Stress and Personality Type of Women Entrepreneurs in the Philippines

Abstract

Workplace stress has become a great concern, and this does not exclude the entrepreneurial stress, especially among women. This paper on entrepreneurial stress and personality type of women entrepreneurs in the Philippines used the descriptive method of research to identify the personality type and assess the level of entrepreneurial stress in terms of work environment, inner-self and interpersonal relationship of the 265 women entrepreneurs in selected cities in the Philippines.  A personal data sheet was used to assess the entrepreneur’s profile. While the validated instrument conceived by Meyer Friedman was used to identify the personality type of women entrepreneurs. In order to determine the level of stress of women entrepreneurs, a validated researcher-made instrument conceived by Newstrom, and Davis was utilized through the assessment of their work environment, inner - self and interpersonal relationship. The individual differences among women entrepreneurs may cause to respond to the sources of stress and in effect, may be constructive or destructive in the entrepreneurial undertakings and personal consequences.  Its effects depend on the type of personality of a woman entrepreneur categorized as Type A or Type B. Based on the theories gathered from the review of the several related literature and studies, the IPO (Input-Process-Output) model was used as guide in this study. The input variables include the profiles of the women diplomats in terms of age, civil status, highest educational attainment, number of employees under supervision, number of years as entrepreneurs, average number of actual hours spent at work/business, number of business enterprise implementing flexible time, and number of women entrepreneurs in sports or recreation. Other input variables are levels of stress of women entrepreneurs in the aspects of work environment, inner-self and interpersonal relationship. The processes involved in this study were data gathering, analysis and interpretation. The input variables and the processes concerned in the conceptual framework contributed to the output or proposed policy recommendations on coping mechanisms strategy. Some suggestions for future research and implications are also discussed and presented in this paper. Awareness of such stressors and relating these to personality types of individuals will enable enterprises to take steps to reduce the likelihood of experiencing the negative effects of stress.