Revue de l’Entrepreneuriat— Entrepreneurship and Health: A challenging new field of research

Special issue: Entrepreneurship and Health: a challenging new field of research

Université de Montpellier & Montpellier Business School

École de Gestion, Université de Sherbrooke

 

A field is emerging at the interface between research into entrepreneurship, psychology, biology, and mental and physical health (Wicklund et al., 2020; Torrès and Thurik, 2019; Stephan, 2018). Research in this area covers the links between biology and genetics (hormones, genes) (Rietveld et al., 2021; Nicolaou et al., 2020;), neuroscience (de Holan, 2014), mental disorders and psychiatric symptoms (attention and hyperactivity disorder, impulsivity, narcissism, hypomania, dyslexia) (Hatak et al., 2020; Wicklund et al., 2018; Leung et al., 2021), physiological states (cortisol, sleep, physical health) (Gunia et al., 2020; Williamson et al., 2019; Weinberger et al., 2018; Patel and Wolfe, 2017; Guiliani and Torrès, 2017) or mental health and wellbeing (Wach et al., 2020; Murnieks et al., 2020; Overall, 2020) and entrepreneurship. With the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) spreading globally since 2020, more than before the entrepreneurial health has become a matter of concern for many governments (Patel and Rietveld, 2020). The closure of thousands of businesses created threats to the entrepreneur’s physical and mental wellbeing, but also shows their coping mechanisms and psychological resources during crisis.

The main streams of research investigate how entrepreneurship affects health and how health serves as an asset in the pursuit of entrepreneurial activity. Recent research on the former stream shows for example that stressors from entrepreneurship activities can be pathogenic for the entrepreneur’ health. In the latter stream of research, Freeman et al. (2019) show that there is a relationship between several emotional, cognitive, and behavioral differences associated with health problems and entrepreneurship. Yet, there are many gaps in our knowledge and the aim of the special issue is to discuss ways to take the field forward. For example, there are very few longitudinal studies, ambulatory/diary studies, dyad and comparative methodology and a scarcity of research undertaking a neuroscientific perspective or different scholarly approaches to understanding the phenomenon. In addition, research exploring the link between entrepreneurship and health in different contexts, like venture creation, corporate entrepreneurship, family business, small business management, social enterprises, etc. are missing. This special edition of Revue de l’Entrepreneuriat encourages papers that address these and related gaps. Empirical, conceptual, and methodological papers (data collected before and/or during the coronavirus crisis) are welcomed, and authors are invited to mobilize other fields’ perspectives such as clinical psychology, psychology, biology, occupational health, organizational behavior, human resources. This special issue invites researchers to understanding entrepreneurship from the outlook of entrepreneurial health because our societies greatly need a new perspective of sustainable and non-exhausting entrepreneurship. The following is not an exhaustive list, but provides some examples of potential topics:

• Pathogenic and salutogenic work-related factors in entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship and mental health and wellbeing continuum
• Mental disorders and entrepreneurial activities
• Physical and mental health in entrepreneurship
• Sleep and entrepreneurship
• Physiology and stress processes in entrepreneurship
• Anxiety, depression, suicidal risk, suicide and entrepreneurship
• Mindfulness and health initiatives in SMEs
• Place and role of health in entrepreneurship theory
• Impacts of entrepreneurial success or failure on health and vice versa
• Necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship and health
• Environmental, organizational, or psychological resources, health, and entrepreneurship

Abstract Submission deadline Emailed to: entrepreneurshipandhealth@gmail.com	30th April 2021
Return to authors	15th May 2021
Submission of original manuscript on manuscript manager	30th June 2021
Return to authors	30th September 2021
Manuscript final version	15th November 2021

A two-page, maximum 500-word abstract, to include: Principal topic (research gap, research objective and research question), method and results, should be submitted to entrepreneurshipandhealth@gmail.com no later than 30^th April 2021. Authors will be notified via email in May 2021 on acceptance of abstract.

Freeman, M. A., Staudenmaier, P. J., Zisser, M. R., & Andresen, L. A. (2019). The prevalence and co-occurrence of psychiatric conditions among entrepreneurs and their families. Small Business Economics, 53(2), 323–342.

Guiliani, F., & Torrès, O. (2017). The influence of sleepiness and concentration on the entrepreneurial alertness of SME owner-managers. Revue de l’Entrepreneuriat, 16(3), 147-176.

Gunia, B. C., Gish, J. J., & Mensmann, M. (2020). The weary founder: Sleep problems, ADHD-like tendencies, and entrepreneurial intentions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(1), 175–210.

Hatak, I., Chang, M., Harms, R. & Wiklund, J. (2020). ADHD symptoms, entrepreneurial passion, and entrepreneurial performance. Small business economics, forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00397-x

de Holan, P. M. 2014. It’s all in your head: Why we need neuroentrepreneurship. Journal of Management Inquiry, 23(1), 93–97.

Leung, Y.K., Franken, I., Thurik, A.R., Driessen, M., Kamei, K., Torrès, O., & Verheul, I., (2021),  Narcissism and entrepreneurship: Evidence from six datasets, Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 15 (June), e00216.

Murnieks, C. Y., Arthurs, J. D., Cardon, M. S., Farah, N., Stornelli, J. & Haynie, J. M. (2020). Close your eyes or open your mind: Effects of sleep and mindfulness exercises on entrepreneurs’ exhaustion. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(2), 105918.

Nicolaou, N., Phan, P. H. & Stephan, U. (2020). The biological perspective in entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 45(1), 3–17.

Overall, J. (2020). Mental health among entrepreneurs: The benefits of consciousness. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Economic Issues, 4(1), 70–74.

Patel, P. C., & Rietveld, C. A. (2020). The impact of financial insecurity on the self-employed short-term psychological distress: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 14, e00206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00206

Rietveld, C.A., Slob, E.A.W. & Thurik, A.R. (2021), A decade of research on the genetics of entrepreneurship: a review and a view ahead, Small Business Economics, forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00349-5

Stephan, U. (2018). Entrepreneurs’ mental health and well-being: A review and research agenda. Academy of Management Perspectives, 32(3), 290–322.

Torrès, O., & Thurik, R. (2019). Small business owners and health. Small Business Economics, 53(2), 311–321.

Wach, D., Stephan, U., Weinberger, E. & Wegge, J. (2020). Entrepreneurs’ stressors and well-being: A recovery perspective and diary study. Journal of Business Venturing, 106016.

Weinberger, E., Wach, D., Stephan, U. & Wegge, J. (2018). Having a creative day: Understanding entrepreneurs’ daily idea generation through a recovery lens. Journal of Business Venturing, 33(1), 1–19.

Wiklund, J., Hatak, I., Lerner, D. A., Verheul, I., Thurik, R., & Antshel, K. (2020). Entrepreneurship, clinical psychology, and mental health: An exciting and promising new field of research. Academy of Management Perspectives, 34(2), 291–295.

Wiklund, J., Yu, W. & Patzelt, H. (2018). Impulsivity and entrepreneurial action. Academy of Management Perspectives, 32(3), 379–403.

Williamson, A. J., Battisti, M., Leatherbee, M. & Gish, J. J. (2019). Rest, zest, and my innovative best: Sleep and mood as drivers of entrepreneurs’ innovative behavior. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 43(3), 582–610.