Feel dragged out: a recovery perspective in the relationship between emotional exhaustion and entrepreneurial exit

PurposeThis study investigates the relationship between emotional exhaustion and entrepreneurial exit, particularly how this relationship might be invigorated by two critical psychological factors, namely cognitive well-being (CWB) and affective well-being (AWB).Design/methodology/approachBinary logistic regression analysis was employed on a longitudinal data set of 997 self-employed individuals taken from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) during years 2012-2013.FindingsGreater level of emotional exhaustion increases the likelihood of entrepreneurial exit. However, individuals with higher levels of affective or/and cognitive well-being are less likely to engage in the actual entrepreneurial exit behaviors.Practical implicationsEntrepreneurial exit is one of the crucial managerial decisions made by entrepreneurs. The decision to quit is not only triggered by poor firm performance but also by various psychological factors. The authors found subjective well-being as an essential mechanism promoting entrepreneurs’ overall well-being, thus recommending that entrepreneurs psychologically distance themselves from work during off times.Originality/valueFirst, the study discovered emotional exhaustion as a crucial psychological precursor of entrepreneurial exit by focusing on actual exit instances rather than intentions and strategies to exit. That contributes to understanding the psychological mechanism involved in resource gain and loss while making exit decisions. Second, affective and cognitive well-being are found to be two crucial enablers that work as a recovery process to deal with emotional exhaustion.

A Co-opetition View of the Entrepreneur–Investor Relationship: Modelling Entrepreneurial Exit Pathways

Drawing from the awareness–motivation–capability (AMC) perspective, this article develops a theoretical model, linking the relationship between the entrepreneur and investors to the entrepreneur’s exit path from her venture. It is argued that the relationship between the entrepreneur and the investors can be construed as being co-opetitive in nature, that is, simultaneously involving collaboration to grow the venture and competition to obtain a larger equity stake in the venture and broader decision-making rights. The article contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by developing a co-opetition view of the entrepreneur–investor relationship, theoretically modelling different exit pathways, and linking them to success versus failure perceptions of the entrepreneur’s exit from her venture.

The legal structure of ventures and exit routes: A study of single-founder start-ups in the United States

The purpose of this article is to focus on the role of the legal structure of ventures for the event of the entrepreneurial exit. Specifically, this study is to reveal the different effects of incorporated and non-incorporated legal structures of ventures on diverse exit routes. Using the Kauffman Firm Survey, this study investigated the relationship between the legal structure of ventures and their exit routes with a sample of 901 single-founder start-ups that were founded in 2004 and exited during 2005 to 2011 period. The finding of this study confirmed that ventures with an incorporated legal structure were less likely to exit by sale than ventures with a non-incorporated legal structure. While little research has considered the legal structure of ventures as a predictor of different exit routes, this study empirically suggests the importance of considering the forms of the legal status of ventures in studying entrepreneurial exit routes.

Make Use of the Difference of Failure and Exit to Improve the Operation Efficiency

As business failure is a high probability event that influences the operation efficiency of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, it is necessary to know how to manage business failure experience to promote serial entrepreneurship and improve circulation in the ecosystem. While most scholars agree that it is different between failure and exit, DeTienne suggests that exit could be a way to avoid failure and protect the passion and financial condition of entrepreneurs. Therefore, this chapter analyzes the difference of failure and exit and conducts a model to help entrepreneurs decide whether to exit and how to choose a better way to exit entrepreneurship. In the meantime, this chapter analyzes why entrepreneurial exit can improve the operation efficiency of entrepreneurial ecosystem, and also it would give some ideas about how to bound from failure and benefit from failure to do better next time. After reading this chapter, entrepreneurs have the idea that failure is controllable and exit may be a restart to do business more successfully.