Alan J. Williams, Professor of Management and foundation Head of the Department of Management at the University of Newcastle, N.S.W., Australia, has a background of 15 years active involvement in small business management development.
The paper is based on a study of the relationship between perceived stress and business performance of samples of failed small firm owner/managers and of owners of operating firms which were approaching failure. The research addresses two questions: 1) is the quality of an individual's entrepreneurial performance (in a small business context) related to his capacity to cope with stress emanating from the many and varied stressors in that role? (Results indicate a statistically significant relationship); and, 2) what relationship exists between stress level and the temporal proximity of business failure? In essence, the focal issue is: is stress a potential cause of small business failure, or a consequence of that failure? (Results showed that stress levels prior to small business failure were significantly higher than after failure; stress levels tended to increase significantly with increasing proximity and probability of failure, and they decreased significantly after failure.)
Stress generated by a mix of factors inherent in the small business ownership role can seriously inhibit effective management and entrepreneurship. It is widely associated with business failure; its specific causes and consequences are worthy of further research.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Appley, M. H. (1982), "Motivation, Threat Perception and the Induction of Psychological Stress", Proceedings of the 16th International Congress of Psychologists, Bonn, 1960. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Co. , pp880-881.
2.
Atkinson, J. W. , and Litwin, G. H. (1960), "Achievement Motive and Test Anxiety Conceived as Motive to Approach Success and Motive to Avoid Failure" , Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 60, pp 52-63 .
3.
Baumback, C. M. , and Lawyer, K. (1979) How to Organize and Operate a Small Business, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall Inc.
4.
Beaver, W. H. (1968), "Alternative Accounting Measures as Predictors of Failure" , The Accounting Review, Vol. 43, No. 1, January, pp 113-122 .
5.
Bolton Committee (Chairman: J. E. Bolton ) (1971), Report of the Committee of Inquiry on Small Firms, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office .
6.
Cofer, C. N. , and Appley, M. H. (1964), Motivation: Theory and Research, New York: Wiley .
7.
Cohen, A. R. , Stotland, E. , and Wolfe, D. (1955), "An Experimental Investigation of Need for Cognition" , Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 51, pp 291-294 .
8.
Collins, O. , and Moore, D. G. (1970), The Organization Makers: A Behavioural Study of Independent Entrepreneurs, New York: Appleton-Century Crofts .
9.
Curran, J. , and Stanworth, M. J. K. (1971), "The Way of the Small Businessman" , New Society, Vol. 18, Aug. 19, pp 324-327 .
10.
Drever, J. (1960), A Dictionary of Psychology, London: Penguin Books .
11.
Dun and Bradstreet Inc. (1980), The Failure Record Through 1979, New York: Dun and Bradstreet Inc .
12.
English, J. W. (1981), How to Organize and Operate a Small Business in Australia, Sydney: George Allen and Unwin Aust. Pty Ltd .
13.
Farber, 1. E. , and Spence, K. W. (1953), "Complex Learning and Conditioning as a Function of Anxiety" , Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 45, pp 120-125 .
14.
Frenkel-Brunswick, E. (1949), "Intolerance of Ambiguity as an Emotional and Perceptual Personality Variable" , Journal of Personality, Vol. 18, pp 108-143 .
15.
French, J. R. P. , and Caplan, R. D. (1973), "Organizational Stress and Individual Strain", in Marrow, A. J. (ed.), The Failure of Success, New York: AMACOM , pp30-66.
16.
Kahn, R.. L. , "Conflict, ambiguity and overload: three elements in job stress" , Occupational Mental Health, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp 43-49 .
17.
Kahn, R. L. , and French, J. R. P. (1970), "Status and Conflict: Two Themes in the Study of Stress", in McGrath, J. E. (ed.), Social and Psychological Factors in Stress, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. , pp238-263.
18.
Kahn, R. L. , Wolfe, D. M. , Quinn, R. P. , and Snoek, J. D. (1964), Organizational Stress: Studies in Role Conflict and Ambiguity, New York: Wiley .
19.
Kets de Vries, M. F. R. (1979), "Organizational Stress: A Call for Management Action" , Sloan Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 1, Fall, pp 3-14 .
20.
Kiev, A. , and Kohn, V. (1979), Executive Stress: An AMA Survey Report, New York: AMACOM .
21.
Lazarus, R. S. (1966), Psychological Stress and the Coping Process, New York: McGraw-Hill .
22.
Lazarus, R. S. , Deese, J. , and Osler, S. F. (1952), "The Effects of Psychological Stress on Performance" , Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 49, pp 293-317 .
23.
March, J. G. , and Simon, H. A. (1958), Organizations, New York: Wiley .
24.
Margolis, B. L. , Kroes, W. H. , and Quinn, R. P. (1974), "Job Stress: An Unlisted Occupational Hazard" , Journal of Occupational Medicine, Vol. 16, No. 10, pp 654-661 .
25.
Maslow, A. (1943), "Conflict, Frustration and the Theory of Threat" , Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 38, pp 81-86 .
26.
Mayer, K. B. , and Goldstein, S. (1961), The First Two Years: Problems of Small Firm Growth and Survival, Washington, D.C.: Small Business Administration (Small Business Research Series, No. 2).
27.
Mechanic, D. (1962), Students Under Stress, New York: The Free Press .
28.
Meglino, B. M. (1977), "The Stress-Performance Controversy" , MSU Business Topics, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp 53-59 .
29.
Pettigrew, A. (1972), "Managing Under Stress", Management Today, April, pp 99-100, 102-102.
30.
Raphelson, A. C. (1957), "The Relationships Among Imaginative, Direct Verbal, and Physiological Measures of Anxiety in an Achievement Situation" , Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol. 54, pp 13-18 .
31.
Rosenberg, M. (1968), The Logic of Survey Analysis, New York: Basic Books Inc.
32.
Selye, H. (1956), The Stress of Life, New York: Longmans, Greena nd Co. Inc.
33.
Selye, H. (1976), Stress in Health and Disease, Boston: Butterworths .
34.
Shostak, A. B. (1980), Blue-Collar Stress, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley .
35.
SPSS Inc. (1983), SPSS-X, Chicago: McGraw-Hill .
36.
Stanworth, M. J. K. , and Curran, J. (1976), "Growth and the Small Firm - an Alternative View" , The Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, May, pp 95-110 .
37.
Taylor, J. A. , and Spence, K. W. (1952), "The Relationship of Anxiety Level to Performance in Serial Learning" , Journal of Experimental Psychology, Vol. 44, pp 61-64 .
38.
Welford, A. T. (1965), "Stress and Achievement" , Australian Journal of Psychology, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp 1-11 .
39.
Williams, A. J. (1975), A Study of the Characteristics and Performance of Small Business Owner/Managers in Western Australia, unpublished doctoral thesis, The University of Western Australia.
40.
Williams, A. J. (1977), "The Independent Entrepreneur", in Bordow, A. (ed.), The Worker in Australia, St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press , pp113-147.
41.
Williams, A. J. (1982), "Patterns of Small Business Failure", in Dunlop, W. C. , and Sheehan, W. J. (eds.), Small Business Research, Newcastle, N.S.W.: University of Newcastle, Institute of Industrial Economics , pp23-34.
42.
Wiltshire Committee (Chairman: F. M. Wiltshire) (1971), Report of the Committee on Small Business, Canberra: The Government Printer of Australia .
43.
Wolff, H. G. , and Goodell, H. (1968), Stress and Disease, Springfield, Illinois: C. C. Thomas .
44.
Yates, J. E. (1979), Managing Stress, New York: AMACOM .
45.
Yerkes, R. M. , and Dodson, J. D. (1908), "The Relation of Strength of Stimulus to Rapidity of Habit Formation" , Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, Vol. 18, pp 459-482 .
