Bayes business school and U. of St. Gallen, United Kingdom
Entrepreneurs often face stress in their entrepreneurial journey that undermines their mental well-being. Although studies have shown that entrepreneurs may use problem-focused and emotion-focused strategies to cope with their stress, we know little about how entrepreneurs develop those coping strategies and whether they need external support for such development. Drawing from theories of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and cognitive bias, we content that entrepreneurs can benefit from external CBT training by developing coping strategies that reduce cognitive biases and improve well-being. The results from our field experiment support that such psychological training enables entrepreneurs to reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as their cognitive biases.
