Abstract
Pursuing an entrepreneurial career is often rewarding in terms of both economic and psychological outcomes. However, becoming an entrepreneur also has its darker side that affects professional and personal life. Meanwhile, the positivity bias is prevalent in entrepreneurial education and research. It is recognized as emphasizing the advantages of becoming an entrepreneur and giving considerably less attention to potential downsides. Based on the theoretical model of met expectations, it is proposed that building an accurate and balanced image of the entrepreneurial career is crucial to help students prepare to pursue it successfully. Using data from SEAS (Survey on Entrepreneurial Attitudes of Students) Project, authors quantitatively test the perception of the severity of negative aspects of entrepreneurship among 513 business students from northern Poland. Further, the results of 16 semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with mature and experienced entrepreneurs from the same region are presented. They are focused on the entrepreneurs’ perspective on the experienced dark sides and reveal employed coping strategies. A call is made to include these findings in designing university entrepreneurship programs by eliciting the awareness of the existence of the dark sides and indicating the means of their attenuation.
Highlights
In the contemporary constantly changing environment, entrepreneurship education is going to face an increased number of challenges
The presented literature review indicates several important issues that we address in our research
Research participants described strategies used by them to cope with the negative aspects of the entrepreneurial career
Summary
In the contemporary constantly changing environment, entrepreneurship education is going to face an increased number of challenges. It is important to address some still unsolved issues regarding entrepreneurship education and tailor them to the current and forthcoming needs. One of such issues is the positivity bias common in entrepreneurial research and education. It is recognized as emphasizing the advantages of becoming an entrepreneur and giving considerably less attention to potential difficulties. The empirical part of the paper describes findings of two studies: a quantitative study on the perception of dark sides of the entrepreneurial career among 513 university students and a. The authors argue that the inclusion of the dark side of entrepreneurship in various curricula is essential, especially nowadays, in order to better prepare potential future entrepreneurs for their careers in an environment full of uncertainty
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