An assistant professor in the G. Brint Ryan College of Business at the University of North Texas, Jeff Chandler spent the summer in Austin as an IC² Institute Visiting Scholar. We caught up with Jeff in his final week here before he headed back to Denton to teach fall semester classes in strategic management. We asked him about his work at the intersection of mental health and entrepreneurship.
Tell us about your current work investigating the connection between mental health and the desire to become an entrepreneur.
If you look at academic literature, there’s a growing interest in the mental health of entrepreneurs and how mental health affects decision-making and company outcomes. It’s a hot topic. I took a step back from that and asked, “Does mental health affect an individual’s intention to be an entrepreneur?”
What have you uncovered in your research?
My colleagues and I have collected data on college students at a large, public university (not UT). We were expecting that people with good mental health would be more likely to become entrepreneurs — and we had a lot of reasons to believe that — but, in our research, we found evidence of the opposite: We found that people with poor mental health were more likely to be entrepreneurs. So, of course, we need a second study to untangle what’s going on here.
Within your studies, how are you evaluating mental health?
We’re using self-reporting surveys, which have been shown to be a pretty reliable indicator of mental health. For our preliminary analysis of the student sample, we relied on the short form of the Mental Health Continuum scale. This is a scale that consists of 14 questions that reflects each facet of an individual’s mental health. Using these questions, an average score of each person’s mental health is constructed with lower scores reflecting poorer mental health, and vice-versa.
What are the next steps for you and your research team?
One of the limitations with the student sample is that it’s one thing to say, at 19 or 20, “Yeah I want to become an entrepreneur”– and it’s a different thing entirely to say “I want to be an entrepreneur” 10 to 15 years down the line — when you have a mortgage and kids.
So the next study we’re planning will focus on an non-student, working professional population — specifically on real estate agents. There have been a couple of studies that suggest that realtors would make a good sample population, because they are entrepreneurial in nature. A lot of realtors may work for a brokerage firm, but they can easily break away and do their own thing.
Our summer in Austin has been about laying the groundwork for the new study. My hope is that I can derive a sample of real estate agents from Austin, given that it’s one of the hottest real estate markets in the country.
Do you have any hunches about why poor mental health may lead to wanting to become an entrepreneur?
I have two hunches. One is about risk. There are a lot of studies that show that people with poor mental health take larger risks — this is not necessarily been shown in a business context — but if you look at other social behavior, there’s a correlation between poor mental health and risk-taking.
My second hunch is more specific to entrepreneurship and relates to a certain type of entrepreneur we call a “necessary entrepreneur.” My hunch is that an individual with poor mental health may not see security in a traditional job, they may not believe they will be able to build a good career in a corporate scenario — in other words, they may feel that entrepreneurship is their only career option.
What will you do with this research? What impact might it have?
The decision to start your own business can be very costly — financially, personally, on families. If we can point to empirical evidence that says, “Hey, your mental health may be playing into your decision to strike out on your own”, and, “Before you launch that business you might want to ask yourself, “Are you in the right head space?’” — this could be incredibly helpful and impactful.
Another exploration that is needed — and perhaps I will study it in the future — is understanding how the mental health of entrepreneurs fluctuates with the lifecycle of the business. And perhaps more importantly, what can best mitigate the down times, the periods when an entrepreneur’s mental health is at a low point? Is it classic therapy? Is it having a good support system at home? Is it just knowing that things will be hard at times?
Based on your list of publications, you’ve studied an unusual, and fascinating, mix of topics – from “An Examination of Charisma and Humility” to “Virtue Signaling in the Sharing Economy” and “CEO Machiavellianism and Strategic Alliances in Family Firms” … How would you describe your body of work?
The broadest umbrella description would be that I study the social evaluations of business leaders – and what I mean by that is how someone — a stakeholder — looks at, and evaluates, a business leader. There are a ton of different types of stakeholders out there, right? Customers, financial analysts, for example — and they look at business leaders and make evaluations of them. How do those evaluations affect behavior?
Interestingly enough, this study I’ve been working on in Austin doesn’t really fit into my primary research stream. It’I’ve had an idea for a while to look at how entrepreneurs’ mental health is viewed by potential investors. While tossing this idea around, I realized that no one has studied whether or not mental health drives intentions to become an entrepreneur in the first place. So, that’s how this study came about and why it’s a bit different than my primary research stream.
…As a quick side note, I’ve started researching how potential investors view an entrepreneur’s mental health. I’ve found some preliminary evidence that, in some cases, an entrepreneur who admits they are struggling with a mental illness actually helps them receive funding!
Is your keen interest in entrepreneurship born out of a desire to start your own business?
Absolutely not — I don’t have a huge risk tolerance. The security of academia suits me well.
Are you an avid Shark Tank viewer, at least?
I used to be — when I had time!
Last question – for the benefit of other young parents: What’s your secret to juggling marriage, parenting, research, teaching?
I don’t know. I don’t feel like I have it very balanced. But I do make sure my daughter and wife are the top priority. We’ve spent a lot of hours this summer riding the Zilker Eagle and swimming at Barton Springs. My research productivity has definitely taken a hit recently, but for the best reason of all – my family!
Learn more about the IC² Institute Visiting Scholars Program