Thriving or Burning Out? AI and Smart Cities Shape Serial Entrepreneurs’ Work-Life Balance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68903/iilmr.v01i01.05Keywords:
Serial entrepreneurs, Artificial intelligence, Smart cities, WLB, Job Demands–Resources Model, Entrepreneurial resilienceAbstract
In Dubai’s hyper-connected smart-city landscape—where innovation moves at algorithmic speed serial entrepreneurs find themselves thriving and burning out at the same time. This study examines how these entrepreneurs navigate the paradoxical effects of artificial intelligence (AI) and smart-city infrastructures on their work–life balance (WLB). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 20 multi-venture founders, the analysis applies template analysis and extends the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) Model to reveal how AI-enabled tools function simultaneously as job resources enhancing efficiency, decision accuracy, and opportunity recognition and as job demands that intensify constant connectivity, cognitive overload, and emotional strain. Findings show that smart-city infrastructures accelerate entrepreneurial tempo, blur personal–professional boundaries, and heighten technological dependency, producing distinct patterns of overload not captured in traditional entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurs respond through selective technology adoption, task delegation, boundary-setting, and continuous learning, yet these adaptive strategies cannot fully compensate for ecosystem-level gaps in psychosocial and policy support. The study advances theory by conceptualizing AI as a resource demand hybrid within entrepreneurial labour and by positioning resilience as an emergent socio-technical practice. Practically, it calls for human-centred smart-city governance that integrates wellness, mentorship, and digital-boundary programs. Overall, the findings demonstrate that sustaining entrepreneurship in AI-intensive urban environments requires aligning technological innovation with human well-being.
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