Business start-up, burn-out and start-up success

Project

The high stress levels experienced by start-up entrepreneurs bear a high risk of developing burn-out symptoms that endanger the successful development of the company.

Despite the practical relevance, so far no empirical study has shed light on the conditions leading to, as well as the effects and progresssion of burn-out symptoms amongst founders. In order to close this gap, an interdisciplinary team of researchers is building up a longitudinal dataset (starting with a full survey of start-up founders of the second quarter 2014 at four points in time every six months) that provides answers to the following research questions:

1. What influence do start-up conditions have on founders developing burn-out symptoms?
2. What effects do founders‘ burn-out symptoms have on start-up success?
3. In how far can burn-out during the start-up process be described as a procedural development?
4. By using established, reliable and validated self-assessment instruments (MBI-GS, KFZA, SF-36, AVEM, SSS), robust results with the highest practical relevance are to be expected.