Title: Entrepreneurs' stress and mental health: new guidelines for future research

Authors: Aram Attar-Hamedani

Addresses: Toulouse Business School, DBA Program, 1 Place Alphonse Jourdain – CS 66810 31068, Toulouse Cedex 7, France

Abstract: Starting and growing a company is one of the most stressful professional endeavours, yet entrepreneurs seem to effectively manage the mental health consequences of such stress. Academic research points to various causes explaining why entrepreneurs are able to perform well despite the physiological and psychological harm inherent to their chosen path. Studies typically compare the stress and mental health levels of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. However, one dark spot remains. These comparative studies have generated contradictory findings for decades. We believe the confusion is due to three limitations: researchers need to further categorise the samples they survey, use scales built for entrepreneurs, and operationalise stress and mental health more uniformly. We propose a new set of guidelines for future research on entrepreneurial stress and mental health.

Keywords: entrepreneurs; entrepreneurship; mental health; stress; mental strain; well-being.

DOI: 10.1504/EMJM.2022.127452

EuroMed Journal of Management, 2022 Vol.4 No.4, pp.345 - 359

Received: 01 Aug 2022
Accepted: 03 Aug 2022
Published online: 05 Dec 2022 *

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