Sublimation as a Catalyst for Entrepreneurial Action: A Thematic Analysis of Ego Strength's Mediating Role
Keywords:
Sublimation, Ego Strength, Entrepreneurial ActionAbstract
This study explores the psychological foundations of entrepreneurial action through a psychoanalytic lens, focusing on sublimation and ego strength. While traditional entrepreneurship research emphasizes economic and behavioural determinants, it often overlooks the role of unconscious psychological processes. Addressing this gap, the present study adopts a qualitative approach using thematic analysis to examine how sublimation transforms internal psychological tensions into entrepreneurial behaviour, and how ego strength mediates this relationship. The study employed semi-structured interviews with twelve experts and entrepreneurs from various backgrounds. The findings highlighted the themes of sublimation processes, ego strength dimensions, entrepreneurial action, pre-entrepreneurial adversities, and patterns of transformation. The results show that early life hardships, including poverty, deprivation, and lack of social support, facilitate psychological change. These adversities are channelled into constructive and socially valuable entrepreneurial pursuits through sublimation. Ego strength is identified as a key process that helps regulate emotions, maintain motivation, and translate internal impulses into on-going entrepreneurial behaviours. The research presents a model of the interaction between the constructs. Through a cross-disciplinary approach, combining psychoanalytic theory with entrepreneurship studies, the research provides a new understanding of the psychological processes driving entrepreneurship and advances both theory and practice in entrepreneurship development.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Fatemeh Bayazian sarkandi, Reza Mohammadkazemi, Mohammad Azizi (Author)
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