Entrepreneurial Fear of Failure Insights

Findings

This chapter presents the findings derived from interviews with the respondents. The findings are organized into global themes, which are further categorized into organizing and basic themes. In brief the findings yielded three global themes, namely sources of fear of failure, effects of fear of failure, and coping strategies for fear of failure. It is important to note that while the interview results revealed much about fear of failure, the study focuses on learning the entrepreneurial side of fear of failure, and therefore addresses the individual aspect of fear of failure rather that fear of failure at a corporate level. For details of the organizing and basic themes, see appendix (X). Meanwhile, the following are the main findings of the study:

Theme 1: Societal Pressure

When respondents were asked about fear of failure and when they began experiencing it, a majority explained that they began fearing failure when upon realizing that the society would not have positive reactions to their failure. This implied that the entrepreneurs would feel pressurized to impress the society and this would lead to other affect such as castigating one’s self. Below are the pieces of evidence in detail:

Castigating One’s Self Worth

Four out of five participants stated they experienced fear of starting or managing a business due to societal pressure, their immediate family and friends disregarded their ability or viability of the business idea. These entrepreneurs’ exposure to fear had now become deeply embedded in their mind and they had started to criticize and judge themselves as a result of the anticipation of failure. For instance, Fredrick, a son of a successful second generation family business affirms to feeling a sense of fear as means of “being judged” due to failure and thinking of himself as a failure even before his idea was put into practice. His grandfather a successful entrepreneur, had always told him to remember the words “remember second place is the first place for losers’, therefore Fredrick grew up to portraying entrepreneurs as heroic figureheads and soon started to romanticize the entrepreneur ideology. Fredrick states, “I was naïve, I knew I did not have the right skills my family had in becoming entrepreneurs but I was desperate to do my own thing, I wasn’t business savvy, nor did my family make an effort to teach me how to run a business so naturally I was always scared”. He frequently castigated himself as “failure is something that was never spoken of in my family, in fact it was seen as taboo”. Similarly Anna, described herself as “I felt like a complete loser when my business started to fail slowly, I’ve never experienced fear in my life, I was always confident- but at this stage I was so scared, I knew I should have listened to my mother, she always said I was too overconfident”. It is seen that majority of the respondents experienced fear of failing over concerns over their ability to perform activities to seize the opportunity of the business idea or the development of the business. It was evident that the entire entrepreneurial process required the entrepreneurs to develop competencies at each stage; this raises concerns with context to how entrepreneurs’ strategic thinking and actions can either support the survival of the firm. As the respondents climbed each step of the entrepreneurial development process, fear of failure resulted as a form of fretfulness between the need to perform certain business activities against their own abilities and proficiencies to carry out these tasks therefore, any unsuccessful business activities done using their own abilities meant, these respondents blaming themselves and often demeaning themselves for their businesses on the verge of failing or have failed as a result of disappointment to their family and friends. This is also evident in Dan’s statement, “I tried so hard- the demands of failing got to me, I felt so low and a disappointment to my partner and my kids, I felt accountable as I couldn’t support their basic needs”. Ethan asserted that fearing failure itself before it had even happened made him feel “blameworthy”,“restless” and something he couldn’t “just survive with”.

Business challenges

Besides, the respondents indicated that they began experiencing a fear of failure when they came into terms with various challenges associated with the business such as lack of personal abilities to run the business and financial insecurities.

Personal abilities

When asked if they were ever afraid that the business would fail and when they started experiencing fear, one respondent noted that they personally feared they lacked the skills and doubted their entrepreneurial abilities to take the idea to the next level, and that being a new entrepreneur exposed them to the fear of not having the basic skills of running the business. Anna said that “…I was always afraid, truth be spoken I was just like a caterpillar in its silky cocoon; I had to yet use my skills and abilities to emerge as a butterfly in the entrepreneurial world. For me everything was new, so I was always scared at the beginning…” The results showed how entrepreneurial fear of failure largely emanated from doubting their personal abilities to take on the competitors. It came out clearly that fear of competitors and the perception that they could not keep up with the competitors was a significant source of fear. Dan said that: “…at some point in time my competitors were taking over the market so much that I felt as if I couldn’t make it. I was too much in fear...” In another stream of responses, the study found that failure to adopt the mindset of an entrepreneur caused fear of failure. One respondent narrated how they failed to adopt the entrepreneurial mindset and how this failure caused fear of failure among them. With this regard, Ethan said that: “…I had somehow not yet adopted the mindset of an entrepreneur; each time I was in trouble, I wished there was someone like a manager above me to look up to. But now that I was the manager, I really feared I could make wrong decisions that could affect the business…” It was apparent from the findings that difficulty in implementing the business idea led to fear of failure among entrepreneurs. When asked about when he realised he could fail, one respondent noted that he felt fear of failure most when he encountered difficulties in implementing his business plan. Fredrick asserted that: “…To be honest, it was easier writing the business plan than implementing it. Whenever I could not find money to execute the next element of the plan, or when I was stuck at some point within the plan, I started to think that maybe I could fail and that really made me fearful…”

Financial securities

Apart from doubting their entrepreneurial abilities, the respondents also mentioned that they feared running out of enough finances to run the business. From the responses, it emerged that entrepreneurs developed fear of failure when they realized they were running out of cash to keep the business running or seize an opportunity. Anna noted that“…to start with GBP1000 within the first week we achieved easily, and then next two weeks it was static it was still GBP 2000 so I’ve got achieve 1500 in the last week and im thinking to myself on a day rate I needed to really work harder to get this money in and I got to a point where I was in the shower crying because I thought this is not going to work no one wants my energyballs…” Furthermore, it emerged that entrepreneurs felt a sense of fear when they were not able to make profits. This was evident when one respondent noted that it was not until they started making profits that they lost the sense of fear in them. Hence, as highlighted in the quote below, entrepreneurs develop fear of failure when they are not making profits, and may lose the fear of failure as soon as profits start to show up. Fredrick said that: “…it was up until I started making profits that my fear started to slowly shift away however even after 10 years of being in the business…” Our results also highlighted how losing personal savings can be a source of fear. One respondent was keen to note that she feared she was facing failure when all her life savings were getting depleted. She feared that at some point she would experience a financial crunch and would not have any back up after depleting her savings. See below: Respondent 4: “…I felt that failure was eminent when I withdrew the last coin from my life time savings. These savings were like my back up plan if anything happened with the startup. But, by the time my business was two months-old, I had used up all the capital and started using my personal savings. This was the point when I feared failing the most…” Lack of stable income may also cause fear of failure. When asked about the moments when feared she could fail, one respondent said that she begun to fear failing when she realized her income was never stable anymore. She was frightened that she could no longer live her normal life and had to cut her spending. Anna said that: “…My fear of failure was more imminent when I could not earn as much as I earned before I started my business. My financial life changed from a stable and predictable amount of monthly income to an affair of speculations of how much I would make by the end of the month. I understand that this had to happen because after quitting my job, I only relied on the profits, and the profits could fluctuate on a monthly basis. That’s when I started to fear that maybe the business would not be successful and I would never have a stable income again…”

Some entrepreneurs may develop fear of failure when they realize that they might not sustain themselves of their families. Our results showed that when entrepreneurs realize that entrepreneurship is characterized by unstable income they begin to develop fear that their lives and the lives of their families would not be sustainable. For instance when explaining about her encounters with fear of failure, Ethan noted that: “…even with only two mouths to feed, my kid and me, the realization that my kid would not live as comfortable as he used to live frighten me the most. At some point I was so depleted financial, that I could not afford taking him out for a weekend.This made me fear so much that If I fail, we would live a very troubled life…” Inability to attract investors also emerged as a significant source of fear of failure. A majority of the respondents noted how they spent much efforts looking for investors and how they feared failing whenever an investor did not come through to support their business. Dan said that: “…to me, the process of looking for an investor was the most eminent source of fear. I opted for angel investors and to be hones this was the toughest journey I ever got myself into. Before I could go for every pitch, I kept on wondering what if I fail to secure the money. Ideally, every time I had a meeting with a potential investor I feared I could fail…”

Theme 2: Effects of Fear of Failure

Effects of fear of failure emerged as the second organizing theme during a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts. A majority of the respondents indicated that fear of failure contributed to either negative or positive effects on tem and therefore our analysis captured both streams of effects. Apart from the negative and positive effects of fear of failure, the results also showed that fear of failure may influence the entrepreneurs’ behavioral responses. The following sections present the results in detail:

Positive Effects of Fear of Failure

When asked whether fear of failure had any positive effects on them, some respondents noted that ironically, the fear of failure made them happier and more willing to look for solutions to the problems they encountered. Ethan said that “For my case it is different. Ironically, the fear that I might fails gave me some sense of joy and happiness because it is only when I feared I could fail that I worked harder to find solutions to my problems. I even became happier when failure was more eminent because I knew I had no option but to grind harder”. Furthermore, the results showed that fear of failure may cause entrepreneurs to be more committed to their businesses and have the risk mindset that pushes them to take calculated risks. For example, another respondent narrated how she developed a risk-take mindset and determination to save her business from failing when she was faced by a lucrative business opportunity. Anna asserted that: For sure it was a positive thing. I knew I had no option but to secure that deal but if I failed I could lose a lot of money for breach of contract. Hence, I felt determined to sign the contract regardless of the fear that I could fail….I was awarded the contract and successfully completed the orders…..therefore, while I feared that I could fail in this situation the fear motivated me to take the risk and here I am enjoying the fruits. The results showed that fear of failure would contribute to more happiness and determination by the entrepreneur to strive and find a solution to their challenges. This ironic positive effect of fear of failure was demonstrated by Sahithya when she said that: I actually become happier and more willing to address the challenges I face whenever I fear that I might fail. There is nothing that gives me much joy than realizing that I might fail then doing what it takes to avoid that failure. This response showed that as opposed to the normal expectation that entrepreneurs might be frightened and become sad when they face fear of failure, others might be happier an develop the urge or motivation to work harder.

Negative Effects

Apart from the positive effects, our analysis also showed several negative effects of fear of failure. Particularly, the results showed that fear of failure had several effects on the entrepreneurs’ physical and mental health and this was an interesting result to realize. For instance, it emerged that because of fear of failure, some entrepreneurs had to overwork and not take time to rest, leading to burnout and insomnia. The respondent said that: Respondent 2: “I needed GBP2500 within 30 days, to start with GBP1000 within the first week we achieved easily, and then next two weeks it was static it was still GBP 2000 so I’ve got achieve 1500 in the last week and I’m thinking to myself on a day rate I needed to really work harder to get this money in and I got to a point where I was so scared I was in the shower crying so much and had no sleep because I thought this is not going to work no one wants my product, I felt like everyone hates the idea. The next day I fell off the stairs and hit my head” Apart from burnout and insomnia, our results also indicated that fear of failure contributed to strong negative emotions and an experience of social pressure because they thought they could not impress their families. Respondent 3 said that: Respondent 3: “When my books started showing negatives figures, I knew I could not have a chance at failing. My family would laugh at me, I was embarrassed and I felt really sick in my gut. I had trouble eating and started taking sleeping pills” The sub-theme of physical strain also emerged when one respondent admitted to staying up the whole night trying to develop background knowledge on his products, leading to burnout and anxiety. Anna said that: “I had little knowledge in the automobiles industry and its regulations; I stayed up every night till about 4am trying to learn the industry. I felt sick after few days, my body felt weak and my energy felt drained. I knew I was stressed and feeling anxious about my new business”. The results also showed that other that physical well-being, fear of failure also affected the entrepreneurs’ eudiamonic well-being. Described by Cope (2010) as the feeling of doing what is worth doing and living a virtuous life, the interview responses demonstrated how fear of failure interfered with the entrepreneurs’ ability to pursue what they feel is worth achieving and fulfilling their full human potential. Ethan expressed this by asserting that: Sometimes the fear of failing makes me feel like I might not achieve my full human potential as the ultimate goal of why I am doing all these. You know, I mostly work hard on my business to derive pleasure and fulfillment from what I do. But it is impossible to develop this pleasure when each and every day of my life is full of fear of failure.

Behavioral Responses

Fear of failure was not only found to have negative and positive effects but also caused various behavioral responses by the entrepreneurs. For instance, one of the respondents admitted that whenever he developed fear of failure, he could naturally develop some form of repression through various activities such as over sleeping and distraction by engaging in other activities not associated with entrepreneurship. Fredrick noted that: I encountered several instances of fear of failure until sometimes I contained myself naturally. Thus, I could sleep extensively or play around with my kids. In other instances, I knew the only option was to work harder to save my business from the failure that I dearly feared. The results also indicated repression as an effect of fear of failure, whereby entrepreneurs may try to avoid the outside world due to fear of failure. Dan narrated how he chooses to stay indoors just to avoid the ‘outside world’ whenever he experiences anxiety and fear of failure: he said that: I am not sure how to term it, but sometimes when am feeling anxious or in fear of failure, I choose to stay indoor for several hours, and it is easier for me because I do not need to be in the office to get things going. This helps me to avoid everything else in the outside world and concentrate on the projects.

Coping With Fear of Failure

An analysis of the interview results also revealed coping with fear of failure as one of the global themes. Under this global theme, various sub-themes such as physical health self-regulation development of entrepreneurial drive, learning through failure and development of meta-cognitive knowledge were emergent. Below is a presentation of how these themes emerged:

Self-regulation for mental/physical health

A majority of the respondents indicated that they engaged with their family members and friends as a way of relieving their anxiety and fear of failure. Ethan asserted that: Sometimes when I am much into fear and feels like everything might collapse, I pack my stuff, get home and spend some quality time with my daughter. It relieves my brain and makes me just feel relaxed. The respondents also highlighted music and sports activities and a way of coping with fear of failure. For instance, when asked about what he does to relieve fear of failure, Anna indicated that: my best option is listening to the music. I play my all-time favorites and get to forget all the fears. However, there are times when I prefer the gym or running around the neighborhood, and this makes me relax and forget about all the fear. But the problem is that once I am out of the activity, I return to the same fearful state of mind. However, one respondent, further probing revealed that self-regulation may be more challenging because despite efforts to engage in self-regulating activities such as sports, fear still tends to permeate. For instance, Anna demonstrated that however mush she tries distract herself from the business by joining the gym, she still feels deeply attached to her business and even likens it to a child who is difficult to ignore, therefore finds herself listening to business audio podcasts even when in the gym. Anna says that: “to me my business is my little baby, it’s like as a mother you are mentally and physically drained after taking care of your baby, you try to leave for few hours to take a break but your mind fears and worries if your baby is alright, it just doesn’t go away, likewise the business is my baby, I find myself listening to audio podcasts from the business world while at gym, trying to keep myself fit- it truly is a tough call”

Developing and an inner entrepreneurial drive

This sub-theme emerged from a few of the respondent who felt that becoming positive and developing an inner entrepreneurial drive was the best way of coping with fear of failure. For instance, Dan noted that: Sometimes when I am faced by a tough situation and fear that I might fail, I turn around and develop a positive attitude. The strategy is admitting that I am in the brink of failing and look for any possible solution that could push the eminent failure ahead. However, the fears keep off for as long as I hold the positive attitude. Similar responses were obtained from Dan who described how the fear of failure motivates them to develop an inner entrepreneurial drive. Dan mentioned how fear of failure made him to be more in tune with his passion for business and keep on questioning how he can do better to beat the eminent failure. He said that: Sometimes when I am most in fear of failure, I develop an inner passion drive and conviction to perform better. Consequently, I find myself passionately sharing my predicament with friends and business partners so that I can grab any opportunity of solution to the challenges. Besides, the fear that I might fail often makes me take a step and continually question why things are done the way they are, and whether I can go against the norm just to find a solution to the problem I am facing. One respondent also demonstrated how fear of failure makes them become optimistic about all possibilities and avoid negativity when trying to identify solutions to the entrepreneurial challenges they face. For instance, Fredrick noted that: Sometimes I just inspire myself to have the inner drive and be positive about the solutions I have figured out. Instead of thinking what I can’t do, I ask myself what stops me from doing that one thing that might bring a breakthrough to my business. This strategy is especially important to me because when the odds of business is against me, the only thing I can do is to become optimistic.

Entrepreneurial Learning through Failure

Besides developing and entrepreneurial drive, the results indicate that entrepreneurs cope with fear of failure by learning from the failure and developing the skills to tackle the next challenge. For instance, Ethan noted that: To me the issue is not the fear of failure but how you deal with it. There are times in my entrepreneurial life when I fear to fail but I simply learn through the circumstances and develop the experience of dealing with the challenges so thatI do not fear failing again. From the response above, it emerges that the fearful experiences enables entrepreneurs to rehabilitate and reemerge after learning much about the challenges and how to tackle them. However, Similar responses were given by Sahithya that: Sometimes rather than letting failure defeat me or bring me down, I take that opportunity to learn through it and develop a sense of self-efficacy, I sometimes become keen to observe the cause-effect relationships that exists in various business situations and interpret them to give me a clear sense of complex outcomes and possibilities.

Meta Cognitive Knowledge

The interview responses also showed that meta-cognitive knowledge may also be used by entrepreneurs to cope with fear of failure. Ideally, the sub-theme of meta-cognitive knowledge emerged in the form of proactivity and development of analytical skills that assisted in identifying the strengths, weaknesses and motivators. For instance, Sahithya said that: Sometimes my best solution to fear of failure is proactivity. Whenever I imagine that am I might fail, I become more proactive and aim at preventing the failure rather than waiting to fail. This strategy has been of great help to me. Similar responses were mentioned by Dan who said that: In the process of implementing my business idea, I conducted a comprehensive strength-weakness analysis to enable me understand what I am capable of and what I might fail if I try. This strategy has been of great help to me because it psychologically prepares me for any outcome, thereby driving out the fear of failure. Another respondent, Ethan, noted that sometimes fear of failure sparked both negative and positive emotions, roping him into a cognitive process that enhances his sense-making. When explaining this phenomenon, Ethan noted that: Sometimes I feel high negative emotions and because of my entrepreneur spirits, I turn around and develop positive emotions too. The results is an alternating feeling of high negative and positive emotions that makes me make more sense of the challenges I am facing and how I could possible address these challenges. These responses show how entrepreneurs’ response to negative and positive emotions may help them cope with failure and how develop new skills from the experiences of failure.

Discussion

Our results show that entrepreneurs are always under pressure from society, not only when they start the business bust also continuously from idea generation to business planning, project creation, and implementation. On this note, our study focused on how societal pressure occurred to the entrepreneurs continuously to most of the entrepreneurs who participated in the study. Ultimately, we found that entrepreneurs are pressurized by society not only before they start the business but also repeatedly during their entrepreneurial journey. According to our results, this constant pressure causes them to engage in various activities and behaviors that are detrimental to their physical and mental health, activities that we further categorized as effects of fear of failure. These findings corroborate with other findings within the literature. For instance, in the subject of “entrepreneurial learning from failure”, Cope (2010) writes that while no entrepreneur may desire to fail, fear of failure may negatively impact the entrepreneur’s attributes such as self-confidence, and ability to take risk; as well as an impact on the entrepreneurs’ psychological and physical well-being. Besides, according to Cope (2010), entrepreneurial failure may damage the entrepreneurs’ relationship with other people, and this may explain why societal pressure is a significant cause of fear of failure among entrepreneurs. Cave et al. (2001) studied entrepreneurship and found that UK entrepreneurs associated societal pressure to failure, even though US entrepreneurs did see any association between the two. Furthermore, Savitsky et al. (2001), when discussing the social and psychological aspects of entrepreneurial failure, noted how entrepreneurs fear that they would be judged harshly by the society if they fail, and this may be the case. This implies that entrepreneurs may make sense of the societal pressure differently, and this may affect how they react to or recover from eminent entrepreneurial failure. Indeed, as found by the current study and confirmed by existing literature, societal pressure is a significant contributor to fear of failure among entrepreneurs and this may push them to engage in other activities or behaviors that affect their psychological and physical health. This is further highlighted in the study by Cope (2010), who argues that entrepreneurs sometimes make firm commitments to their investors and later feel guilty when they realize they might not meet these commitments. Consequently, according to the author, entrepreneurs may develop a sense of loneliness, high levels of anxiety, withdrawal, and other negative behaviors that are associated with feeling lonely with no peers to interact with. It is however important to note that there is a paucity of research on the physical health effects of fear of failure as more emphasis has been put on the psychological effects. These findings corroborate with the earlier reviewed literature on eudiamonic well-being and how it relates to entrepreneurial fear of failure. The results have shown how fear of failure contributes to entrepreneur’s eudoamonic well-being by affecting their sense of personal satisfaction and self-actualization. These results can be located in the narratives of Shir et al (2018) who described that anything that affects a person’s self-actualization, personal fulfillment and self-determination may be detrimental to their well-being (or eudiamonic well-being). The effect of fear of failure on entrepreneurs has been seen in the way it affects the entrepreneur’s ability to mobilize their psychological energy and engage in self-motivating activities. Consequently, the entrepreneurs may lack the energy and vigor to engage further in their entrepreneurial endeavors. The effects of fear of failure on the entrepreneur’s eudaimonic well-being are especially detrimental to the entrepreneurial spirit because it may hinder entrepreneurs from developing a positive mental state and the good feelings that accompanies that mental state (Ryff 2018). This implies that entrepreneurs with poor eudaimonic well-being may also develop poor physical well-being, considering existing research evidence by (Ryff 2018) that has found that entrepreneurs with better eudaimonic well-being may experience low rates of cognitive impairment, hear diseases, and other aspects of physical well-being.

Based on existing research, the social pressure as a cause of fear of failure can be explained by the fact that entrepreneurial failure has some social costs that the entrepreneur may bear upon failing. For instance, in a study by Cope (2011), entrepreneurs may lose their marriages or other social relationships when they fail, and this makes them develop more fear when they realize they might fail. Furthermore, Ucbasaran et al. (2013) postulated that entrepreneurs might lose their professional networks as well as lose their sources of financial or human resources when they fail in business. Perhaps the most detrimental social cost of failure highlighted by Scope (2011) is the possibility of entrepreneurs withdrawing and disconnecting themselves from society due to fear of being perceived as ‘misfits.’ In scientific research, novelty is an important aspect that is desired by most scholars. Ideally, novelty denotes the unique findings that a researcher has made, that are different from what is already known. The current study has proven that whereas previous research has associated fear of failure with adverse effects, it can also be associated with some positive results. In detail, the findings show that some entrepreneurs acquired positive outcomes when they experienced fear of failure in the sense of being motivated to prove that they can overcome the fear. These findings corroborate with the results of other studies that have had similar insights. For instance, when discussing entrepreneurial failure, Sarasvathy&Menon (2002) provided evidence to show that entrepreneurs may consider failure as an opportunity to improve their business and enhance their probability of succeeding in business by learning and gaining experience on best entrepreneurial practices. From a quantitative evidence point of view, Politis&Gabrielsson (2009) found that experienced entrepreneurs tend to perceive failure as an opportunity to learn new skills and techniques that may be used in improving future improvements. In another qualitative study by Zacharakis et al. (1999), entrepreneurs indicated that they might view failure as a learning opportunity to know how to act in the future. Therefore, while the existing evidence highlights the positive effects of fear of failure, the current study brings in the novelty in the sense that it provides more in-depth qualitative evidence on the positive aspects of fear of failure among entrepreneurs. Existing literature also indicate entrepreneurs may be more motivated by negative feedback from failure than positive feedback. According to Singh et al. (2007), entrepreneurs may find negative feedback more useful because it reveals the difference between their entrepreneurial desires and what they can actually accomplish, thereby motivating them to work harder and achieve their entrepreneurial desires. Similarly, in a study by Ucbasaran et al (2006), it was found that entrepreneurs who experienced significant failures were not any less motivated and did not refrain from exploring other entrepreneurial opportunities. They were found to have similar levels of keenness to new business opportunities and had either equal levels of exceeding overconfidence to new business ventures with their successful counterparts. Hence, as researchers continue to understand entrepreneurial failure and attempt to explore ways in which it can be avoided, existing research, and indeed the current study, has proven that failure may be used by entrepreneurs as an important opportunity to learn and develop a sense of entrepreneurial drive for business.

The study has also revealed several coping strategies that entrepreneurs implement when there are in abject fear of failure. We have found that entrepreneurs engage in self-talk, sports, or leisure activities, motivation, inhibition, and concentrate on family matters to lessen the impact of fear of failure. Additionally, the evidence also showed that these strategies might not offer lasting solutions to the fear of failure. Similar results are documented in several earlier works and pieces of literature. For instance, Singh et al. (2007), when evaluating the strategies used by entrepreneurs to cope with the fear of failure, identified two streams of coping strategies namely: those that focused on the problem; and on the solution. According to the authors, coping strategies that focus on the problem may include engaging in sports and leisure activities, while those that focused on emotions included being close to family and friends. In another qualitative study by Stikes&Balckbum (2002) results showed that entrepreneurs engaged in personal management strategies such as self-talk and self-introspection. Similarly, results of earlier studies by Lazaris&Filkman (1984) indicate that whereas inhibition and motivation were two critical coping strategies for fear of failure, they only remained effective for as long as the individual felt motivated. But there is an essential aspect of coping that is highlighted across several pieces of literature. For instance, existing research seems to acknowledge that novice and experienced entrepreneur are better at coping with the fear of failure compared to their inexperienced counterparts. Consequently, according to Uy et al. (2013), experienced entrepreneurs are more likely to distance themselves from their entrepreneurial work and take some time off their ventures when they are faced with stressful situations such as fear of failure. Ideally, according to Uy et al. (2013), this enhances their well-being and relieves them from the health dangers associated with stress and anxiety. Nonetheless, an important coping strategy that emerged from our analysis is that of self-containment or repression, whereby the entrepreneur decides to avoid the outside world and keeps whatever they are going through for themselves. This finding corroborates with the results by Conroy & Elliot (2004) who observed that entrepreneurs might decide to engage in distracting activities to keep off the experience of fear. Whereas this may also be perceived as avoidance behaviour, it cannot be classified as a motivated coping strategy because the victim does not assume that the problem exists but instead makes them not to feel the fear of failure by suppressing the causative thoughts (Conroy & Elliot, 2004).

The findings also showed that metacognitive knowledge and entrepreneurial learning might be used by entrepreneurs to manage the fear of failure and enhance their well-being. Compared to existing literature, there are various pieces of research pieces of evidence indicating the practice of entrepreneurial cognition and its benefits to an ordinary entrepreneur who experienced multiple challenges in their entrepreneurial journey. For instance, investigations on how entrepreneurs reason, and behave, indicate that entrepreneurs can cope with various business challenges through a metacognitive identification and taking advantage of their strengths and weaknesses (Melot, 1998). Besides, studies by Veenman&Elshout (1999) indicate that metacognition enables entrepreneurs to think about how they can use existing knowledge to create further cognition that helps them in creating solutions to problems they face. Hence, metacognitive attributes such as proactivity and having a strong belief in one’s self may not only be useful in promoting success among entrepreneurs but also act as coping strategies for fear of failure. Similar remarks were made by Melot, (1998) who acknowledged that metacognitive attributes such as alertness and ability to take risks (also identified in the current study) might be effective in coping with fear and anxiety in business.

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