Portraits in the Attic: Exploratory Study on Stress among Entrepreneurs

Abstract

There is little doubt that entrepreneurship can be quite an exciting enterprise. However, we rarely ask what is hidden behind the successful stories of entrepreneurs. In this thesis, I attempt to reveal the portraits secluded in the attic of entrepreneurship. To this end, I ask the question of how entrepreneurs’ motives and actions, and events they face, can lead to stress. To answer my research question, I first turn to previous studies on the topic of entrepreneurial stress to comprehend the nature of this phenomenon. As such, I identify three main groups of stress: work overload, role stressors, and lack of resources. These stress factors are the three pillars I have used to structure the empirical analysis in this study. In addition to stress antecedents, I also identify stress consequences: deteriorated psychological and physiological health and work-family conflicts. I identified a variety of these types of consequences as the selection criteria for the interviews I chose for my analysis. While it is common to approach the concept of entrepreneurial stress by conducting quantitative research, I turn to a qualitative approach and address the phenomenon under examination through the perspective of personal accounts. To achieve this, I apply narrative analysis to gain a deeper insight into the phenomenon of entrepreneurial stress as stories are known to bear the account of one’s actions and behaviours. Moreover, this strategy allows me to present entrepreneurial stress as a complex and multi-layered phenomenon. By conducting a narrative analysis of entrepreneurial stress, I distinguish such stressors as lack of finance, a competitive drive to continue, long working hours, high workload, and work-life interference, and I argue that how stress is experienced can be affected by an entrepreneur’s actions, behaviour, and characteristics. The results of this thesis contribute to the literature on entrepreneurial stress and well-being by casting a more nuanced light on the life pressures experienced among entrepreneurs. Based on the findings, I argue that, while under high stress, entrepreneurs might prefer to shift responsibility for their own self-preservation to others while retaining their internal locus of control. Further, while entrepreneurs might fully acknowledge the negative influence of their actions and behaviours on their mental and physical well-being, they tend not to discontinue their entrepreneurial activity. As my findings suggest, entrepreneurs might cope with stress by focusing on its positive side and emphasising its value. Moreover, by asserting the positive side of stress, entrepreneurs may condition themselves to accept the negative consequences of their destructive actions and behaviours. In addition to this theoretical contribution, the results of this thesis can be found to be useful for nascent entrepreneurs and policy makers by giving more detailed picture of entrepreneurial work pressures that are not often acknowledged.