The entrepreneur's role stressors and proclivity for a venture withdrawal

SummaryWe test a causal model of entrepreneurs’ role stressors—role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload—and their relationships with exhaustion and reduced perceptions of compensation for one's efforts which over time lead to the development of a proclivity for venture withdrawal. Using structural equation modelling and a 2-year longitudinal data set, we find empirical support for the proposed causal model. Overall, the empirical results support the indirect influence of role stressors and highlight the direct effects of enhanced exhaustion and reduced perceptions of compensation for one's efforts on a proclivity for a new venture withdrawal. The paper concludes by proposing implications for theory and further research.