There is no conclusive evidence to compare pre- and post-COVID-19 data to measure the performance of SMEs through the lens of mental well-being. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the existing knowledge through a comparative lens, especially considering entrepreneurial stress. This research examined the entrepreneurial stress and mental well-being of entrepreneurs in Canadian SMEs, specifically pre- and post-COVID-19. The PRISMA framework, based on the philosophy of interpretivism, was applied and 37 articles were taken into consideration for this research. The findings confirm that there is a significant increase in the entrepreneurial stress affecting the mental well-being and overall performance of Canadian SMEs, especially during and after COVID-19. Furthermore, this research confirmed that everyone’s reaction to and precautions taken against entrepreneurial stress vary. Interestingly, distinct stressors such as finances, family, and work–life imbalance have evidently increased. However, the magnitude of these stressors varies for individuals. Similarly, the consequences also differ; however, emotional symptoms, followed by physical and behavioural symptoms, have noticeably been exhibited by entrepreneurs both pre- and post-COVID, while performance among SMEs has dwindled, which has brought about a higher number of entrepreneurship closures. This manuscript contributes to the existing literature from multiple facets, such as (i) through the comparative lens, (ii) enriching the literature from an advanced economy, (iii) expanding upon the theory of entrepreneurial stress, and (iv) shedding light on the importance of entrepreneurs’ mental well-being. The manuscript also provides practical implications to entrepreneurs to deal with distinct types of stressors.
Haq et al. (Fri,) studied this question.