INTRODUCTION TO

ENTREPRENEURSHIP
BUS4087

Session 11: The Dark Side of

Entrepreneurship

Module Team:
Beulah Maas
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Discuss the Dark Side of Entrepreneurship
 Dark Side, Downside and
Destructive Side
• Dark Side:
• Negative psychological and emotional reactions from engaging in
entrepreneurial action.
• Grief from failure of business leading to depression/anxiety.
• Loneliness
• Down Side:
• An entrepreneur’s loss of capital (e.g., financial and social) from engaging
in the entrepreneurial process.
• Economic and social capital losses can lower an entrepreneur’s socioeconomic
status, and low socioeconomic status can result in various health-related issues
for both the entrepreneur and family
• Destructive Side:
• Refers to the negative impacts on society members from damage to
resources owned or accessed by others as a result of entrepreneurial
action.
• Dis-engage with pro-environmental values and pursue opportunities that harm
nature.
(Shepherd, 2019)
 On the other side of Paradise

• Technological Changes:
• Countries and loose international standings if they failed to
foresee or unable to accommodate them.
• This can lead to unemployment
• When successful implemented it can also lead to social problems. Existing
institutions and individual skills become outdated and obsolete.
• Entrepreneurs use wealth to undermine competition, per-
empting new entries, solidifying monopolies.
• Effects on Family and Personal Life
• Persistence and hard work, could create tensions, rigidity, and
unwillingness to cooperate with members of the family
• Can loose a home if used for collateral
• Spill over to next generation who discourage them to pursue
an entrepreneurship route.
(Wright and Zahra, 2011)
 Personal Creditworthiness
• In general the transition into entrepreneurship are seen through a
positive lens given that entrepreneurs are a reliable source of
economic growth and employment.
• However, it is risky and 48% of businesses exit within the first 5
years.
• Skills like education, self-confidence, analytical skills and risk
taking are seen as arguments for higher compensation. Further
studies showed that entrepreneurs are not earning more that
salaried people – depending on the business.
• Potential negative impact on personal creditworthiness.
(Chava, Gopal, Singh and Zhang, 2023)
• When businesses are failing entrepreneurs are unable or unwilling
to perceive the risk and continue to invest in a failing business.
(Jeffrey, 2016)
 Impact of creativity

• Creativity is starting point of opportunity

identification, exploitation and innovation
• Creative assessment of opportunities that can
harm the nature (sustainability).
• Nature Disengagement: justifications that
allows entrepreneurs to engage in actions
that can damage nature and minimise self-
sanctions that deter these behaviours
Qin, Shepherd, Lin,D, Xie, Liang, and Lin, S, 2022
Module Choices Re-capped