How do Entrepreneurs Experience Business Failure and Rebound to Venture Again? A Review of Literature and Research Agenda

The ever-growing literature within the field of entrepreneurial failure has helped to yield several practical contributions. Yet the literature remains fragmented and inconsistent, and hence an up-to-date review is required to identify current theoretical contributions. To address these issues, we conducted a comprehensive systematic literature review of 180 publications on entrepreneurial failure and rebound literature. Three analytical themes were identified: antecedents, experiences, and overcoming failure to restart a business. We discuss how the three analytical themes have been used, and form linkages between them, to develop an integrative framework that maps a firm owner’s experience of a business demise and how the owner can rebound to venture again. Our review provides a nuanced view of the connections between the differing streams and sub-streams of research on entrepreneurial failure and rebound. We argue for a more integrated approach to examining the relationships between the causes, experiences, recovery, and learning from an entrepreneurial collapse.