The Resilience of Entrepreneurs in Developing Economies

We define entrepreneurial resilience as the capacity of people who start businesses to demonstrate concrete, positive adaptation to adversity. The resilience of entrepreneurs is relevant to the success of new ventures because in order to survive and grow, entrepreneurs must overcome increasing competition, economic disruptions, and other challenges. We argue that entrepreneurial resilience is particularly needed in developing economies because entrepreneurs face additional and dramatic adversity, including general economic and political hardships and specific difficulties in the daily operations of managing a business. We describe and explain a grounded illustrative model of entrepreneurial resilience that identifies key antecedents (traits of wealth creation, other individual differences, and social factors) and outcomes (for entrepreneurs, firms and geographic regions). The model also draws on theory and research to specify likely mediators (positive emotions, adaptive coping, and commitment to the venture) and moderators (economic conditions, control over circumstances, and level and type of conflict). We illustrate the hypothesized relationships using examples from specific developing economies, and discuss next steps for research and practice