Resiliency: How Female Social Entrepreneurs Mitigate Stress

Entrepreneurs are driven, goal-oriented individuals. Female social entrepreneurs have the same goal orientation but are working toward righting the world’s social wrongs. At times, a company working to fix a social wrong requires the lead entrepreneur to take on situations they are ill prepared for, and for many social entrepreneurs this leads to stress and burnout. Through narrative inquiry, this researcher attempted to discover if social capital and connectedness are significant indicators of perceived stress reduction, depression, or anxiety for a female social entrepreneur in a human support organization. Connection themes that support stress reduction included spiritual support, familial support and organizational support. However, another interesting finding developed through the interview process. This researcher uncovered the phenomenon that connections, both good and bad have an effect on self-efficacy, and only those relationships that support ones self-efficacy have a significant impact on stress reduction. The reason spiritual, familial and organizational support reduces stress is the connection supported the development of the female entrepreneur’s self-efficacy.