Exploring the relationship between hybrid founder social identities and entrepreneurs’ psychological resilience

Annika Mara Aust, Marvin Aundrup, Andrea Greven and Malte Brettel

Journal of Small Business Management, 2025, vol. 63, issue 4, 1518-1551

Abstract: This study explores the link between entrepreneurs’ hybrid founder social identity and psychological resilience, applying social identity theory and broaden-and-build theory. Psychological resilience is crucial for entrepreneurial success, given the challenging environments in which entrepreneurs operate. Yet, research on individual-level antecedents of entrepreneurs’ psychological resilience is limited. Entrepreneurs today strive to address social and ecological issues without sacrificing financial gain, making hybrid identity types—combining “opportunistic” (Darwinian) and “altruistic” (Communitarian or Missionary) elements—increasingly relevant. Analyzing survey data from 886 entrepreneurs, we find that entrepreneurs with specific hybrid identities (Darwinian-Communitarian or Darwinian-Missionary combinations) exhibit greater psychological resilience. We attribute this to their expanded ability to draw meanings and experience positive emotions from diverse sources, providing them with a broader psychological foundation to rely on in challenging times. This work enhances our understanding of entrepreneurs’ antecedents of psychological resilience and offers insights into the complexities of hybrid founder identities.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00472778.2024.2392714 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:ujbmxx:v:63:y:2025:i:4:p:1518-1551

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/ujbm20

DOI: 10.1080/00472778.2024.2392714

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Small Business Management is currently edited by Eric Liguori

More articles in Journal of Small Business Management from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().