Micro-perspective lens on entrepreneurs in the early stage of business: Expectations vis-à-vis realities
Date
2022Author
Nheta, Daniel Silent
Shambare, Richard
Sigauke, Caston
Metadata
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In the early stage of business, which is where most new ventures fail, many entrepreneurs experience discrepancies
between their entrepreneurial expectations and business realities. These discrepancies referred to by this paper as an
entrepreneurial gap (EG) are, therefore, among other factors, professed to be responsible for the high attrition rate of
emerging ventures in South Africa. An oversight in this area of EG, despite the provision of most required resources,
may still lead to business failure. This paper argues that there is more yet to be comprehended regarding early-stage
business success, concerning the entrepreneur component. The purpose of this paper was to recognize and classify
factors responsible for establishing entrepreneurial gaps with the intent to improve the level of preparedness among
emerging entrepreneurs. A qualitative approach with in-depth interviews was employed in the data collection. ATLAS
ti 8 was used to unpack factors that instigate entrepreneurial gaps while posing challenges to emerging entrepreneurs
in the early stage of business. The groups identified were: entrepreneur management, familism and personal
management. The findings provide information that is credible to improving the level of preparedness among emerging
entrepreneurs, and could be used by mentors, coaches and relevant support structures.