Entrepreneurial Resilience in the Micro and Small Business Context – Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The topic of resilience is increasingly gaining momentum as the world shifts from a crisis to another. The operating environment for micro-enterprises has profoundly and irrevocably changed since the COVID-19 crisis’ landfall and war in Ukraine.

This systematic literature review based on 36 papers, studies resilience from micro-entrepreneurship perspective focusing on resilience development, the process, and enhancing interventions from intra and interpersonal perspectives.

The review indicates three different types of resilience domains: process-related (e.g. Ducheck 2017), individual capability (e.g. Demyen, S. 2022, Ducheck 2017) and resource-based (e.g. Bardoel & Drago, 2021). The connecting factor is that resilience is primarily developed in a learning process when facing challenging situations and crises. Building from those experience, the entrepreneur is more prepared to respond the next time.