University of Twente Student Theses
Exploring the Stress and Coping Experiences of Early-Stage Entrepreneurs during the Venture Creation Process
Wolf, Ines (2016) Exploring the Stress and Coping Experiences of Early-Stage Entrepreneurs during the Venture Creation Process.
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| Abstract: | Despite broad acceptance that stress is a fundamental part of entrepreneurship, there are mixed results of how stress influences and manifests itself in the entrepreneur and what consequences it has on the individual and their ventures. Recently, the role of coping has gained high interest in understanding the stress experience of entrepreneurs. This thesis set out to understand how early-stage entrepreneurs cope with the stressful experiences during the early start-up phase of a new a business and how they maintain their well-being. The Effort-Reward-Imbalance (ERI) model served as a guiding framework. A qualitative approach using semi-structured is used to collect the data. Results indicate that early-stage entrepreneurs can maintain well-being and only report low levels of burnout, despite the existence of stressors. Entrepreneurs were found to work long hours with many of them sacrificing their personal time. Female entrepreneurs displayed more symptoms of mild burnout than male entrepreneurs. Motivation has been found to be an important antecedent to effort and reward perception and expectation, which subsequently influences the appraisal of stress. A wide range of coping techniques are used, including problem-focused coping, time management and recovery experiences. Findings were able to enrich the ERI model for the entrepreneurial context |
| Item Type: | Essay (Master) |
| Clients: | Unknown organization, United States |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 85 business administration, organizational science |
| Programme: | Business Administration MSc (60644) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/71160 |
| Export this item as: | BibTeX EndNote HTML Citation Reference Manager |
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