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Research Paper | Psychology | Volume 15 Issue 7, July 2026 | Pages: 2477 - 2481 | India
Burnout, Emotion Regulation, and Psychological Well-Being among Entrepreneurs in Kerala: A Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract: Entrepreneurship combines autonomy and opportunity with persistent demands such as financial uncertainty, workload, role overload, and responsibility for business survival. This preliminary study examined the relationships among burnout, cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, and psychological well-being among entrepreneurs in Kerala, India. A cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to 32 entrepreneurs (17 women and 15 men; age M = 34.03 years, SD = 9.15) representing all 14 districts of Kerala. The instrument contained an entrepreneur-adapted nine-item abbreviated Maslach Burnout Inventory, three career-satisfaction items, a modified five-point Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Ryff's 42-item Psychological Well-Being Scale. Internal consistency was acceptable to strong for the overall burnout index (alpha = .69), cognitive reappraisal (alpha = .75), expressive suppression (alpha = .66), and psychological well-being (alpha = .95). Burnout correlated strongly and negatively with psychological well-being (r = -.91, p < .001). Cognitive reappraisal was positively associated with well-being (r = .55, p = .001), while expressive suppression was negatively associated with well-being (r = -.67, p < .001). Burnout was also negatively associated with reappraisal and positively associated with suppression. Rank-order sensitivity analyses supported the same pattern. An exploratory regression explained 85.2% of the variance in psychological well-being, with burnout emerging as the only clearly significant independent predictor. The findings suggest that founder-support initiatives should address chronic demands and emotional exhaustion while also strengthening adaptive emotion-regulation skills. Because the sample was small, non-probability based, and collected on a single day using adapted self-report measures, the unusually large associations require replication in a larger preregistered study.
Keywords: entrepreneurial burnout, emotion regulation, cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, psychological well-being, Kerala
How to Cite?: Jasir Alavi, "Burnout, Emotion Regulation, and Psychological Well-Being among Entrepreneurs in Kerala: A Preliminary Cross-Sectional Study", Volume 15 Issue 7, July 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 2477-2481, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR26730132701, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR26730132701