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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 195 ( 2015 ) 1694 – 1697
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
1877-0428 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of Istanbul Univeristy.
doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.259
ScienceDirect
World Conference on Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship: Is It An Addiction?
Gülseren Keskin*a6UH\\D*PúVR\a, Elif Aktekina
aEge University Medical Technological Vocational Training School
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to determine entrepreneurship and addiction relation. The results of our study confirm that
entrepreneurs show signs of addictive behavior such as obsessive thoughts, withdrawal-condensation period, and negative
emotion.Similar to the behavior as addictive as gambling or the Internet, serial entrepreneurs may face negative consequences
resulting from the urge to continue. The article will be guiding future work that is a matter of people with addictions have to
show they can play in terms of the behavior or substance abuse in different areas.
©2015The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of Istanbul University.
Keywords: entrepreneurship, addiction, mental health
1. Introduction
Entrepreneurship, especially the transition from industrial society to an information society can be said that a
greater importance in the world.Because today information society in decreased weight on the production of human
labor, knowledge based on the weight of the manufacturing labor is increasing day by day (Douglas 2006).At this
point, the importance of entrepreneurship arises as a complement, innovation, creativity and management activities.
Entrepreneurship sparkle in the economic arena,it has led to talk on common characteristic of entrepreneurs.In this
context, the most emphasized features associated with entrepreneurial people; the need to achieve, to take risks and
locus of control as listed. In addition, the attacks being, creativity, foresight, the ability to analyze, quickly to decide,
*Corresponding author: Tel.: +905057124050
E-mail address: gulser en.keskin@ege.edu.tr
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of Istanbul Univeristy.
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Gülseren Keskin et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 195 ( 2015 ) 1694 – 1697
to have confidence, to give confidence and rationality in entrepreneurial characteristics which are of people in the
foreground (Soysal,2010).
2. Literature Review And Hypotheses
Today, entrepreneurship is growing rapidly and has become a very popular field of research in various social
science disciplines and economic policy. In recent years, with the rapid development of economy, finance and
experienced in the field of technology, the characteristics of the entrepreneur now has begun to be discussed.
([SHFWHGEDVLFFKDUDFWHUÕVWÕFVIRUWKHHQWUHSUHQHXUVLVWKDW LQLWLDWLQJDOLIHRI VHOI-determination and independence,
hardworking and persistent in goal striving, establishing a social network, taking the risk of failure, finding new
opportunities and ways of structuring and developing the enterprise. Full off a new phenomenon encountered in this
process (Spivack, McKelvie, Haynie, 2014) .
Addiction is a state characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse
consequences. The two properties that characterize all addictive stimuli are (positively) reinforcing and intrinsically
rewarding. Most commonly, the addiction construct has been applied to chemical dependencies. Behavioral
addiction is a form of addiction that involves a compulsion to repeatedly perform a rewarding non-drug-related
behavior.Addiction is a chronic disorder. Behavioral addictions have been proposed as a new class in DSM-5, but
the only category included is gambling addiction. Internet addiction is included in the appendix as a condition for
further study($UÕVR\
Developments in psychiatry have ratified the existence of behavioral addictions, that certain activities such as
gambling or video-game play may be considered addictive in the absence of exogenous (i.e. drug-induced)
stimulation of brain reinforcement circuitry.
The addiction supporters of conduct are listed.
1) Obsessive thoughts—have recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations...
2) withdrawal/engagement cycles—feeling anticipation and undertaking ritualized behavior, 3) self-worth—is the
opinion you have about yourself and the value you place on yourself.
4) Tolerance—making increasing resource (e.g., time and money).
5) Neglect—Ignoring important friends and relations, to deal adequately
6) Negative outcomes—experiencing negative emotional outcomes (e.g., guilt, lying, and withholding information
about the behavior from others). Considering all these behavior patterns, entrepreneurship can be a form of
addiction. Some signs may be addicted to entrepreneurship include obsessing over his/her business, neglecting
friends and/or outside interests, and experiencing withdrawal symptoms like anger or depression when being forced
to turn away from your business, she/he spend a lot of time with business than your family or friends relationship.
A personality structure appears ‘prone to take risks, workaholic, prone to excessive internet use’. Is this a behavioral
addiction? This study aimed to evaluate in terms of entrepreneurship addiction (Brandstätter, 2011)
3. Methodology
3.1. Research Goal
This study aimed to assess whether entrepreneurship is an addiction.
1696 Gülseren Keskin et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 195 ( 2015 ) 1694 – 1697
3.2. Sample and Data Collection
In this study the authors aimed to review this area. The articles that are related with entrepreneurship, addiction,
mental health were searched by key words in PubMed, Medline, EBSCOHost, PsycINFO, Science Direct, Turkish
Medline, Çukurova Index Databases and in Google Scholar and those appropriate for this review were used by
authors. The first search on EBSCO (Medline, PsycInfo) revealed 20 papers focused on Internet addiction
measurement. The second search on PubMed revealed 15 papers including 5 not previously identified, the third
search on Science Direct yielded 14 publications of which one was a new addition and the final searches on
PsycINFO and Çukurova Index Databases yielded 2 publications with no new additions.
4. Analyses and Results
Addiction has typically been used to describe a physiological, psychological, behavioral dependence whereby a
person is addicted to a stimulus. Excessive Internet use, gambling behavioral dependencies were included in the
DSM V psychiatric diagnostic criteria book. Often entrepreneurs are thought to be a good intermediate gambling.
Gamblers and entrepreneurs shows a similar based on the risk of getting a large part of their jobs (Spivack,
McKelvie, &Haynie 2014). Both profiles are also aim to make money. Trial and courage to succeed is also
available both the entrepreneur and the gambling addict. The difference the gambling addict and entrepreneurs is
that gambling addict is often discouraged from instinct and luck, while entrepreneurs is discouraged from
experience and knowledge, products and information about the market (Clark, &Limbrick-Oldfield 2013; Jacobson
, Wasserman, Wu,&Lauer 2015).Behavioral addictions, exhibit features physical and psychological dependence
on addictive preoccupation of the main components, mood variability, tolerance, withdrawal, interpersonal conflict
and repetition (relapse) As in addiction of alcohol and substance $UÕVR\
Given the risks, the brain produces large amounts of dopamine. This situation is causing people to feel happy
and motivated (Schultz, 2010).The neural correlates of reference-dependence in decision making have been
examined several studies. Amygdala activity was associated with dominant choices, with increased activity for sure
choices and risky choices. Addictive drugs or behavior provide a shortcut to the brain’s reward system by flooding
the nucleus accumbency with dopamine. The hippocampus lays down memories of this rapid sense of satisfaction,
and the amygdala creates a conditioned response to certain stimuli. When considering entrepreneurship as an
addiction, a new business that confront the individual is excited about the individual and may lead to an increase of
dopamine in the individual. The nucleus accumbens sends signals to the amygdala and hippocampus, which register
and consolidate memories that evoke strong feelings (Nicolaou, &Shane, 2009)
Besides all these, entrepreneurship addiction can lead to a confrontation with the psychological problems of the
individual. Many entrepreneurs exposure brings with Isolation. This isolation is causeda higher risk of depression.
In addition, many entrepreneurs are working long hours, unable to find time to look after themselves (Dorado, &
Ventresca 2013). Entrepreneurs are trying to mask the symptoms of depression by working more. Entrepreneurs are
trying to mask the symptoms of depression by working more. These symptoms are often interpreted as stress and
leads to exacerbation of the condition statement. Even in extreme cases, entrepreneurs may also carry a higher risk
of suicide. Entrepreneurs are not only under pressure, but also under tremendous pressure. Strong desire to succeed,
the behavior causes the constant questioning and upgrades editing worst scenarios. As a result, anxiety is can
eliminate many entrepreneurs and can lead to burnout feeling (Louie,2015; Meyers, 2015) .
On the other hands, entrepreneurs who know when the credit risk, which can determine whether you need to try
again and to minimize the losses are professionals (Pollitt, 2015. According to Phan, everyone has the potential to
produce ideas, but only people with entrepreneurial mind, that idea a step further and is able to translate an
economic opportunity.
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Gülseren Keskin et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 195 ( 2015 ) 1694 – 1697
5. Conclusion
Addiction is actually the dark side of entrepreneurship. High motivation to work in the business life and to
produce is very important. But entrepreneurship can be thought of as a behavioral addiction individuals can bring
results with psychologically troubled.
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