Stress and the performance of small business owners
說明
146 p
附註
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 76-03(E), Section: A
Adviser: Rachelle Disbennett-Lee
Thesis (Psy.D.)--The University of the Rockies, 2014
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The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological research study is to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of stress on entrepreneurs and their ability to run their businesses. The structure of what a business consists of in order to run effectively includes hiring, training employees, daily operations, effective leadership, management, and meeting company goals while delegating various responsibilities to employees. In-depth structured interviews were conducted with ten small business owners who are running their own small business with less than 50 employees in the New York City area. The interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data which was analyzed to identify patterns and themes across the lived-experiences of entrepreneurs in the metropolitan area. This study was conducted using the phenomenological design for researching lived experiences and by using the theory of interpretation (hermeneutic) theory. This study provided a thorough body of knowledge on the literature as well as practical knowledge drawn from the participants' lived experiences. The method that was used is a qualitative phenomenological approach with interview questions that addressed the relationship of stress and running a business
The methodology involved interviewing the participants, capturing their lived experiences regarding stress and running a business. The participants discussed what happened when they were under a lot of stress and whether stress affected their everyday performance of running their businesses. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to report the lived experiences and feelings in connection with those experiences along with the patterns and themes of the impact of stress on the entrepreneurs' ability to effectively run their business. These seven themes were formulated and are: (a) perceived lived experiences of stress negatively impact entrepreneurs' performance; (b) the impact of stress on small business owners and burnout can lead to contemplating giving up on the business; (c) entrepreneurs experienced stress and role stress which negatively impact their ability to perform successfully; (d) the causes of stress, such as occupational demands, responsibility for others, environmental factors and changes negatively impact the performance of small business owners; (e) the consequences of stress, such as personal, interpersonal, and effective communication, and organizational consequences negatively impact the performance of entrepreneurs; (f) feelings about experiencing stress negatively impact entrepreneurs; and (g) managing stress and strategies for coping with stress can help alleviate stress. This phenomenological study represents an approach to how entrepreneurs experience stress because occupational stress has a negative effect on the performance of entrepreneurs and can result in the entrepreneur leaving their business as well as cause health problems. Stress can result in a series of problems, such as health issues, intention to leave one's business, or business failure as indicated by the results. However, there are coping strategies in place such as problem and emotion based coping strategies that can help with alleviating stress
Key Words: Phenomenological Study, Lived Experiences , Stress, Small Business Owners, Performance, Coping Strategies, Entrepreneurs
