The Mind with a Touch of Madness? Mental health and well-being of entrepreneurs Defended on Thursday, 17 November 2022

The topic of mental health has attracted much attention from practitioners and policymakers in the last few decades. Despite growing attention to mental health, research on the link between mental health and entrepreneurs is still in its infancy. Given the well-known contributions of entrepreneurship in today’s society, the implication of entrepreneurship on individual and societal well-being looms large and warrants further attention.

In this dissertation, I seek to advance the current understanding of two research questions: 1) the link between psychiatric symptoms and entrepreneurship and 2) the link between subjective well-being and entrepreneurship

For research question 1, Chapters 2 and 3 show that a sub-clinical level of psychiatric symptoms (e.g., narcissism, hyperactivity) is related to various aspects of entrepreneurship, especially in the early stage of the entrepreneurial process.

For research question 2, Chapter 4 suggests that while emotional family support contributes to the well-being of entrepreneurs, instrumental family support hinders the well-being of entrepreneurs. Using a novel approach, Chapter 5 shows that entrepreneurs are less happy, but also more calm and less anxious after their businesses failed.

By combining knowledge from psychology and economics, this dissertation contributes to this emerging field of research in entrepreneurship by shedding light on the relationship between sub-clinical psychiatric symptoms, well-being, and entrepreneurship.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial intention; Entrepreneurial choice; Entrepreneurial orientation; Entrepreneurial success; Mental health; Well-being; Narcissism; ADHD; Work-family balance


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