Journal of Enterprising Culture

Theoretically, working excessively hard should be related negatively with well-being; however, the empirical literature does not consistently indicate that entrepreneurs are lower in well-being than people working in other jobs. The present article introduces a study of 101 entrepreneurs differentiating between different types of working hard: Workaholism and work engagement. While workaholism implies a work obsession, work engagement implies working hard in a fulfilling and positive way. Results indicate that workaholism is negatively and work engagement is positively related with well-being. Moreover, the negative relationships of workaholism are minimized by detaching from work during off-work hours.

This research work investigates the simultaneous interaction of entrepreneurial orientation dimensions of the firm with the leader’s psychological factors for a better explanation of SMEs’ performance. The universal and contingency approach are reductionist and do not allow us to achieve the research objective. So, to study the simultaneous interaction between a great number of variables, we are mobilizing for this purpose the configurational approach and particularly, the perspective of alignment (fit) as “configuration”. Indeed, we are pursuing a quantitative methodological approach and conducting a field survey through a research questionnaire distributed to 100 industrial Tunisian SMEs.

The results of this research reveal a taxonomy of four configurations of industrial Tunisian SMEs significantly different from each other and which have different effects on performance. The configurations are named, the “Leader”, the “Creative”, the “Ambitious” and the “Conservative”.

The impact of traits in entrepreneurship has been subject to intense discussion. Apart from favorable traits fostering opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial orientation, venture performance, and other variables, a younger research stream also addresses the role of negative traits. Among them, the dark triad, comprising of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, have gained specific attention. This systematic literature review aims to structure the field, identify current research themes, and provide a better understanding of prior research outcomes. Our results show that dark triad research addresses entrepreneurial activity, opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial leadership, the and entrepreneurial motives. Among the dark triad traits, narcissism is stressed most in research so far. It relates to firm performance, risk, and leadership behavior, whereas Machiavellianism and psychopathy relate to opportunity recognition and exploitation. We also identify several research gaps, which can be addressed in future research.

The involvement of female entrepreneurs in the growth of a nation’s economy is an important subject. Despite various opportunities as well as structural and policy financing and support to launch and run businesses, women still face challenges that hamper their chances of success. Therefore, a study was conducted to examine the individual factors and facilitating conditions that have led to female entrepreneurs’ career success. A survey instrument was formulated through questionnaires to obtain feedback from female entrepreneurs in Malaysia. The findings showed that entrepreneur competence, commitment, goal, and knowledge are related to female entrepreneurs’ career success. While human capital was found to be an insignificant factor in determining female entrepreneurs’ career success, the goal was discovered to be the most salient factor that determines a female entrepreneur’s chances of career success. The findings have important practical implications for managers and leaders who wish to motivate their employees to achieve their career milestones. This paper sheds some light on female entrepreneurship in developed economies and recommends further research on female entrepreneurship.