Motivations and aspirations of self-employed Maori in New Zealand

Abstract

Attempts by the government of New Zealand to redress past inequities to Maori will inevitably play an important part in future economic development for Maori. While some attention has been given to economic development for Maori at the Iwi level, there has been little research at the level of the individual, for example, of self-employed Maori. Such research can potentially shed light on several issues. One such issue is, why are Maori in general and Maori women in particular, under-represented among self-employed. It is the intention of this paper to examine motives of Maori for becoming self-employed. I also discuss why Maori and non-Maori appear to have different motives in becoming self-employed.