10 February 2009
New Zealand should prepare itself for a jump in entrepreneurial burnout as the recession starts to bite hard on small businesses, a visiting American expert says.
Professor Morgan Miles, a professor of marketing at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro who is currently conducting research from The University of Auckland’s Business School, says New Zealand’s high ratio of entrepreneurs, coupled with the bleak economic forecast, will mean more burnout sufferers needing health and social services in the next few years.
Rated sixth in the world for entrepreneurial activity, New Zealand’s economic changes will mean more ‘displaced entrepreneurs’ who will present high levels of role stress, conflict and overload – all leading to burnout, he says.
“New Zealand needs to prepare itself to cater for the problems of executives who have lost their jobs, university students with poor job prospects and immigrants without access to better jobs,” Professor Miles says.
“There will also be displaced homemakers struggling in the upcoming financial conditions. Tough economic times will increase burnout, as people experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation of others and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.”
At high risk of burnout are people “with a big dream”, those juggling complex family business roles, corporate staff undergoing rationalisation, and social/not-for-profit heads trying to retain services with dwindling funding, Professor Miles says.
“You could see younger people, those less educated, with less access to mental health services or maintaining unhealthy lifestyles making more of an impact on health and social services as burnout rates increase,” he says.
“Social isolation, with no peers to talk to, will also create further stress for entrepreneurs.”
Consequences of entrepreneurial burnout include decreased self-esteem, depression, irritability, helplessness, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances, poor appetite and substance abuse.
Those surrounding the entrepreneur will notice a withdrawal from family and friends, co-workers and clients, with a tendency to social isolation at work and less tolerance with those around them.
“Burnout also impacts on more intangible things, like less commitment to the venture, negative attitudes towards the venture’s success and negative attitudes towards their own ability to make the venture work,” Professor Miles says.
“This all sometimes leads to the venture failing, or is damaging to the core (parent) business.”
New Zealand’s health system means Kiwi entrepreneurs are better cared for than their burnt-out American counterparts who often lose medical benefits when their businesses fail or they stop working, Professor Miles says.
This country’s high rate of entrepreneurship makes it an ideal economy to study, Professor Miles says. He will remain in New Zealand for the next few months, and will hold a public lecture at the Business School on April 6.
Professor Morgan Miles joined Georgia Southern University in 1989, and was also a senior research associate at The University of Cambridge. He has been a visiting professor at universities around the world, and is globally renowned for his prolific research into entrepreneurship. He is the immediate past chair of the American Marketing Association’s Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group. |