Examining the impact of poverty-related life stressors’ on persistence in entrepreneurship
基于压力交易理论，研究贫困地区创业者的生活压力强度与创业坚持之间的U型关系，发现认知评价在其中起中介作用，对理解贫困情境下的创业行为有重要启示。
Entrepreneurial persistence is a key behaviour leading to entrepreneurial success. However, the drivers and cognitive processes shaping persistence in entrepreneurship in contexts of poverty have rarely been explored. The inconsistent findings on the impact of economic poverty on entrepreneurial motivation from previous studies may be due to a failure to distinguish the perceived poverty intensity of entrepreneurs. Drawing on the transactional theory of stress, we examined the double-edge-sword effect of poverty-related life stressors (PLS) on entrepreneurial persistence. From primary and cross-sectional data on 119 entrepreneurs from Fugong, a low-income location in China, we found entrepreneurs in poor areas persist in running business depending on the intensity of PLS. A U-shape relationship exists between PLS and entrepreneurial persistence, and we also found such a relationship is mediated by cognitive appraisal. Our findings have important implications in expanding the scope of entrepreneurship-related work concerned with poverty contexts.