How Entrepreneurs Achieve Purpose Beyond Profit: The Case of Women Entrepreneurs in Nigeria

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Barkema, Harry G.; Bindl, Uta K.; Tanveer, Lamees
• 署名单位: University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of London; King's College London
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.15341
• 发表日期: 2024
• 关键词: well-being; Purpose; Mixed-methods

摘要

This paper investigates how entrepreneurs achieve a sense of purpose or, more precisely, eudaimonic well-being-the experience of a good and meaningful life. We explore this in the context of women entrepreneurs participating in a business training program in Nigeria. Specifically, we conduct mixed-methods research, starting with an inductive qualitative Study 1 of what eudaimonic well-being means for these entrepreneurs. We find that, in the context of their enterprises, eudaimonic well-being implies opportunities to experience self-cultivation, mastery, social recognition, and to benefit others in the community. Unexpectedly, the women in our study also experience eudaimonic well-being related to their households. These initial insights inform theory in Study 2 on how enterpriserelated learning (i.e., acquiring and assimilating knowledge regarding the enterprise) and household-related learning (acquiring and assimilating knowledge regarding the household) influence their eudaimonic well-being, itself driven by strong social ties with other women entrepreneurs in the training program. Hypotheses testing through a quantitative study of 484 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria over time corroborates the theory. Our research provides a contextualized perspective of purpose in entrepreneurship and how to achieve it: by developing strong social ties, enabling enterprise- and household-related learning, women entrepreneurs in our context initiate greater eudaimonic well-being, beyond improving firm performance.