How entrepreneurs achieve purpose beyond profit: the case of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria

Barkema, Harry G. ORCID: 0000-0001-6837-391X, Bindl, Uta and Tanveer, Lamees (2024) How entrepreneurs achieve purpose beyond profit: the case of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Organization Science, 35 (3). 1042 - 1071. ISSN 1047-7039

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Abstract

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 enterprise-related 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.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://pubsonline.informs.org/journal/orsc
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Authors
Divisions:	Management
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management
Date Deposited:	12 Jul 2023 13:09
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2025 17:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/119716

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