COVID-19 And Ambitious Entrepreneurship: Impacts On Mental Well-being In A Crisis

In entrepreneurship research, little is known about the dynamics of entrepreneurs’ well-being during a crisis and how this influences their ability to address the challenges associated with navigating the uncertainty and ambiguity associated with a shock. In this longitudinal qualitative study of UK high-growth entrepreneurs, we examine how the pandemic is affecting the well-being of entrepreneurs as the crisis unfolds and how this affected organizational activities. Our findings advance knowledge on the impacts of crises on entrepreneurial organisations by also offering contributions to both entrepreneurs and policy makers. This contributes to the growing literature around entrepreneurial well-being by extending it to focus on how an ongoing, exogenous crisis impacts founders’ and employees’ well-being and examining how this in turn affects firm performance and survival.