Impactos psicossociais na gestão empresarial: um estudo sobre microempresas e negócios veganos

Abstract

Between 2020 and 2025, managing microenterprises became increasingly complex, especially in emerging niches such as the vegan market, where economic, cultural, and ethical challenges intersect. This study examines the psychosocial impacts on the management of vegan microenterprises, investigating how factors such as stress, anxiety, emotional well‑being, social support networks, and working conditions influence business performance and sustainability. A mixed‑methods design was adopted, using an online questionnaire answered by 20 entrepreneurs, combining closed‑ended questions (analyzed through descriptive statistics) and open‑ended questions (examined through thematic coding). The findings show that 55% of respondents experience frequent or constant stress, 80% acknowledge that their emotional well‑being directly affects business performance, and around half have had to pause their activities at some point, often due to extreme exhaustion, health problems, or financial infeasibility in times of crisis. At the same time, 95% state that caring for mental health is part of business management, but only 40% report having a structured support network, and 26% declare not using any strategy to balance work and personal life. In dialogue with the literature on work psychodynamics, entrepreneurship, and mental health, the results indicate that psychosocial factors affect not only decision‑making and leadership, but also the concrete continuity of vegan businesses, revealing a paradox between high awareness of the importance of mental health and limited ability to translate this awareness into consistent self‑care practices. The study concludes that integrating psychosocial care into management strategies is essential to strengthen entrepreneurs’ resilience and to support the sustainability of microenterprises committed to ethical causes such as veganism.