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Health and Entrepreneurship - The Influence of Social Support on Entrepreneurs' Health and Performance
Type
dissertation project
Start Date
02 February 2008
End Date
31 July 2013
Status
completed
Keywords
Entrepreneurship
Health and Well-Being
Social Support
Description
Individuals' positive state of health is a crucial firm resource and thereby an economic engine. Health has been defined as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being. The thesis sheds light on the relationship between dimensions of social well-being and the self-assessed overall health state of entrepreneurs.
Leader contributor(s)
Pullich, Janine
Funder(s)
Topic(s)
Entrepreneurship
Quality of Work Life
Health
Social Support and Well-Being
Method(s)
Panel Data Analysis
Range
Institute/School
Range (De)
Institut/School
Division(s)
Eprints ID
54522
6 results
Now showing
1 - 6 of 6
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PublicationEntrepreneurs' Perceived Social Support : Trait-like Characteristic or Developable Social Capital?(The Institute of Work Psychology, 2012-06-26)Pullich, JanineThere is some evidence that entrepreneurs that can fully benefit from the positive aspects of their job design, such as autonomy and opportunities to learn, experience high job satisfaction and good health accordingly (Stephan & Roesler, 2010). Hence, all positive aspects of entrepreneurship come along with stress and strain. Since the late 1970s, the impact of social networks and social capital for individual health outcomes has been discussed in the field of organizational behavior and psychology. The job demands-resources model of burnout (Demerouti et al., 2001; Schaufeli et al., 2009) explicates, that an individual's performance depends on the relationship between job demands and job resources. Job demands are defined by workload, time pressure, and task complexity, whilst social support, performance feedback, opportunities to learn, and autonomy act as job resources. Entrepreneurship scholars investigated how social capital influences business success or failure of start-ups and established businesses. Furthermore, they have investigated the role of individual traits and differences in order to explain differences in venture growth and performance (Begley & Boyd 1987). Sarason & Sarason (1984) argue that the level of perceived social support could be a stable attribute with trait like characteristics. The business context influences individuals' health, and thereby their ability to perform. We want to understand and analyze how job resources, especially social support, influence entrepreneurs' individual health. So far, we do not know whether social support is a determinant of entrepreneurs' job and life satisfaction or health. Most studies considering social support as a key determinant shed light on corporate employees or members of large institutions such as hospitals or universities. Hence, we will investigate whether individuals with higher levels of perceived social support are more or less likely to be self-employed (cross-sectional), and whether their levels of job and life satisfaction varies over time according to the level of social support they perceive (longitudinal). Data is obtained from the first nine waves of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics Panel of Australia (HILDA). We will use structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses and compare entrepreneurs with employees. We include measures for individuals' health state, perceived social support, as well as job and life satisfaction for our cross-sectional analyses. We will use proxies for density and quality of entrepreneurs' social networks, and controlling for important life events, such as marriage, birth of a child, divorce, or death of a relative or friend will allow us to shed light on the social support phenomenon. Sarason et al. (1986) have suggested that a lack of social support is a vulnerability about which something can be done, but entrepreneurship promotion programs tend to focus on business planning and financial sourcing. Therefore, we strongly recommend strengthening entrepreneurial networks that provide business related social support. In addition, we think that health education and building awareness for recreational aspects should be part of entrepreneurship education, especially for practitioners but also for undergraduates and graduate students.Type: conference paper
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PublicationEntrepreneurs' Perception of Social Support and Health : Does Business Size Matter?In this paper, we assess whether job characteristics, such as business size, autonomy, work load and business networks influence entrepreneurs' perception of social support and health. Data is obtained from the seventh wave of the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics Panel of Australia (HILDA). The panel comprises a subsample of 805 self-employed running their own business with employees. We use structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. First results reveal that the entrepreneurs comprised in our sample are highly satisfied with there jobs. We can show that perceived social support is positively related to entrepreneurs' life and job satisfaction and that it explains some of the variance in their individual health state. We can distinguish between private social support and business social support. Perceived private social support moderates the relationship between business size and entrepreneurs' health and buffers a lack of social support in the business context. Given the fact that entrepreneurship promotion programs mostly focus on business planning and financial sourcing, we strongly recommend to strengthen entrepreneurial networks that provide business related social support. Entrepreneurs specifically benefit from close and trustful relationships with experienced entrepreneurs providing business advice, appreciation, and feedback. In addition, we think that health education and building awareness for recreational aspects should be part of entrepreneurship education, especially for practitioners but also for undergraduates and graduate students.Type: conference paperVolume: Vol. 31
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PublicationHealthy Entrepreneurs for Healthy Businesses : An Exploratory Study of the Perception of Health and Well-Being by EntrepreneursWith this paper, we want to emphasise the importance of healthy entrepreneurs for sustainable business development. We contribute to the field of entrepreneurship and show how entrepreneurs assess their own health state. We contribute to the field of occupational health by explicitly focusing the social dimension of health besides the physical and mental well-being. Drawing on a multiple-case study of six entrepreneurs, we show that entrepreneurs' rarely perceive their health as a resource for business performance. Whereas the concept of physical well-being is relatively well understood by the entrepreneurs, they have a very limited awareness and understanding of the mental and social well-being dimensions.Type: journal articleJournal: New Zealand Journal of Employment RelationsVolume: 35Issue: 1
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PublicationHealthy entrepreneurs for healthy businesses( 2009-09-02)
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PublicationType: conference paper
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