Survey data underlying the publication: Alleviating the Impact of Crisis-related Demands on Financial Stress and Work-life Balance of Entrepreneurs

Method: Procedure and Participants Data were collected among Dutch entrepreneurs owning small or medium-sized companies as part of a larger research project. We included entrepreneurs that owned a private company employing less than 250 employees (cf. Jayasekara et al., 2020). After providing informed consent, respondents filled out a general questionnaire, followed by a weekly questionnaire sent out on Thursday afternoons with a reminder e-mail on Monday mornings for four consecutive weeks. To capture the consequences of a crisis for entrepreneurs, we collected data during the (full) lockdown period of autumn October 2020 till spring February 2021 in the Netherlands. This lockdown meant a limited number of people were allowed to get together, only necessary traveling was allowed, and working from home was the standard. Confidentiality and anonymity of responses were emphasized and assured, and participation was voluntary. The Ethics Review Board of the university approved the study. A total of N = 91 participants signed up for the study by filling out the general questionnaire, of which 75 finished one or more of the weekly questionnaires resulting in a final sample of N = 229 weeks (M = 3.0 per participant). The sample included 43 men (51.8 %) and 40 women (48.2%), with a mean age of 53 years (SD = 11.2). The average age of their business was 13.3 years (SD = 10.7). Most participants were active in business services (31%), the culture and leisure sector (15%), and health and social work (10%). MeasuresCrisis-related demands and financial resources were measured on the between-level because these variables do not typically change on a weekly basis., The remainder of the study variables was measured on the within-level. We used validated translations of items of existing Dutch scales that were rewritten to apply to entrepreneursGeneral Questionnaire: Crisis-related demands were measured based on the report of the Rijksoverheid (2020). We started with asking the question: “Did the following things change in comparison to the period before the COVID-19 pandemic?” Participants had to answer this question for the number of assignments on a slider scale ranging from -100% (complete decrease) to +100% (complete increase). Next, we asked the question: “In general, to what extent have the government's COVID-19 measures influenced your work?” that could be answered on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 4 (completely). Furthermore, the average number of working hours per week during the COVID-19 pandemic was subtracted from the average number of working hours per week before the COVID-19 pandemic and participants were asked whether they have had to close their business. So, in total we got four indicators change in (1) assignments, and (2) working hours, (3) closed business, and (4) general influence of governmental COVID-19 measures. The Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was 0.74 see Table 1 for more information).Financial resources of entrepreneurs were based on the general financial security of entrepreneurs (Nibud, 2019). We used 3 items asking for having insurances (i.e., professional insurance and/or liability insurance, disability insurance, life insurance) and 3 items for putting money aside (VAT, financial buffer, private bank account). All items could be answered with 0 (no) or 1 (yes). An example item is: “I set aside my money for: the VAT I have to pay and/or the income tax I have to pay”. As the answering categories of the items were dichotomous, we used the tetrachoric correlation matrix from the item response theory to determine the factors (IRT factor analysis). Cronbach’s alpha was 0.62 (see Table 2 for more information).Weekly Questionnaire The weekly survey included shortened scales to minimize the time needed to complete them. All responses were given on 5-point Likert scales ranging from 1 ((almost) never) to 5 ((almost) always) referring to the current week. Weekly Financial Stress was measured with the five-item scale developed by Dijk et al., (2022) (e.g., “I wondered all the time if I have enough money.”). Cronbach’s α ranged between .95 and .97 (M = .96).Weekly Work-life Balance was measured with the four-item scale from Brough et al., (2014) (e.g., “I had a good balance between the time I spend at work and the time I have available for private activities.”). Cronbach’s α ranged between .88 and .94 (M = .92).Weekly Leisure Crafting was measured with the four-item scale of Petrou and Bakker, (2016) (e.g., “I have tried to build relationships through leisure activities.”). Cronbach’s α ranged between .83 and .90 (M = .86).Strategy of Analysis The current study had a two-level design, with weeks (N = 229) nested within individuals (N = 75).