Happy at home, successful in competition: the beneficial role of happiness and entrepreneurial orientation for women entrepreneurs

Purpose This study aims to investigate the mediating effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the relationship between women entrepreneurs' experience of family-induced work happiness and the competitive performance of their companies, as well as the invigorating role of their perceptions of environmental hostility in this process. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected among a nationwide sample of women entrepreneurs in Denmark. Findings The spillover of positive emotions from family to work can spur competitive performance if women entrepreneurs adopt an entrepreneurial strategic posture. This intermediate role of entrepreneurial orientation is particularly prominent among women entrepreneurs who experience their market environments as highly threatening to their success. Practical implications For practitioners, this study identifies a key mechanism, an entrepreneurial strategic direction, by which positive work energy stemming from family involvement can enhance women entrepreneurs' business success. The study also shows how this mechanism is triggered by resource-draining competitive markets that appear hostile instead of benign. Originality/value The adoption of an entrepreneurial posture is an unexplored but critical factor through which women entrepreneurs' sense of happiness at work, caused by their family involvement, can be leveraged into enhanced success at the organizational level. This study also explicates how this beneficial role is invigorated by beliefs about environmental hostility, as a critical external source of resource depletion.