the owner of the company where I work respects me a lot. 0.725
CE04 (I think I have…) Sales knowledge .700
CE10 I have savings .777
CE12 (I think I have…) Knowledge of merchandise distribution .710
CE7 Family support to start my own business .652
CE1 (I think I have…) Financial capacity .693
CE14 (I think I have…) Accounting knowledge .668

Note: Numbers in bold indicate the highest factor loadings, extraction method: principal component analysis, rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser normalization: Rotation has converged in 7 iterations.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to obtain evidence on construct validity and the internal structure of the measurement instruments. CFA supported a model with five factors. Model fit statistics were adequate. The literature recommends using multiple indicators to evaluate the model’s fit (Hu & Bentler, 1999). Among the most used, we can highlight the chi-square statistic, the chi-square ratio over degrees of freedom (CMIN/DF), the chi-square changes between alternative models, the comparative fit index (CFI), the goodness of fit index (GFI), and the mean square approximation error (RMSEA). The values of this goodness of fit (CFI, GFI) statistics usually vary between 0 and 1, with 1 indicating a perfect fit. Values greater than 0.9 suggest a satisfactory fit between theoretical structures and empirical data, and values of 0.95 or higher are an optimal fit. The chi-square must be non-significant to indicate a good data fit. This is because a significant value of chi-squared implies that the structure of the proposed theoretical model is significantly different from that indicated by the covariance matrix of the data. Table 5 shows the parameters of the model.

Table 5.Fit indices CFA
Measure Criterion Value Results
Relative chi-square (Chi-squared/DF) < 2 1.75 Acceptable
Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) 0.90-1 0.959 Acceptable
Weighted fit index (AGFI) 0.90-1 0.949 Acceptable
Root mean squared residual (RMR) Near to 0 0.034 Acceptable
Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) < 0.08 0.058 Acceptable
Root means square error of approximation (RMSEA) < 0.05-0.08 0.037 Acceptable
Comparative Fit Index (CFI) 0.90-1 0.971 Acceptable
Normalized fit index (NFI) 0.90-1 0.923 Acceptable
Non-normalized fit index (NNFI) 0.90-1 0.967 Acceptable
Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) 0.90-1 0.967 Acceptable

The correlations in Table 6 show that JE is positive, significant, and highly correlated with fit to organization and perceived sacrifice (r’s= 0.76 and 0.61, respectively, all with p<0.001). Therefore, hypotheses H2 and H3 are accepted. Although the relationship with the employer presents an r= 0.68 with *p<*0.05, the proposed hypothesis expected the relationship to be negative. Therefore, H4 is rejected, as well as the perception of becoming an entrepreneur since, although significant, the correlation value is considered low (*r=*0.41, *p<0.05) and positive. Therefore, H5 is rejected. Finally, links with the community show an r= 0.31 and p<*0.05, so H1 is accepted, although it should be noted that a coefficient value of 0.31 is unsatisfactory.

Table 6.Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations
Variable Mean s.d. 1. LiC 2. FtO 3. CmS 4. RE 5. EmC
1. Links with community (LiC) 1.926 0.727 1
2. Fit to organization (FtO) 2.123 0.498 0.492** 1
3. Community-related Sacrifice (CmS) 2.129 0.609 0.403** 0.496** 1
4. Employer Relationship (RE) 2.205 0.641 -0.149** 0.441** 0.257** 1
5. Entrepreneurial capacities (EmC) 1.509 0.4177 0.111** 0.180** -0.062* 0.099* 1
JE correlation 1.978 0.787 0.314* 0.769** 0.610** 0.687* 0.413*

Note: n=400, Pearson’s product-moment correlation significance codes: * p<.05, **p<.01

Logistic regression Results

The relationship between entrepreneurial intention and links with the community, fit with the organization, and the perceived capabilities of being entrepreneur variables lack significance. Therefore, H7, H8, and H11 are rejected. As we expected, JE contradicts entrepreneurial intention and the perceived sacrifice of the worker losing her/his job. Therefore, we conclude that hypotheses 6 and 9 are accepted; at least, the relationship with the owner affects the entrepreneurial intention positively and significantly. Therefore, H10 will be accepted.

Table 7 shows the relationship between variables with entrepreneurial intention.

Table 7.Results of logistic Regression Analysis of Entrepreneurial Intention among workers
β Standard error Wald Statistic df Sig. Odds ratio
Links with the community -0.075 0.04 0.03 1 . 0.09
Fit with the organization -0.107 0.07 0.12 1 . 0.08
Perceived sacrifice -0.1084 0.02 0.00 1 ** 0.89
Relationship with the owner 0.291 0.07 0.01 1 * 1.33
Perceived capabilities -0.049 0.03 0.13 1 . 1.21
Job Embeddedness -1.756 0.63 0.02 1 *** 0.17

Note: Significance codes: 0 “”, 0.001 “”, 0.01 “”, 0.05 “.”, 0.1 “” 1, Hosmer & Lemeshow test X2=0.001, p-value= 0.752

The results in logistic regression show us that the latent variable relationship with the owner and the perceived sacrifice of losing the job negatively affect the entrepreneurial intention. Instead, the relationship with the owner has positive effects on entrepreneurial intention. Due to the odds ratio values, having a better relationship with their employer increases the odds from 1 to 1.33 times starting their own business. On the other hand, job embeddedness reduces the odds from 0.17 to 1 time. Moreover, the perceived sacrifice of losing their job reduces from 0.89 to 1 time the odds of becoming an entrepreneur because the more the worker feels attached to their job or the less certainty of finding a new job, the less they will think about starting their own business, which could be an expected response given the timing of the surveys when workers were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The worker-employer relationship affects workers’ desire to start their own businesses. The worker’s self-perception is related to the relationship with his/her employer. Thus, we could state that the greater the worker’s identification with his employer, the higher the odds of starting her own business. The values in the community that visualize the origin and role of the entrepreneurs encourage the workers to start their workshops, unlike Mitchell et al. (2001) suggestions about the role of the community, which is a factor of permanence at work.

Discussion

Table 8 summarizes the conclusions of some articles about JE. We found some coincidences with the reviewed literature, especially with those studies that find a positive relationship between the adjustment to the organization (sense of fit in the organization and the relationship with the employer) and the permanence in the job (see for example Coetzer et al., 2019; Giosan et al., 2005; Harman et al., 2009; Hom et al., 2009 and Ampofo & Karatepe, 2021). This was expected since a perceived good fit in the organization and having a good relationship with the employers are key predictors of JE. However, the differences between studies of large companies and small companies in specialized contexts show us that there is a cultural difference in the meanings of permanence in a job and that the community, in general, and family, in particular, are significant promoters of the entrepreneurial intention (see Cunningham et al., 2005; Mallol et al., 2007; Martdianty et al., 2020; Wen et al., 2020). On the other hand, an unexpected result was that a good worker-employer relationship increases the workers’ desire to start their own businesses. The worker’s self-perception of entrepreneurial capacity is related to the relationship with his/her employer. The worker’s identification and good relationship with his employer could strengthen the worker’s confidence in her entrepreneurial skills, increasing the odds of starting her own business.

Table 8.Comparison between conclusions on JE
Author Conclusions JE in Micro and Small Enterprises
Cunningham et al., 2005 The family is a predictor of JE in cooperative and individualistic countries Family is an essential component in the decision to start a business, but not in the decision to remain in a job.
Giosan et al., 2005 The perception of supervisor support coupled with the perception of few work alternatives increases the JE JE is positively influenced with the relationship with the employer and the adjustment with the organization
Holtom, 2006 JE predicts worker performance Workers tend to stay at work and show a greater commitment to the organization, there are no references on their performance.
Mallol et al., 2007 JE is a statistically significant predictor of rotation between different racial groups JE crosses with different demographic aspects showed no significant (predictive or explanatory) relationships
Hom et al., 2009 Social exchange between workers and employers explains mutual commitment and loyalty. JE is positively influenced with the relationship with the employer and the adjustment with the organization.
Harman et al., 2009 JE is affected by affective commitment JE is positively influenced with the relationship with the employer and the adjustment with the organization.
Coetzer et al., 2019 Job integration and each of its subdimensions are negatively related to turnover intentions. JE is mainly influenced by the relationship with the employer and the fit of the organization with the worker's life.
Wen et al., 2020 Entrepreneurs with a high degree of organization and rootedness in the community will be motivated to act responsibly through place attachment. Integration with the community was influenced by the age of the participants; links with the community was a significant variable but with little weight in JE.
Martdianty et al., 2020 Some characteristics of the SMEs (informality, cultural factors) rooted the participants in their jobs. Ties with co-workers were the most important force in job embeddedness. Ties with colleagues included in the dimension of fit with the organization have a significant influence on the JE.
Park et al., 2021 Supervisors' behavioral fluctuations could exacerbate the indirect influence of job embeddedness on employees' in-role and out-of-role service behaviors through affective commitment. The role of supervisors is not explored, but the relationship with the employer who might serve in that role is positively associated with JE.
Ampofo & Karatepe, 2021 The results reveal that JE is negatively related to turnover intentions. In addition, the relationship between JE and turnover intentions is partially mediated by organizational commitment and job commitment. Fit with the organization is a key factor in understanding JE.
Abraham et al., 2023 Employees are committed to an organization, especially SMEs, when they have a deep psychological connection and accept the organization's principles, culture, traditions, and practices. These findings are confirmed, given that JE is significantly influenced by the perceived sacrifice, fit with the organization and the relationship with the employer.

Note: Own elaboration

Conclusions

This paper analyzes the factors that encourage job embeddedness in communities where the labor market does not offer good working conditions stimulating the proliferation of entrepreneurialism among workers since it requires little capital and can lead them to improve their income and reduce their workload. In these communities, economic interactions prioritize social relations characterized by giving a normative order that places within economic decisions norms of reciprocity, trust, the role of networks, values, limits, and shared symbols (Ostrom & Ahn, 2003; Varman & Costa, 2008).

The sense of community is embedded in all market transactions, which places workers in visions of success related to not staying in the same job; this article focuses on the causes that increase the probability of staying in the same job and those that increase the probability of becoming an entrepreneur. On the one hand, we have the relationship with the business owner as a factor of permanence, as well as how adjusted the worker feels in the organization, a factor composed of well-being issues and feeling good with his co-workers, the type of workers who most frequently refers they felt good within the organization were the group of young people under 20 years and adults over 50 years old, who could represent people with their first job and people with long-standing in the same job. Thus, the group that had lower mean values in the adjustment with the organization were the people with greater studies. According to previous studies on the HSC reported that young people have a low level of social capital so they still did not feel integrated into the community (Pérez, 2016). However, further studies could be done to explore these aspects.

On the other hand, the relationship with their employer, especially those that felt identified with them, were more likely to become entrepreneurs. Here we highlight that the skills necessary to become entrepreneurs were not an element to encourage it. In in-depth interviews, the workers referred that to start a business, all they needed was the desire to do so. Consolidated entrepreneurs, remembering their start in the business, reported that they had no idea about the use of machinery, design, capital, space, or accounting or administrative knowledge. As our exploratory analysis show, items associated with formal knowledge had the lower factorial loads; the stories made reference of a moment in life (often adjusted to life course events: marriage, childbirth), in which they decided to become independent to start their own business, in which the community (family above all) as well as contacts within the business had much power over this decision; in this sense, our model allow observe this moment, as we said before, the community functions as a promoter of this way of doing business.

The study of the employment relationship approached from the employers’ point of view was discarded since the literature and methodologies on job embeddedness and entrepreneurial intention were developed to approach them from the workers’ point of view. However, an agenda for future research should consider the employers’ point of view.

On the other hand, this research contributes to neglected areas in the study of JE, which could not be understood from another size of the firm, and which refers to the way the owner of the firm influences the occupational development of its workers, which helps us to broaden the factors of JE and turnover beyond those raised in the classical literature.

Finally, it should be considered that data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic was especially challenging given the restrictions on social distancing and the forms that work took, as it prevented respondents from being available. Likewise, psychological and emotional factors were not considered for our study. However, the research highlights the perceived sacrifice of workers for losing their jobs, which was undoubtly related to the development of the COVID-19 pandemic.