Entrepreneurs' coping with challenging role expectations

Baltic Journal of Management - Tập 2 Số 3 - Trang 288-304 - 2007
DanielÖrtqvist1, MatejaDrnovsek2, JoakimWincent1
1Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden
2Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Tóm tắt

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to analyze entrepreneurs' coping strategies used to face stakeholders' expectations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws from the general management, role theory, and entrepreneurship literature to develop hypotheses that are tested by using hierarchical regression techniques on a sample of 183 Slovenian entrepreneurs. The paper develops and tests four coping strategies (structural role redefinition, personal role redefinition, reactive role behavior, and passive role behavior) to assess influence on new venture performance. The analysis examines moderating effects of entrepreneurs' perceived role‐related stress.FindingsResults reveal that coping strategies focused on reducing expectations and/or working harder to meet expectations positively affect new venture performance. However, entrepreneurs' focus on suppressing perceived expectations negatively influences new venture performance. Furthermore, entrepreneurs' role‐related stress moderates the relationship between reactive role behavior and new venture performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides a better understanding of types of coping strategies available to entrepreneurs and practical consequences for new venture performance. It also explores why some entrepreneurs perform well and why some may quit early being an entrepreneur while others remain and prosper in their role. Possible study limitations are discussed due to sample characteristics and measurement.Practical implicationsThe study results are relevant for practising and nascent entrepreneurs, support organizations, and policy makers since empirical evidence can be used in designing entrepreneurs' training and competency‐building programs.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to illustrate effects on early entrepreneurial performance of coping strategies to meet stakeholders' expectations and, indirectly, entrepreneurs' ability to endure establishing a new venture.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Akande, A. (1994), “Coping with entrepreneurial stress: evidence from Nigeria”, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 83‐7.

Beehr, T.A., Walsh, J.T. and Taber, T.D. (1976), “Relationship of stress to individually and organizationally valued strategies: higher order needs as a moderator”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 61, pp. 41‐7.

Boyd, D.P. and Gumpert, D.E. (1983), “Coping with entrepreneurial stress”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 61 No. 2, pp. 58‐63.

Chay, Y.W. (1993), “Social support, individual differences and well‐being: a study of small business entrepreneurs and employees”, Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology, Vol. 66, pp. 285‐302.

Cohen, S. and Wills, T.A. (1985), “Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 98 No. 2, pp. 310‐57.

Covin, J.G. and Slevin, D.P. (1990), “New venture strategic posture, structure, and performance: an industry life cycle analysis”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 123‐35.

Dubinsky, A.J., Michaels, R.E., Kotabe, M., Lim, C.U. and Moon, H‐C. (1992), “Influence of role stress on industrial salespeople's work outcomes in the United States, Japan, and Korea”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 77‐99.

Ekanem, I. (2005), “Bootstrapping: the investment decision‐making process in small firms”, The British Accounting Review, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 299‐318.

Elman, M.R. and Gilbert, L.A. (1984), “Coping strategies for role conflict in married professional women with children”, Family Relations, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 317‐27.

Fisher, C.D. and Gittelson, R. (1983), “A meta‐analysis of the correlates of role conflict and ambiguity”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 68, pp. 320‐33.

Folkman, S. (1982), “An approach to the measurement of coping”, Journal of Occupational Behavior, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 95‐107.

Freeman, R.E. (1984), Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, Pitman Publishing Inc., Boston, MA.

Gartner, W.B. (1985), “A conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 696‐706.

Gartner, W.B. (1988), “‘Who is an entrepreneur?’ Is the wrong question”, American Journal of Small Business, pp. 11‐32.

Getzels, J.W. and Guba, E.G. (1955), “Role conflict and personality”, Journal of Personality, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 74‐85.

Glas, M. and Drnovsek, M. (2003), “Small business in Slovenia: expectations and accomplishments”, in Watson, A. and Kirby, D.A. (Eds), Small Firms and Economic Development in Developed and Transition Economies: A Reader, (Transition and Development), Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. 131‐51.

Greve, A. and Salaff, J.W. (2003), “Social networks and entrepreneurship”, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 1‐22.

Gullahorn, J.T. (1956), “Measuring role conflict”, The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 61 No. 4, pp. 299‐303.

Hall, D.T. (1972), “A model of coping with role conflict: the role behavior of college educated women”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 471‐86.

Jackson, S.E. and Schuler, R.S. (1985), “A meta‐analysis and conceptual critique of research on role ambiguity and role conflict in work settings”, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 36, pp. 16‐78.

Kahn, R.L., Wolfe, D.M., Quinn, R.P., Snoek, J.D. and Rosenthal, R.A. (1964), Organizational Stress: Studies in Role Conflict and Ambiguity, Wiley, London.

Keenan, A. and Newton, T.J. (1984), “Frustration in organizations: relationships to role stress, climate, and psychological strain”, Journal of Occupational Psychology, Vol. 57 No. 1, pp. 57‐65.

Kuratko, D.F. and Hodgetts, R.M. (1995), Entrepreneurship: A Contemporary Approach, The Dryden Press, Orlando, FL.

Lang, D. and Markowitz, M. (1986), “Coping, individual differences, and strain: a longitudinal study of short‐term role overload”, Journal of Occupational Behaviour, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 195‐206.

Lee, R.T. and Ashforth, B.E. (1996), “A meta‐analytic examination of the correlates of the dimension of job burnout”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 81, pp. 123‐33.

Levinson, D.J. (1959), “Role, personality, and social structure in the organizational setting”, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 58, pp. 170‐80.

Lysonski, S. and Andrews, G. (1990), “Effects of moderating variables on product managers' behavior”, Psychological Reports, Vol. 66, pp. 295‐306.

Macan, T.H., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R.L. and Phillips, A.P. (1990), “College students' time management: correlations with academic performance and stress”, Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 82 No. 4, pp. 760‐8.

Miller, N.J. (2000), “Family microenterprises: strategies for coping with overlapping family and business demands”, Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 87‐113.

Payne, R., Jick, T.D. and Burke, R.J. (1982), “Whither stress research? An agenda for the 1980s”, Journal of Occupational Behaviour, Vol. 3, pp. 131‐45.

Peterson, M.F., Smith, P.B., Akande, A., Ayestaran, S., Bochner, S., Callan, V., Cho, N.G., Jesuino, J.C., D'Amorim, M., Francois, P‐H., Hofmann, K., Koopman, P.L., Leung, K., Lim, T.K., Mortazavi, S., Munene, J., Radford, M., Ropo, A., Savage, G., Setiadi, B. and Sinha, T.N. (1995), “Role conflict, ambiguity, and overload: a 21‐nation study”, The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 429‐52.

Posig, M. and Kickul, J. (2003), “Extending our understanding of burnout: test of an integrated model in nonservice occupations”, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 3‐19.

Rizzo, J.R., House, R.J. and Lirtzman, S.I. (1970), “Role conflict and ambiguity in complex organizations”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 150‐63.

Shachar, S.A. and Gilbert, L.A. (1983), “Working lesbians: role conflicts and coping strategies”, Psychology of Women Quarterly, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 245‐57.

Shelton, L.M. (2006), “Female entrepreneurs, work‐family conflict, and venture performance: new insights into the work‐family interface”, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 285‐97.

Tetrick, L.E. and LaRocco, J.M. (1987), “Understanding, prediction, and control as moderators of the relationships between perceived stress, satisfaction, and psychological well‐being”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 72 No. 4, pp. 538‐43.

Tubre, T.C. and Collins, J.M. (2000), “Jackson and Schuler 1985 revisited: a meta‐analysis of the relationships between role ambiguity, role conflict, and job performance”, Journal of Management, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 155‐69.

Van Sell, M., Brief, A.P. and Schuler, R.S. (1981), “Role conflict and role ambiguity: integration of the literature and directions for future research”, Human Relations, Vol. 34, pp. 43‐71.

Veloutsou, C.A. and Panigyrakis, G.G. (2004), “Consumer brand managers' job stress, job satisfaction, perceived performance and intention to leave”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 20, pp. 105‐31.

Wincent, J. and Örtqvist, D. (2006), “Analyzing the structure of entrepreneur role stress”, Journal of Business & Entrepreneurship, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 1‐21.

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Baltic Journal of Management

Tập 2 Số 3

288-304

Thông tin tác giả