Personal factors and entrepreneurial exit intentions: the mediating effects of work engagement and emotional exhaustion in farmers[Facteurs personnels et intention de sortie entrepreneuriale : les effets médiateurs de l’engagement au travail et de l’épuisement émotionnel de l’agriculteur]

This research studies the impact that a proactive personality and the moral obligation to remain in the company have on entrepreneurial exit intention.Drawing on the conservation of resources theory and the demandsresources model, we postulate that these two personal factors are related to work engagement and emotional exhaustion. Through engagement and exhaustion, a proactive personality and moral obligation affect exit intention. Based on a sample of 210 French farmers who are particularly affected by entrepreneurial exit, the results show that work engagement mediates the negative relationships between proactive personality and exit intention on the one hand, and between moral obligation to remain in the company and exit intention on the other. Emotional exhaustion mediates the positive relationship between moral obligation and exit intention. This research contributes to the entrepreneurial exit literature by empirically examining the mechanisms that link personal factors to exit intention.