A Qualitative Study of Small Business Owners' Lived Experiences and Perceptions of Long-term Business Success Amid a Pandemic
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Authors
Sauers, Ryan Todd
Issue Date
2022-11-29
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Adult education , Business education , COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-) , Dissertations, Academic--United States , Entrepreneurship , Leadership , Organizational resilience , Pandemics , Small business--Growth , Small business
Alternative Title
Abstract
The researcher explored the reasons why only 50% of new small businesses survive five or more years with the goal of determining the characteristics that led to success. This qualitative study focused on small business success with the purpose of exploring the life and career experiences of a select number of small business owners in a metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States. The conceptual framework and research design were based on Duckworth’s grit theory, Dweck’s growth mindset theory, Garmezy’s resilience theory, and Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. These theories were interconnected with transformation leadership theory as defined by Bass & Riggio (2006), Kouzes and Posner (2017), and Burns (1978). This study also explored the perceptions of small business owners regarding the most and least important personal characteristics needed to run a successful small business. The Seidman model of interviewing in a series served as the approach for data gathering. This approach included the following activities the researcher collected participant data using a series of interviews, observations, memos, field notes, and document analysis. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, the research was adapted to identify changes required for small business owners to survive through a pandemic and qualities embedded in their lives before it began. Future recommendations include: conducting quantitative and mixed methods studies on small business success, using a larger participant pool, and conducting a longitudinal study to continue building best practices for success.
Keywords: small business success, small business owner, entrepreneurship, leadership, pandemic, resilience
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This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.