The Sleep Trap: Do Sleep Problems Prompt Entrepreneurial Motives But Undermine Entrepreneurial Means?
Abstract
The current symposium emphasizes that mental health conditions can influence a person’s entrepreneurial motives and means. This paper suggests that sleep plays an important role in both. With respect to entrepreneurial motives, I draw from sleep research to suggest that sleep problems may increase entrepreneurial motives by prompting many of the same behaviors as clinical ADHD, and by precipitating and/or mediating the effect of several mental health conditions, including depression. With respect to entrepreneurial means, however, I draw from the same research to suggest that sleep problems are likely to undermine several abilities important for the successful founding of an entrepreneurial venture (alertness, creativity, and social competence). Thus, despite facilitating the desire to become an entrepreneur, sleep problems may undermine an entrepreneur’s ability to thrive as an entrepreneur. Overall, the current paper explores the three-way relationship between sleep, mental health, and entrepreneurship, focusing on the important influence of sleep problems on entrepreneurial motives and means. The conclusions integrate existing research and pave the way for new research on the role of sleep in entrepreneurship.
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Entrepreneurs must invest substantial effort in their ventures to succeed.
“Entrepreneurs must invest a significant amount of effort into their ventures to achieve success (Gunia, 2018;Spivack et al., 2014).”
From Work hard or play hard: the effect of leisure crafting on opportunity recognition and venture performance (2023) · cites this paper as Gunia, 2018
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BackgroundOverlapping memory replay during sleep builds cognitive schemata
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Hamrick, A. B., Paterson, T. A., Michaelis, T. L., Murnieks, C. Y., & Petrou, P. (2023) · Journal of Business Venturing · doi:10.1016/j.jbusvent.2023.106327 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Hamrick, A. B. (2022) · Journal of Business Venturing Insights · doi:10.1016/j.jbvi.2022.e00329 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gunia, B. C.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gunia, Brian C.
- ORCID
- Gunia, Brian C.
- Venue
- Academy of Management Perspectives
- Publisher
- Academy of Management
- Published
- 2018-05
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 228-242
- ISSN
- 1558-9080 (ISSN-L)
- 1943-4529
- OpenAlex
- W2589025297
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 6.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Academy of Management Perspectives (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Management of Technology and Innovation › Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Workaholism, burnout, and well-being
- Keywords
- sleep disorders, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial motivation, mental health, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, alertness, creativity, social competence, sleep deprivation
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