Entrepreneurial Resilience of Shadow Education Entrepreneurs: A Mini Review Article

This mini review explores the role of entrepreneurial resilience among shadow education entrepreneurs, who offer private supplementary tutoring in volatile, competitive educational markets. Resilience is defined as the capacity to adapt, recover, and innovate in the face of adversity. This quality has become increasingly vital due to the challenges posed by regulatory reforms, changing parental expectations, digital disruption, and crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A thorough literature search was conducted using Scopus and Google Scholar up to 25 August 2025, employing Boolean search strings and keywords such as ‘entrepreneurial resilience,’ ‘shadow education,’ ‘business challenges,’ and ‘innovation.’ Eligible studies included original research, systematic reviews, case studies, and meta-analyses published in English that explicitly referenced entrepreneurial resilience in shadow education. Grey literature and non-English sources were excluded. Findings indicate that entrepreneurial resilience manifests through strategies such as digital adoption, service diversification, and emotionally intelligent leadership, enabling entrepreneurs to sustain learning continuity, safeguard employment, and foster pedagogical innovation. COVID-19 accelerated digitalfirst models, highlighting both the opportunities of adaptive technologies and persistent challenges such as financial precarity, inequitable access, and concerns over data ethics. While resilience provides clear benefits, debates remain over whether it should be framed primarily as individual adaptability or as a collective, systemic response shaped by socio-economic and policy contexts. Gaps in cross-cultural research, long-term technological evaluation, and attention to psychological well-being suggest the need for deeper inquiry. Strengthening resilience will require collective infrastructures, equitable policy frameworks, and ethical integration of digital tools, ensuring sustainability and inclusivity in the evolving landscape of shadow education.

entrepreneurial resilience, shadow education

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