Practical implications

Whereas studies give a generally positive impression of entrepreneurship and its consequences, and the media support the impression by offering success or sur-vival stories of entrepreneurial careers, opposite views also exist. As the findings indicate, the consequences for well-being may even be devastating if the individ-ual has not processed his/her chances in entrepreneurship carefully enough, but has been merely drawn into it by emerging push factors. The most shocking ex-amples are connected to the recent economic crisis that is said to have affected entrepreneurs most severely. According to the news from the abroad, Internation-al HerInternation-ald Tribune tells that, there has been a significant rise in suicides amongst entrepreneurs in the European countries most affected by the economic crisis.

Greece, Ireland and Italy have been forced to cut off social protection that has led to the sad phenomenon of small-business owners and entrepreneurs increasingly taking their own lives. Some European newspapers have started referring to ‘sui-cide by economic crises”. Here in Finland, the latest news in March (Assulin 2013; Valkeeniemi 2013) highlights marginalized entrepreneurs, mainly free-lancers, such as translators, who have run up debts after receiving barely adequate minimum salaries and who have ended up pursued by debt collectors. Clearly, not all entrepreneurs, whether necessity or opportunity-based, will be so harshly af-fected, but the phenomenon and its consequences should not be underestimated.

Nevertheless, the findings reveal that a business started out of necessity need not necessarily lead to a difficult survival challenge, but can also offer a new view on work and entrepreneurship, and may prove to be great opportunity for the indi-vidual on the way. Clearly, that scenario depends on available resources, such as

education, networks and previous experience in the field. In this study, the neces-sity entrepreneurship discussion was related to the field of working life studies, and as such it refers to one form of work that does not represent the kind of values of work - secure, long-term, traditional employment - that people are used to.

From a sociological point of view, this issue is also partly related to inequality in society, where a gulf exists between people’s access to scarce resources (Veenho-ven 2008). Since it is claimed that these kinds of situations are rarer and necessi-ty-entrepreneurs are characterized as rather vulnerable due to the non-availability of these strengthening resources, they are more often struggling with their mental resilience. Nevertheless, there is another side of the coin that is not so visible in this study, which consists of a variety of paths, where more than half succeeded to manage their lives and even find satisfactory alternatives to their past employ-ment from entrepreneurship.

However, this study shows how mentally exhausting starting a business as a ne-cessity-based entrepreneur can be, and therefore the results emphasize individu-als´ coping from a cognitive perspective. Whether individual has well established company and he happens to work at the successful field of business, necessity seems to reflect and even shape the business behavior and perceptions of self as an entrepreneur. With strong coping skills and self-efficacy individual can em-power themselves in challenging times and winnig over the past often negative memories related to situation that in the end pushed individual to start business out of necessity.

One perspective is not to blame the prevailing employment situation and the most recent changes to the labour markets, but to discuss how to change the situation and improve the position of the self-employed and entrepreneurs, so that more are better equipped to survive and earn a living through entrepreneurship. The state gives monetary incentives for start-ups and some of the subsidies are open to eve-ry kind of start-up, while some are only for particular types. Although we do not have special programmes designed for necessity, a large part of the subsidies are targeted on those who have been previously unemployed. Question remains, how-ever, as to whether people are equipped to cope with entrepreneurial responsibili-ties and challenges, given the increasing number of reports of entrepreneurs in economic distress and in debt. (Assulin 2013; Valkeeniemi 2013.)

The partly challenging task of gather the participants for the study and in addition the discussions with the entrepreneurship representatives shed light on the attitude environment towards the phenomenon of necessity-based entrepreneurship. The term “necessity entrepreneurship” has indeed been criticized from several direc-tions. It is claimed to be misleading, negative and to damage the reputation of entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, this study was not able to offer a better term. The

term necessity entrepreneurship does reinforce that entrepreneurship is not always a self-fulfilling option; sometimes it is just about putting bread on the table. The current pressure to highlight pleasure-seeking options may be the result of neces-sity entrepreneurship having its own term. It is worth remembering that in the 1970s Shapero (1982) claimed that most individuals end up being entrepreneurs due to some sort of displacement, whether it be personal feeling of displacement in organizational work, or as in this study, an impossible situation in job markets and employment situations. In some senses, the literature has neglected the idea of “uncomfortable” entrepreneurs over the years.

In challenging economic times, people are afraid of the consequences of stressing or referring to depressing topics when there is a generally flat and desperate at-mosphere. In addition, the designation of entrepreneurship as something negative-ly-related is seen as stigmatizing, which is hard to change. In the Finnish lan-guage “necessity” is also related to “forced” and somehow “oppressed”, and as such it has a strong negative connotation. The culture around and the overall atti-tude atmosphere is also something that can be seen to affect individuals´ percep-tions of themselves. The need to position themselves as a new kind of entrepre-neur and the pressure to differentiate from the traditionally treated opportunity entrepreneur revealed how socially pressured entrepreneurs feel their roles.

Change in overall attitude atmosphere could have a major influence on supporting individuals seeing themselves as doing valuable work and giving them strength to not to stress about fitting into a certain entrepreneurial role or type. However, the supporting public discourse should be ethical. As nearly half of new entrepreneurs close their businesses within three years, the coping capabilities and the conse-quences at an individual level should be emphasized. The discussion around en-trepreneurship should be more responsible and ethical in the sense that coping as an entrepreneur should not be taken for granted. Entrepreneurs (whether necessity or opportunity types or in-between) often lack proper resources, not to mention a difficult economic situation, where switching to an entrepreneurial status may change official unemployment rates, but does not always change the individual’s economic capacity.

“Even if start-ups received loads of money; it is no use if the purchasing power or economy is not taken care of. Similarly, the condition of taxation should be improved in relation to large companies.”(comment on internet pages)

The narrative perspective on this topic of coping opens up discussion of individu-als´ abilities to influence their own experiences and already on perceptions of experiences. When looking beyond the topic, this study discusses individual´s abilities to use effective skills to sustain or develop happiness and well-being.

Kinnunen et al. (2011) refer to this as career self-management, noting that in inse-cure times it is important to be able to find new ways to remain employable. This perspective refines the necessity entrepreneurship discussion from the level of the whole society to an individual level. In other words, the problems relating to em-ployment or necessity-based entrepreneurship are not society’s alone, but also the problems of individuals. This perspective can be seen as presenting an opportuni-ty, since every individual has the power to change his or her own life situation or perceptions of it, at least in some extent. Frese and Fay (2001) refer to a similar idea, claiming that “personal initiative” is fundamental in today’s working life, and also Beck (2000: 53) states that there is nowadays a “collective wish to live a life of one´s own”. The same issue can also be seen as a threat as the responsibil-ity for finding a new job or ensuring survival as an entrepreneur and coping with new circumstances lies on the person’s own shoulders. Additionally, taken to-gether, not everyone may be interested in “leading” themselves, and some people may be happier taking direction from others and working in a highly structured environment. Nevertheless, in today’s world, the ability to behave entrepreneuri-ally is becoming more and more important in many work situations as today’s business environment does not provide the security it once did.

It is suggested that even people who have a low need for autonomy and who may not naturally be interested in entrepreneurship will benefit from learning and uti-lizing self-leadership strategies to seek new opportunities (D´Intino, Goldsby, Houghton & Neck 2007). In the light of this study, though the success and coping of entrepreneurs was explained by a certain enthusiasm and entrepreneurialism, previous experience and better market situation and suitable field of business were in the end combined with hard work as the essential drivers. The concept of the mystical entrepreneurial individual is not confirmed here, where experts are created through persistence and experience. As Ericsson´s (1994) work indicates, entrepreneurs are made, not born.