Blessing In Disguise? Coping Strategies And Entrepreneurial Intentions Following Involuntary Job Loss

A growing body of research in entrepreneurship has explored the personality and social determinants of entrepreneurial intentions (EI). Most empirical work in this area has emphasized the “pull” approach to EI, which focuses on the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities. In contrast, the “push” approach to EI, which explains EI as a function of displacing events in one’s life, has received little scholarly attention. This study contributes to the “push” approach to EI by examining involuntary job loss as a specific situational factor that influences EI. This study investigates whether problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies predict EI among individuals who have experienced involuntary job loss. Furthermore, we test whether entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) mediates the relationship between coping and EI. Using a sample of 266 individuals who had experienced recent involuntary job loss, we found that the use of problem-focused coping strategies was positively associated with EI and that this relationship was mediated by ESE. On the other hand, the use of emotion-focused coping strategies to manage job loss was unrelated to EI. Overall, our findings highlight the role of problem-focused coping in effectively managing the impacts of involuntary job loss.