Social entrepreneurship failure and burnout: Roles of entrepreneurial intentions and learning among Ghanaian SMEs firms

This study examines the interplay between social entrepreneurial failure, entrepreneurial burnout, entrepreneurial learning, and future entrepreneurial intentions among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. Grounded in the theory of planned behavior, conservation of resources theory, and Kolb’s experiential learning theory, this study explores how adverse entrepreneurial experiences and the emotional consequences of failure shape subsequent entrepreneurial decision making. Using a quantitative design, data were collected from 423 SME managers in Accra and Kumasi and analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings show that social entrepreneurial failure strongly predicts entrepreneurial burnout, which positively influences entrepreneurial learning and renewed intentions. Contrary to dominant assumptions, burnout does not diminish entrepreneurial drive; it stimulates reflection and adaptive learning, facilitating reengagement in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial learning and burnout emerge as key mediating mechanisms that transform emotionally taxing failure experiences into strategic knowledge and future-oriented intentions, contributing to the empirical evidence from a sub-Saharan African, necessity-driven context.