Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Entrepreneurs' Work Orientation: Job, Career, Calling or Something More? (#580)

Jian Goh 1
  1. University of East London, London, GREATER LONDON, United Kingdom

This study focuses on understanding entrepreneur’s work orientation through thematic analysis. The research on work orientation concerns how people experience their work and the meaning attached to it. Drawing upon the tripartite model that people usually experience their work either as a job, career or calling (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1996), entrepreneurs' work orientation is investigated. The study on work orientation is still in its infancy with majority of the study focusing on work as a calling. Although many professions have been included in previous research including the unemployed but entrepreneurs have been neglected. It is believed that entrepreneurs are unique in their behaviour due to the challenging environment they are in. Through interviewing 15 entrepreneurs and thematic analysis, this study is aiming to build the foundation of understanding on how entrepreneurs experience work and if they see work orientations the same way as other professions. An in depth understanding of how entrepreneurs experience their work and how it impacts their journey and decision-making in business will be presented. This study builds a good foundation for future studies in this area. This is an MSc dissertation and expected to be completed with findings by June 2019.