Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-04T22:58:12.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coping with entrepreneurial failure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Smita Singh ,
Patricia Corner  and
Kathryn Pavlovich
Smita Singh
Affiliation:
University of Waikato Management School, Hamilton, New Zealand
Patricia Corner
Affiliation:
Faculty of Business, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
Kathryn Pavlovich
Affiliation:
University of Waikato Management School, Hamilton, New Zealand
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Research on entrepreneurship focuses predominantly on success which ignores the high failure rate of new ventures and precludes a holistic view of the entrepreneurial process. The current study addresses failure by asking three research questions: how do entrepreneurs experience failure, how do they cope with it, and what do they learn from it? Rich interview data is analyzed using multiple frameworks from the literature. Findings suggest that more coping and learning occurs in the economic aspect of failed entrepreneurs' lives in comparison to the social, psychological and physiological aspects. Findings also provide a proposition for testing in future research: Type of coping engaged in by failing entrepreneurs is related to the kind of learning experienced through failure.

Keywords

entrepreneurial failurecopinglearning
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , November 2007 , pp. 331 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarez, SA and Barney, J (2005) Discovery and Creation: Implications for practice and policy. Paper presented at the 2005 Enterprise and Innovation Research Conference, Waikato Stadium.Google Scholar
Brenner, S and Bartell, R (1983) The psychological impact of unemployment: An analysis of cross-sectional data. Journal of Occupational Psychology 56: 129–136.Google Scholar
Brief, A, Konovsky, M, Goodwin, R and Link, K (1995) Inferring the meaning of work from the effects of unemployment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 25: 693–711.Google Scholar
Bruno, AV, Mcquarrie, EF and Torgrimson, CG (1992) The evolution of new technology ventures over 20 years: patterns of failure, merger and survival. Journal of Business Venturing 7: 291–302.Google Scholar
Cannon, MD and Edmondson, AC (2001) Confronting failure: antecedents and consequences of shared beliefs about failure in organizational work groups. Journal of Organizational Behaviour 22: 161–177.Google Scholar
Choo, S and Wong, M (2006) Entrepreneurial intention: triggers and barriers to new venture creation in Singapore. Singapore Management Review 28(2): 47.Google Scholar
Cobb, S and Kasl, SV (1977) Termination: the consequences of job loss (No. 76-1261) Washington DC: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Administration.Google Scholar
Creswell, JW (1998) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design - Choosing Among Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Cross, B and Travaglione, A (2003) The untold story: is the entrepreneur of the 21st century defined by intelligence. International Journal of Organizational Analysis 11(3): 221.Google Scholar
Eisenhardt, KM (1989) Building Theories from Case Study Research. The Academy of Management Review 14(4): 532.Google Scholar
Fineman, S (1983) White-Collar Employment. London: Wiley.Google Scholar
Folkman, S, Tedlie, J and Moskowitz, J T (2004). COPING: Pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology 55, 745–774.Google Scholar
Folkman, S, Lazarus, R, Dunkel-Schetter, D and Gruen, R (1986) The dynamics of a stressful encounter: cognitive appraisal, coping and encounter outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50: 992–1003.Google Scholar
Glaser, B and Strauss, A (1967) The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies of qualitative research. London: Wiedenfeld and Nicholson.Google Scholar
Greenbank, P (2006) Starting up in business: an examination of the decision making process. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation 17(3): 149.Google Scholar
Hamilton, V, Hoffman, W, Broman, C and Rauma, D (1993) Unemployment, distress and coping:a panel study of autoworkers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 65:234–247.Google Scholar
Hussey, J and Hussey, R (1997) Business Research. A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students. London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Jackson, R and Warr, B (1984) Unemployment adn psychological ill-health: the moderating role of duration and age. Psychological Medicine 14:605–614.Google Scholar
Jahoda, M, Lazerfeld, F and Zeisel, H (1933) Marienthal: The Sociography of an unemployed community. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.Google Scholar
Kinicki, A (1985) Personal consequences of plant closings: a model and preliminary test. Human Relations 38: (197–212)Google Scholar
Kinicki, AJ, Prussia, GE and McKee-Ryan, FM (2000) A panel study of coping with involuntary job loss. Academy of Management Journal 43(1): 90–100.Google Scholar
Latack, JC, Kinicki, AJ and Prussia, GE (1995) An intergrative proces model of coping with job loss. Academy of Management Review 20(2): 311–342.Google Scholar
Lazarus, RS and Folkman, S (1984) Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Leana, CR and Feldman, DC (1995) Finding new jobs after a plant closing: antecedents and outcomes of the occurrence and quality of reemployment. Human Relations 48(12): 1381–1401.Google Scholar
McGrath, RG (1999) Falling forward: real options reasoning and entrepreneurial failure. Academy of Management Review 24(1): 13.Google Scholar
Minniti, M and Bygrave, W (2001) A dynamic model of entrepreneurial learning. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 25: 5–16.Google Scholar
Morse, JM and Richards, L (2002) Read me first for a user's guide to qualitative methods. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Oxford English Dictionary (1971) Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon.Google Scholar
Payne, R and Hartley, J (1987) A test of a model for explaining the affective experience of unemployed men. Journal of Occupational Psychology 60:31–47.Google Scholar
Saravasthy, SD (2004) Making it happen:beyond theories of the firm to theories of firm design. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 28(6): 519.Google Scholar
Shepherd, DA (2003) Learning from business failure: propositions of grief recovery for the self-employed. Academy of Management Review 28(2): 318–328.Google Scholar
Shepherd, DA (2004) Educating entrepreneurship students about emotion and learning from failure. Academy of Management Learning and Education 3(3): 274–287.Google Scholar
Stafford, E, Jackson, P R, & Banks, M (1980). Employment, work involvement and mental health in less qualified young people. Journal of Occupational Psychology 53, 291–304.Google Scholar
Stokes, G and Cochrane, R (1984) A study of the psychological effects of redundancy and unemployment. Journal of Occupational Psychology 57: 309–322.Google Scholar
Warr, P and Jackson, P (1987) Adapting to the unemployed role: a longitudinal investigation. Social Science and Medicine 25:1219–1224.Google Scholar
Zacharakis, AL, Meyer, GD and DeCastro, J (1999) Differing perceptions of new venture failure: a matched exploratory study of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Journal of Small Business Management 37(3): 1.Google Scholar