Mindfulness, grit, and well-being outcomes among refugee entrepreneurs in Uganda: The mediating role of subjective entrepreneurial success

Abstract Entrepreneurs face numerous risks and challenging situations in their work that dwindle their psychological well-being. However, entrepreneurs tend to be happier, partly as a result of their psychological attributes and satisfaction that comes from attaining entrepreneurial goals. Nonetheless, it remains unclear whether refugee entrepreneurs in precarious living and economic conditions could be happy and what psychological factors could contribute to their success and happiness. In this study, we consider the interactive effects of mindfulness and grit on the entrepreneurial success, happiness, and psychological well-being of refugee entrepreneurs in a low-income country. We conducted a survey of 214 refugee entrepreneurs in three large refugee settlements in Uganda and tested our assumptions using a moderated mediation analysis using PROCESS Macro. Our results indicate that subjective entrepreneurial success was strongly related to the happiness and psychological well-being of refugee entrepreneurs. Whereas mindfulness had significant direct effects on subjective entrepreneurial success, grit did not. However, they had strong interactive effects on subjective entrepreneurial success. Although grit did not influence the direct relationship between mindfulness and happiness or psychological well-being, the results indicated that grit moderated the indirect effects of mindfulness on these outcomes via subjective entrepreneurial success. The moderation analysis indicates that mindfulness is crucial for entrepreneurial success among refugee entrepreneurs with low levels of grit. The results suggest that enhancing refugee entrepreneurs’ practice of mindfulness and grit may be essential for achieving entrepreneurial success and positive psychological outcomes.