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Coping with Entrepreneurial Failure
Smita Singh
University of Waikato Management School, Hamilton, New Zealand
Kathryn Pavlovich
Waikato Management School, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Patricia Corner
Faculty of Business, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
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 failure, coping, learning
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