Micro-Entrepreneurship and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Rural Bangladesh

Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress; Ivļevs, Artjoms

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3253478

Cited by 10 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…First, the framework contributes new theoretical and empirically grounded insights in explaining the causal structures triggering work-family conflicts in an entrepreneurial journey which not only impacts the entrepreneurial performance but also exit decisions. Second, the findings complement the emerging "entrepreneurial well-being" literature (Abreu et al, 2019;Bhuiyan & Ivlevs, 2019;Engel et al, 2021;Newman et al, 2018) by exploring the social and familial structures influencing the well-being of entrepreneur and their families. Extending our understanding of these causal structures will help to develop a more comprehensive view of micro and small business contexts, which includes the role of family in contributing as social and psychological capital, affecting entrepreneur"s subjective well-being.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Family Influenceon Entrepreneur’s Wellbeingand their Business Exit Experience

Abbas¹,

Wilson²

2022

Preprint

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<p>This paper explores the influence of an entrepreneur’s family on the entrepreneur’s well-being, their business experience and vice versa. Set in a relatively under-research context of business exit, the study has analysed the entrepreneurial journey of 46 cases of business exits using gender as a bio-cultural construct. Empirical findings reveal the underlying causal mechanisms that mediate the work-family interface of an entrepreneur’s life and consequently their business exit decision. Gendering is not confined to social dynamics but shapes the coping and post-exit recovery mechanisms as well. </p>

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Family Influenceon Entrepreneur’s Wellbeingand their Business Exit Experience

Abbas¹,

Wilson²

2022

Preprint

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“…However, in the same context, another variant of microfinance where livestock instead of money were loaned was effective in reducing depression and PTSD among women [71]. Research from Bangladesh has also found microcredit participation to be associated with higher emotional stress [72, 73]. In a study of marginally rejected microloan borrowers in South Africa, who were extended loan on second consideration, it was found that access to microloan increased stress but reduced depression [74].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evidence of the ineffectiveness of microcredit participation or its adverse effects on mental health also exist [70,[72][73][74]. Participation in a group-based savings and loan scheme did not have any significant reduction in depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among women survivors of sexual violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).…”

Section: (E) Microfinancementioning

confidence: 99%

Insurance as an instrument of financial security in addressing mental illness among agricultural workers in the LMICs

Agarwal

Gupta

Singh

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Introduction: Agriculture is a high-risk occupation globally, with risk intensities being higher in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Formal risk-mitigation instruments are absent in LMICs. Prevalence of financial insecurity often acts as a prominent stressor predisposing to various mental illnesses among the agrarian workers in LMICs. Aims: We review the existing scientific evidence from LMICs on the role of insurance in improving the mental health of rural workers. Our research identifies the different insurance interventions available for agrarian or rural workers in LMICs, and review their effectiveness - overall and across sub-groups in preventing the development of mental illnesses or reducing existing ones. Methodology: Our review included both peer and non-peer-reviewed literature. We involved people with lived experience (PWLE) that included farmers, workers, NGOs and health workers, policy researchers etc. with experiences from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Peru, and South Africa. Inputs from PWLE helped in defining our key concepts for the study and in curating a list of keywords for literature search. We identified 79 articles of which we reviewed 47 articles that reported effectiveness of financial interventions, primarily Cash transfer (CT), Pension and Health insurance, Workfare and Microfinance on the mental health of rural workers in LMICs. A cash transfer (CT) is a direct transfer payment of money to an eligible person. Unlike Unconditional CT (UCT), conditional CT (CCT) are conditional upon completing specific actions beyond being eligible for CT such as sending children to school or making regular health visits. Microfinance is provision of banking service to individuals or groups who otherwise would have no access to financial services. Workfare program require participants to perform usually public-service work to receive payment. Insights from PWLE: We learned from PWLE that it is hard to distinguish between self and wage employment as workers are engaged in multiple livelihood activities, and similarly between rural and urban workers due to seasonal migration. Workers continue to work in old age as there is no concept of retirement. PWLE reported that public assistance program whether they supplement income or consumption are beneficial. Access to low cost credit enhances financial security as most workers operate in highly credit-constrained environments. Key findings: (i) Pension and health insurance led to a significant reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety among workers, particularly among the elderly. (ii) Workfare participation led to a reduction in depression among women by increasing income security. However, in addition to financial security, non-pecuniary benefits of employment were also observed among the unemployed refugee men. (iii) CT led to a reduction in suicides among farmers during adverse income shocks, and in general improved mental health of recipients. However, when the recipients perceived CT as stigmatizing or perceived the compliance condition (as in CCT) as an additional burden, the effects of CT on mental health were negative. (iv) Microfinance schemes had mixed effects on mental health of the participants, primarily women. While it led to a reduction in depression and anxiety, loan repayment was often reported to be stressful. Recommendation for practice: Mental health should be incorporated as an additional welfare parameter in the cost-benefit analysis of policy evaluation as evidence suggest that higher income or consumption do not necessarily improve mental health. While pension and health insurance can bring in positive changes in mental health of workers, CT and microfinance schemes are no silver bullets for improving psychological well-being. CT and microfinance interventions can have an adverse effect on mental health of recipients which depend upon their design and delivery. Recommendation for research: We believe that lack of mental health data largely inhibits evidence-based research on mental health. For example, we did not find any study that evaluated agricultural insurance or price support scheme in spite of these having existed in LMICs for some time now. Evaluation of existing insurance interventions on parameters of mental health is only possible if data collection on mental health variables are encouraged.

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“…Disadvantaged entrepreneurs typically find that cultural and patriarchal restrictions (Al-Dajani et al, 2019), lack of citizenship rights (Shepherd et al, 2020;de la Chaux and Haugh, 2020) and societal stigma (Chandra, 2017;Jones et al, 2019) are almost impossible-to-overcome barriers. Persistent disadvantage, which erodes capabilities and confidence fundamental to entrepreneurship (Neville et al, 2018;Bhuiyan and Ivlevs, 2019) is somewhat ignored in current entrepreneurship scholarship. Against a backdrop of big structural deficits, the application of willful agentic effort does not naturally lead to socioeconomic progress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Persistent disadvantage, which erodes capabilities and confidence fundamental to entrepreneurship (Neville et al. , 2018; Bhuiyan and Ivlevs, 2019) is somewhat ignored in current entrepreneurship scholarship. Against a backdrop of big structural deficits, the application of willful agentic effort does not naturally lead to socioeconomic progress.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building self-determination of disadvantaged groups: insights from an entrepreneurship focused program for refugees

Richey

Brooks²,

Ravishankar³

2022

IJEBR

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PurposeThis paper examines how entrepreneurship focused programs build capacities for disadvantaged groups to pursue more dignified lives. The struggles of disadvantaged entrepreneurs against pronounced structural constraints are well documented, but less is known about how targeted programs of entrepreneurship focused support change the status quo for disadvantaged communities.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is grounded in a mainly inductive, interpretive study and explores the work of an entrepreneurship focused program targeted at refugee participants. The paper reports on intensive fieldwork and in-depth interviews with 23 program participants in London, UK.FindingsThe empirical sections elaborate three key mechanisms supporting greater self-determination and better opportunities: building entrepreneurial intention, building contextual legitimacy and building proximal ties. These mechanisms empower disadvantaged groups to pursue a wide variety of meaningful goals, including but not limited to starting a business.Originality/valueThis paper draws attention to problems of over-emphasizing the disadvantaged entrepreneurs' agency. It uses the vocabulary of self-determination theory (SDT) and offers a psychosocial perspective of the consequences of disadvantage and the potential for entrepreneurship focused programs to build key capacities and improve precarious lives.

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Micro-Entrepreneurship and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Rural Bangladesh

Cited by 10 publications

References 93 publications

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Family Influenceon Entrepreneur’s Wellbeingand their Business Exit Experience

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Family Influenceon Entrepreneur’s Wellbeingand their Business Exit Experience

Insurance as an instrument of financial security in addressing mental illness among agricultural workers in the LMICs

Building self-determination of disadvantaged groups: insights from an entrepreneurship focused program for refugees

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