Abstract
This paper examines the experience of eustress, using
Selye's (1964, 1987) concept of "good stress".Usually
stress is considered and researched as a negative
experience, but we suggest that learning to respond to
negative stress and demands with positive emotions and
behaviours is likely to increase positive drive,
creativity and courage (Le Fevre, Matheny &Kolt, 2003;
Selye 1964; 1987). However, it is sometimes challenging
to draw the line between distress, negative stress and
positive stress. Especially entrepreneurs are an
important target group of studying positive stress as
they have a high responsibility for self-management and
deciding over their ways of working. We conducteda case
study with 21 entrepreneurs in Finland to find out how
the entrepreneurs experience the balance between positive
and negative stress. In addition, 9 of the entrepreneurs
took part in a physiological stress measurement for a
period of one week by wearing sensors and writing a diary
of their daily events during the measurement. The
entrepreneurs were interviewed before and after the
measurement. We conclude that the physiological
measurement of stress should be combined with
qualitative self-report of participants to understand the
valence of the stress, as it can't be concluded from the
physiological measures only. In addition, novel digital
services could be developed to support learning new ways
to respond to stress and provide useful tools for
facilitating positive stress and wellbeing at work.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 342-347 |
Journal | The Business and Management Review |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 3 |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Event | International conference on Business and Economic Development, ICBED 2016 - New York, United States Duration: 4 Apr 2016 → 5 Apr 2016 |
Keywords
- entrepreneurs
- positive stress
- stress measurement
- self-management
- wellbeing at work