What Makes Entrepreneurs Burn Out

Abstract

Researchers conducted a study to see what factors lead to greater burnout among entrepreneurs. Specifically, they looked at whether job passion, job fit, and destiny beliefs (the belief that a successful entrepreneurial career is “meant to be”) make entrepreneurs more likely or less likely to experience burnout. These factors have been shown to affect important outcomes such as entrepreneurial stress and venture performance. They found that even though entrepreneurs generally had the autonomy to design their own jobs, their passion, sense of job fit, and likelihood to experience burnout varied. The entrepreneurs, on average, said they experienced some level of burnout. But some were more burned out than others — 25% of entrepreneurs felt moderately burned out, while 3% felt strongly burned out. The researchers found that the entrepreneurs who reported high scores of obsessive passion were more likely to say they experienced burnout than those who reported high scores of harmonious passion. The obsessively passionate entrepreneurs reported feeling that work was more emotionally draining and that working all day required a great deal of effort. They also found that among entrepreneurs with obsessive passion, those with a fixed mindset were even more prone to burnout.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-10-2018

Publisher Statement

Copyright ©2025 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.

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