The Entrepreneur in Crisis: A Qualitative Lens on how Entrepreneurs Manage Failure

Every entrepreneur faces barriers when they engage in entrepreneurial activities and for every entrepreneur, their utmost goal is to succeed in their endeavors. However, some entrepreneurial ventures fail due to several factors. After the failure, the entrepreneur either relapses or seeks for new entrepreneurial opportunities. The present study conducts a qualitative research synthesis to examine what happens after the occurrence of firm failure and how entrepreneurs manage the experiences from failure. In doing so, the present study analyses already published qualitative studies on failure by conducting a literature search from several electronic databases to capture the qualitative studies published under failure. After the elimination criteria, 19 relevant articles were identified. The identified articles were analyzed using meta ethnography and grounded formal theory to elaborate on three overarching concepts – the experience and cost of failure, the impact from failure and the outcome of failure. The findings from these analyzed qualitative research offers insight into the ongoing discussions on entrepreneurial failure by identifying recurrent themes and concepts as well as by presenting a conceptual model that describes the entrepreneur’s experiences from failure and how they manage these firm failures. The findings also provide avenues on how future research can contribute to the discussion on failure.