Jingle bells and juggling stress: An IPA analysis of well-being and ill-being among market entrepreneurs in outdoor finnish christmas markets

Abstract

Christmas markets evoke joyful, emotional, and nostalgic impressions to just about everyone. But what about the people behind the booths? Through semi-structured interviews with six sellers and a market organizer in Finland, we apply an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to illustrate that positive and detrimental effects on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being co-exist, addressing both physical and emotional stressors of entrepreneurs when selling at Christmas markets. Also, the results showcase well-being trade-offs that bring the sense of fulfillment when doing entrepreneurial activities. This study contributes to entrepreneurship well-being research and research concerning societal implications to the market seller community.