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Too Sick to Start: Entrepreneur's Health and Business Entry in Townships Around Durban, South Africa

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Unlike large firms with management teams, small businesses are usually run by one key person, the owner-entrepreneur, who bears almost all of the risks and makes almost all of the decisions related to the business. Because the owner-entrepreneur also embodies most of the firm-specific knowledge capital, health of the owner-entrepreneur is an important factor in the production process. Following a cohort of respondents in townships around Durban, South Africa, over a three-year period, we examined the relationship between an individual's physical health and the decision to start a business. Our results suggest that respondents who were recent business entrants were in better health than respondents who did not start new businesses. Moreover, respondents without a business at the beginning of the study who later opened businesses during the three-year study interval were significantly more likely to have better baseline health than those respondents who never started a new business. Hence, good health among entrepreneurs seems to be an important prerequisite to small business entry.

Source: Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship

DOI: 10.1142/s108494671000152x

Authors: LI-WEI CHAO, HELENA SZREK, NUNO SOUSA PEREIRA, MARK V. PAULY

Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, Universidade do Porto

Language: English

Topic: Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development