Florentine Ursula Salmony, Dominik K. Kanbach, Stephan Stubner

• The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many entrepreneurs’ business outcomes and sometimes additionally influenced their psychological well-being. At the same time, some entrepreneurs hold personalities that warrant higher crisis resilience than others. This study investigates these differences in resilience to crisis based on personality. Specifically, the effects of entrepreneurs’ personalities on both their crisis-dependent business outcomes and psychological well-being were explored in a mixed-method approach. Results from a sample of 187 entrepreneurs revealed significant differences in personality traits between entrepreneurs with disparate COVID-19 impact on their businesses. Further, 18 in-depth interviews investigated what effects the COVID-19 pandemic had on the entrepreneurs’ psychological well-being. The interviews confirmed that entrepreneurs differed in the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their businesses. Similarly, differences between the entrepreneurs existed in the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their psychological well-being, highlighting individual differences in crisis resilience. Personality played a central role regarding the influences of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business outcomes and psychological well-being. The findings provide information about the specific crisis-resilient entrepreneurial profile. Further, they show that personality influences on businesses and psychological well-being are context-dependent, thereby recommending the integration of contextual factors in future entrepreneurial research.