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The COVID-19 crisis presents manifest threats for entrepreneurs since their business survival is often directly at stake given the alarming economic downturn. This existential threat, together with their crucial role in the economy, is the reason for the plethora of public financial support schemes being implemented throughout the entire world. How...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... this section, we provide a concise description of burnout, factors connected to burnout, and controls. Table 2 provides a more precise overview of the variables and definitions of the Enquête Nationale COVID-19 of 2020. ...Context 2
... we captured the venture's business development via the growth or decline in turnover shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic ("Until February 2020, your growth turnover was…?"). The responses ranged from [1] "declining heavily (more than −25%)" to [5] "increasing significantly (more than 25% Table 2 for our main dataset, which is the Enquête Nationale COVID-19 of 2020. ...Citations
... Existing entrepreneurship research has mainly identified well-being-related consequences of entrepreneurs' loneliness (Akande, 1994;Shepherd et al., 2010;Pollack et al., 2012;Fernet et al., 2016;Torrès et al., 2022) but has given little attention to businessrelated outcomes of loneliness and the mechanisms underlying how loneliness leads to those outcomes. Examining business-related outcomes (e.g., business exit and growth) is important because they not only affect entrepreneurs (e.g., their career choice and career success) but also have wider implications for job creation and economic development (Decker et al., 2014;Sternberg and Wennekers, 2005;Morris et al., 2015;Hessels et al., 2018). ...
Loneliness is a serious source of suffering for entrepreneurs. Although the negative impact of loneliness on entrepreneurs' well-being has been studied, the mechanism through which loneliness affects entrepreneurial outcomes is less known. In this research, instead of examining the negative consequences of loneliness as related to well-being, we focus on its impact on entrepre-neurs' business exit intentions. In particular, we identify entrepreneurial passion as one mediating mechanism through which entrepreneurs' loneliness influences business exit intentions. One time-lagged survey using a sample of entrepreneurs from the United Kingdom and an additional survey using a sample of Indonesian entrepreneurs show that high levels of entrepreneurs' loneliness increase their business exit intentions through reducing entrepreneurial passion. Our findings advance research on entrepreneurs' loneliness by identifying a new mechanism and extending its impact from entrepreneurs' well-being-related outcomes to a business-related outcome.
... The study of health and well-being by entrepreneurship researchers has accelerated over the past decade (for reviews see Stephan, 2018; in press a; Torrès and Thurik, 2019;Wiklund et al., 2019). More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic drew further attention to health and well-being, including that of entrepreneurs (Batjargal et al., in press;Stephan et al., in press b;Torrès et al., 2021). For occupational health and related fields, studying entrepreneurship (1) helps to integrate the research lines on health impairments (ill-being) and well-being, (2) uniquely offers insights into the future of work, (3) provides opportunities to showcase the relevance of health/well-being for economic and social outcomes, and (4) reinforces the need to expand occupational health and related fields to the study of (strategic) leadership. ...
Plain English Summary
Entrepreneurship research questions the core assumptions of other academic fields and legitimizes them both practically and academically. Since the 1980s, entrepreneurship research has seen tremendous growth and development, establishing itself as an academic field. Entrepreneurship is also taught extensively in leading business schools around the world. Indeed, few business schools do not address entrepreneurship in their curriculum. This represents a sea change: although entrepreneurs and new ventures had a remarkable impact on society, academia barely noticed it in the 1980s. Simply put: economics and business students rarely, if ever, encountered any mention of entrepreneurship during their studies. While entrepreneurship research has now developed its own methodological toolbox, it has extensively borrowed perspectives, theories, and methods from other fields. In the 2020s, we now find that entrepreneurship scholars are sharing its toolbox with other academic fields, questioning the core assumptions of other academic fields and providing new insights into the antecedents, mechanisms, and consequences of their respective core phenomena. Moreover, entrepreneurship research helps to legitimize other academic fields both practically and academically. Hence, entrepreneurship research now plays not just an important role in entrepreneurship education, practice, and policy but also throughout many other research fields.
... One such concept related to entrepreneurial well-being is the link between stress and its associated outcomes (e.g., burnout; Das, 2011;Quiun et al., 2022;Torrès et al., 2022). The general definition of stress is "when an individual perceives that the demands of an external situation are beyond his or her perceived ability to cope with them" (Jensen, 2012, p. 46). ...
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the stress—burnout link in entrepreneurship
by employing the role stress theory tri-component conceptualization (i.e., role conflict, role
ambiguity, and role overload) using a novel statistical method entitled, Necessary Condition
Analysis (NCA). The NCA is based on necessity logic, in contrast to variance-based
methodologies (e.g., regression analysis and structural equation modeling) based on sufficiency
logic, which seeks to assess whether an increase in the predictor variable is associated with an
increase in the outcome variable. NCA aims to determine if there is a critical (necessary)
determinant for an event to occur. In other words, NCA helps to answer questions, which allows
identification of the necessity in type and the degree of concern for necessity linkages. Data were
collected from self-identified American entrepreneurs (N = 285). The NCA's results were
consistent with the conclusion of several variance-based research that identified the overall role of
stress as a prerequisite for burnout. However, the three components of entrepreneurial role stress
were not the necessary conditions for the development of entrepreneurial burnout. The present
study is the first to use the NCA to investigate the role stress-burnout link in entrepreneurship,
which has important theoretical and methodological implications. Theoretically, future studies
should frame the necessary for developing entrepreneurial role stress in a broader manner, going
beyond the tri-component conceptualization of role stress. And, methodologically, sufficiency
logic analyses should be accompanied and supported by necessary logic analyses to deepen our
understanding regarding various aspects of entrepreneurs’ well-being.
... Several researches have been conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, but few empirical researches have been reserved to the subject of the health of the leaders of the SME, (Yildirim & Solmaz, 2020;Torres & al, 2021). In the framework of a study on the risk of burnout among entrepreneurs in the French environment forTorrès & al (2021), "we can argue that 177 www.ijafame.org ...
The main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the health status of SME managers in Morocco, which will hopefully contribute to informing the intervention policies to address this challenge efficiently and effectively. So, the main question this study addresses is: what is the impact of the current crisis (pandemic Covid-19) on the health status of our entrepreneurs?
... Building on the events system theory, it is argued that stressful events are novel, disruptive, and critical. The COVID-19 pandemic can be seen as such an event, accompanied by a decline in mental health (Torrès et al., 2022). Due to pandemic conditions, the need for self-management ("Studying from home commonly requires greater self-discipline and motivation to follow through online lessons […]"; Aristovnik et al., 2020, p. 9) has increased. ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted educational systems worldwide, and various alarming effects of this crisis on university students’ mental health have been reported. This study aimed to identify which factors, existing prior to the pandemic (summer term 2019), might be related to resilience when dealing with academic demands during the pandemic (summer term 2020). A sample of 443 university students took part in a longitudinal survey study at a large university in Germany. Resilience, defined as the level of adaptation to a stressor, was operationalized by modeling latent change scores of emotional exhaustion, depression, and somatization in the face of study stress. Multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze how potential facilitating and hindering factors were related to resilience demonstration while controlling for study stressors (workload, work complexity, and change in time spent studying). Academic self-efficacy was positively related to various forms of resilience demonstration, while competition was negatively related. Performance pressure was negatively related to only one form of resilience demonstration. No evidence was found for social support (from lecturers or fellow students) being positively related to the demonstration of resilience. This study confirms previous findings regarding relevant resilience factors such as self-efficacy. It also reveals unexpected aspects such as social support, and it indicates new constructs in resilience research in a university setting such as competition and performance pressure. Practical implications can be drawn from this research to benefit resilience promotion among students in preparation for challenging times.
... Startups were required to develop rapid, innovative and effectual responses to the pandemic (Sharma et al., in press;Kuckertz et al., 2020), managing unprecedented challenges in supply chain and strategic management (Ketchen and Craighead, 2020) and deal with a drastic slump in the equity investments for startups, and small and medium-sized enterprises (Brown and Rocha, 2020). In addition to the business-related pressures, entrepreneurs were also exposed to a high risk of burnout (Torrès et al., 2022) and increased levels of stress (Backman et al., 2021;Patel and Rietveld, 2020). The type and level of agility entrepreneurs adopt to respond to adversity affect their well-being in different ways (Stephan et al., 2022). ...
The emergence of new digital technologies has transformed entrepreneurship and, very likely, enabled many new and established ventures to avoid bankruptcy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital technologies are key to identifying, evaluating and exploiting opportunities, scaling a venture's competitiveness, improving efficiency and innovating, especially during uncertain times. We explore how digital technologies reinvented entrepreneurial resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and distill the digital artifacts, platforms and infrastructures used by entrepreneurs to demonstrate entrepreneurial resilience. We analyzed 42 reflective interviews featuring successful entrepreneurs from How I Built This "Resilience Series" podcast that explore how entrepreneurs responded to the COVID-19 crisis. We adopted a systematic approach to identify and describe the behaviors, actions and strategies related to digitalization to reinvent the business in the uncertain and resource-constrained context of COVID-19. The data analysis yielded thirteen first-order codes categorized into five second-order themes: creative digital pivoting, digital infrastructures, social impact through digital technology, burdens to digital adoption, and growth through digitalization. These second-order themes reveal to function as both enablers and barriers to entrepreneurial resilience in this adverse context. Our exploratory analysis suggests how digitalization influences entrepreneurial resilience.
... In this context, the coronavirus disease (COVID- 19) pandemic (8), with a global lockdown of half of the world's population created a particular stressful climate that also likely impacted company directors. While very few studies assessed mental health of company directors in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, they focused on anxiety (9), depression, and burnout (10,11), but only one assessed stress at work (12). Moreover, none of the aforementioned study retrieved the evolution of stress of company directors before, during, and after the first global lockdown. ...
... A level of stress higher than 8/10 is a cut-off for stress levels requiring urgent action (20). The secondary outcomes were the sector of activity (secondary or tertiary, main sectors and other sectors studied), the working status during the lockdown [business activity ranging from decreased (0) to increased (10)], the size of the company (number of workers) and the geographical location (metropolis and countryside). Companies were classified according to the variation rate in their activity between before and during lockdown. ...
... The novelty of our study laid in the impact of economic sectors on stress levels of company directors during the COVID-19 pandemic. While other studies on mental health of company directors during the pandemic were more precise for sociodemographic (9)(10)(11), none evaluated the sectors of economic activity the most at-risk. Despite the global lockdown massively impacted economy (13,14), some sectors completely stopped their activity while some other sectors were under pressure. ...
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic and the first lockdown were particularly stressful with a major economic impact, but the impact on stress of company directors was not known. Therefore, this study aimed to assess that impact and the characteristics of companies the most at risk.
Method
A online questionnaire was sent to 13,114 company. It assessed stress at work, number of employees, sector of activity, business activity rate and geographical location. It studied the mean stress levels, the percentage of stress > 8/10 and carried out an analysis of the characteristics of the most at-risk companies.
Results
A total of 807 company directors responded. Their stress levels increased by 25.9% during lockdown and 28.7% of them had a stress > 8/10. Sectors which had the biggest increase in stress levels during lockdown were retail trade, wholesale trade, and nursing homes. Sectors the most at risk of stress >8/10 during lockdown tended to be nursing homes, pharmacies, and IT activities. Biggest companies had the highest increase in stress levels.
Conclusion
The first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the stress of company directors. Directors of large companies were the most exposed to stress as well as medical and IT activities.
... Existing evidence that compares these two types of entrepreneurs is not clear in terms of the effect on stress, work engagement, and work recovery that arises from hiring employees. For example, Hessels et al. (2017) found that solo entrepreneurs show lower levels of stress compared to employer entrepreneurs, although other studies suggest that this effect is not consistent across samples of entrepreneurs (Fernet et al., 2016;Torrès et al., 2021). Similar results are found for work engagement and work recovery (Baron et al., 2016;Stephan, 2018;Williamson et al., 2021). ...
... First, we conducted our research prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it stands to reason that such a major disruptive crisis affects stress and motivational processes, for example by being particularly detrimental to solo entrepreneurs (Block et al., 2020). Hence, whereas our study established that solo entrepreneurs show an especially positive psychological pattern in general, this could be essentially reversed during a major crisis, and early indications exist in the literature that entrepreneurs have faced stronger burnout during the COVID-19 period than before the crisis (Torrès et al., 2021). Our model and results could help explain such an apparent increase in burnout among entrepreneurs. ...
What is the real value of entrepreneurship? We propose a framework of psychological utility by integrating Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory with a recovery approach from a personal agency perspective. We hypothesize that personal agency together with the positive JD-R pattern of entrepreneurship generates outstanding psychological utility, which maintains and rewards a healthy, strong work engagement that spills over to off-work time. This benefits entrepreneurs, but also their businesses reliant on strong work engagement that avoids burnout. We validate our framework by means of panel data comprising four waves (348 entrepreneurs and 1,002 employees), where we also analyze different types of entrepreneurs.
... Third, millennials, who are expected to account for 75 percent of the workforce in 2030, value rewarding work in a meaningful connection with their employers rather than monetary compensation (Mankins, Garton, and Schwartz 2021). Fourth, it is necessary to deal with the risk of burnout as a result of COVID-19 (Baugh and Raja 2021;Lievens 2021;Torrès et al. 2022). Thus, implementing a human resources retention strategy for employee motivation and job satisfaction is essential to an organization's competitiveness (De Sousa Sabbagha, Ledimo, and Martins 2018). ...
In this study, we clarified the effect of training by enterprise size for the training service (TOSA Marugoto Business Academy Project [Tosa MBA]) provided by Kochi Prefecture in Japan by applying structural equation modeling to online survey data. In large enterprises, expert knowledge that can be used at work had a positive effect on job satisfaction rather than career status such as annual income and job title. This may have been the case as while promotion involves higher wages and greater privileges, in large enterprises, the extent of responsibility and working hours increase even more. Conversely, in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), career status has a more positive effect on job satisfaction than does expert knowledge. For SMEs with a simple organizational structure, job position has a greater influence on work attitudes. The results present meaningful suggestions to enhance the design of local government training services.
... Entrepreneurs create, discover,and exploit business opportunities, and this can be emotionally and resource demanding, particularly in highly uncertain contexts (Torrès et al., 2022;Williamson, Gish & Stephan, 2021;Slavec Gomeze & Stritar, 2021). Further, entrepreneurs seeking to address internal and external resource barriers to firm survival and development may perceive the fortunes of their businesses rest upon their shoulders. ...
... The COVID-19 pandemic and potential for further external environmental disruptive events have promoted an urgent need for a better understanding of the factors associated with entrepreneurial burnout (Torrès et al., 2022), and the coping strategies employed by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur well-being is of critical relevance at the individual as well as the regional and national levels. ...
Plain English Summary
Leveraging Autonomy as a Stress-Coping Resource for Entrepreneurial Well-Being.
External environmental disruptive events have promoted an urgent need for a better understanding of the factors associated with entrepreneurial burnout. We explored whether entrepreneur autonomy is a liability or a coping strategy. Insights from the conservation of resources and psychology theories were used to explore burnout reported by entrepreneurs in France. Entrepreneur emotional demands (i.e., strains) increased the risk of burnout. This risk was reduced when entrepreneurs had autonomy and job satisfaction resources. While the autonomy resource enabled the buffering of emotional strains that increase burnout, this was not the case with regard to the job satisfaction resource. Entrepreneurs need to obtain and maintain autonomy over time, which enables them to recuperate from emotional strains. Practitioners can play a role in encouraging entrepreneurs to be aware of the need to accumulate autonomy and job satisfaction resources, and the need to invest in coping strategies to reduce the risk of burnout.
