Title: Small business ownership for occupational therapists: key factors for success

Authors: Jeannine Millsteed; Janice Redmond; Elizabeth A. Walker

Addresses: School of Exercise and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, 6027, Western Australia, Australia ' School of Business, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, 6027, Western Australia, Australia ' Business School, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, 6009, Western Australia, Australia

Abstract: The value of small business to all economies is well-known. They have traditionally clustered in certain industry sectors, i.e., manufacturing, retail and trades, but not allied health related fields. With global changes to how health services are funded and with some governments moving the burden of cost from the public to the private sector, there are opportunities for occupational therapists to expand out of the public into the private sector. This paper is an overview of the literature regarding certain factors that could affect the chances of an occupational therapist going into private practice being successful or not. These mainly include their initial motivation, their current management skills and their propensity to learn new competencies, the human capital they possess and their ability to increase their social ties and networks.

Keywords: self-employment; training; private practice; management skills; Australia; motivation; networking; failure; new competencies; small business ownership; occupational therapists; critical success factors; CSFs; small firms; human capital; social ties; business networks.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.075013

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.27 No.4, pp.425 - 440

Received: 27 Apr 2015
Accepted: 06 May 2015
Published online: 29 Feb 2016 *

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