Supporting entrepreneurial resilience: An experimental study protocol

STUDY PROTOCOL Supporting entrepreneurial resilience: An experimental study protocol Kompal Sinha 1,2*, Nyamdavaa Byambadorj 1, Elisabetta Magnani Francesco Chirico5, Yuanyuan Gu6, Roy Green7 , Rong Zhu3,4, 1 1 Department of Economics, Macquarie Business School, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2 Global Labor Organisation (GLO), Essen, Germany 3 College of Business, Government and Law, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia,‌‌ 4 Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn, Germany, 5 Department of Management, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 6 Macquarie University Centre for Health Economy, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 7 University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia * Abstract OPEN ACCESS Citation: Sinha K, Byambadorj N, Magnani E, Zhu R, Chirico F, Gu Y, et al. (2026) Supporting entrepreneurial resilience: An experimental study protocol. PLoS One 21(6): e0349194. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0349194 Editor: Annesha Sil, PLOS: Public Library of Science, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND Received: April 17, 2026 Accepted: April 23, 2026 Entrepreneurial activity is shaped by the structure and functioning of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, yet there is limited consensus on how entrepreneurial resilience is defined or measured. This study protocol outlines the development of a novel, empirically grounded measure of entrepreneurial resilience, conceptualised as a multidimensional and dynamic capability that enables adaptation under contextual hardship and resource constraints. Guided by a capability-based framework, the study draws on prior literature and employs qualitative methods, including a multi-round Delphi study and stakeholder interviews and focus groups. The study components will identify context-specific mechanisms and translate expert consensus into measurable and policy-relevant indicators. By setting out a transparent and reproducible methodology, this protocol contributes to the entrepreneurship and behavioural economics literature and provides a foundation for future empirical work and targeted policy interventions to support business continuity in volatile environments. Published: June 4, 2026 Peer Review History: PLOS recognizes the benefits of transparency in the peer review process; therefore, we enable the publication of all of the content of peer review and author responses alongside final, published articles. The editorial history of this article is available here: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0349194 Copyright: © 2026 Sinha et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, 1 Introduction Resilience has long been recognised as a dynamic process through which individuals adapt positively in the face of serious adversity [1]. In the entrepreneurship literature, resilience is frequently used as an umbrella term capturing a wide spectrum of behaviours and adaptive responses [2]. It has been associated with the ability to go on with life after adversity [3] and bounce back from a crisis [4]. Although the resilience of entrepreneurs is at the core of the concept of resilience (Fig 1) [5], the existing literature has largely focused on resilience at the regional, organisational, or societal levels. This focus implicitly assumes that entrepreneurial resilience emerges naturally without adequately accounting for the micro-level characteristics, lived experiences, and life-course conditions that shape individual entrepreneurs’ capacity to PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0349194 June 4, 2026 1 / 10 and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data availability statement: No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study. All relevant data from this study will be made available upon study completion. Funding: We acknowledge funding support from the Australian Research Council Discovery Program (Project ID: DP230101282). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. respond to adversity [2]. As a result, the concept of entrepreneurial resilience remains comparatively underdeveloped [5]. While the extant literature has developed measures of resilience such as the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC) [6], the measures are static in nature and do not account for the dynamics of life experiences in influencing resilience. Moreover, the CD-RISC scale does not account for socioeconomic circumstances, major life events or family dynamics, their duration and severity in a range of personal and professional domains of life. From a policy perspective, this is important limitation, as resilience depends on how challenges develop across time and place and influence entrepreneurial survival. Distinguishing between spatially transient resilience and persistent resilience is crucial for designing targeted interventions. Entrepreneurs who maintain resilience despite recurring hardship may require a different policy approach than those who cycle in and out of resilience or experience frequent interruptions in their adaptive capacity. Drawing on a capability-based approach [7,8], we conceptualise entrepreneurial resilience as a multidimensional construct shaped by: (1) the breadth of hardships experienced across multiple domains within a given period; (2) the duration of hardships within specific domains across multiple years; and (3) the chronicity of hardships, defined as uninterrupted spells of adversity over time. This lifecourse perspective acknowledges that personality traits may provide an initial foundation for resilience, but situational circumstances—economic instability, health shocks, caregiving responsibilities, or repeated financial strain—can erode or strengthen resilience in different ways. In this context, resilience loss is not presumed to follow a uniform pattern. Individuals experiencing hardship intermittently (for example, every second year) may have the emotional, financial, or social resources to recover and continue operating their businesses. By contrast, entrepreneurs facing continuous and uninterrupted hardship are more likely to experience cumulative disadvantage, diminished resilience, and heightened risk of poor business decisions. Capturing these differences is critical for tailoring policies to sub-groups of entrepreneurs, especially those vulnerable to falling into a persistent low-resilience state. This study seeks to address these conceptual and empirical gaps by developing a multidimensional measure of entrepreneurial resilience. The development of this protocol was informed by insights from prior systematic reviews of the literature, which helped identify co (...truncated)