Barriers and enablers of entrepreneurship success for veterans and former athletes
- Publication Type:
- Conference Proceeding
- Citation:
- 2023
- Issue Date:
- 2023-02-06
Open Access
Copyright Clearance Process
- Recently Added
- In Progress
- Open Access
This item is open access.
When people transition from a military or professional sports career into a new career, they are often unaware of how their professional identity, skills and experience can help or hinder their future success as entrepreneurs. There has been a growing interest in researching the transition of professional sports people. However, the research is nascent and fragmented, with no common definitions, a lack of conceptual clarity and few empirical studies. Our understanding of how veterans and athletes transition successfully into self-employment and entrepreneurship is insufficient. Yet, there is a continued rise in people transitioning into entrepreneurial career paths due to changing work conditions, the pandemic, technological advancements and the desire of many professionals for more flexible working settings. Transitioning out of any career presents people with instability and uncertainty, which can significantly affect people’s life. Some recent research found that American military veterans are nearly twice as likely to be self-employed as nonveterans. People transitioning out of the military or sports have little or no barriers to transferring the skills they have acquired. For example, in military training and professional sport, roles and tasks are clearly defined, the skills required to be successful and success metrics are articulated unambiguously. Such clear expectations provide a goal and vision, even a mental image, of what needs to be done to succeed. Entrepreneurship similarly includes planning, leadership, risk mitigation, decision-making, and communication, skills that veterans would have acquired. Yet, individuals often struggle with self-awareness, adopting an entrepreneurial mindset, and developing a new career identity. Building on the research of self-identity, micro-identities, belongingness and distinctiveness and applying social cognitive theory, we explore in this study the barriers and enablers that contribute to entrepreneurial success at the individual level. Our research identifies the determinant factors that support a transition into successful entrepreneurship for veterans and former athletes.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: