Workplace Wellbeing and Entrepreneurship: An exploratory study of employee wellbeing in small entrepreneurial organisations.

The wellbeing of people at work has attracted considerable media attention and growing research interest in recent times. This interest complements the separate faith in entrepreneurial organisations as catalysts of economic development. In terms of critical insights into people at work, the wellbeing literature focuses on the larger firm, while entrepreneurship studies tend to concentrate on the human capital of entrepreneur, ignoring the relationships between the entrepreneur and other people especially in small entrepreneurial organisations. Keeping this in mind, this PhD research aims to focus on exploring the wellbeing of the people within small entrepreneurial firms. Initially, I develop a set of propositions from the existing literature to examine how wellbeing could augment human capital for entrepreneurial outcomes within small entrepreneurial firms. Bearing in mind that all human beings are different, and their interpretations are based on their own experiences and feelings; understanding individual wellbeing also needs a subjective in-depth lens. Thus, an interpretivist approach was taken to explore the wellbeing of employees working in small entrepreneurial firms using three distinct case studies based in UK. The empirical findings were thematically coded using the Gioia methodology. The findings show that ‘people-oriented’ factors namely, relational assets, ownership and entitlement and the relationship with the entrepreneur together with organisational policies and procedures can have both positive influences on two types of wellbeing- hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. However, entrepreneurial capabilities and achievements could be jeopardised when dysfunctional relationships, procedures, policies and compromises with the creative process, leads to a culture of stress, anxiety and negative wellbeing. Using the theoretical lens of Amartya’s Sen’s Capability Approach, I develop a more nuanced set of propositions to suggest a framework for theory-building and developing future enquiry. I outline some of the practical implications of this study for new ways in which employee-entrepreneur relationships could be organised, managed and developed through the creation of an evaluative space for realising people’s capabilities and ability to function effectively as contributors to entrepreneurial firms.