What makes women entrepreneurs happy: The life stage, entrepreneurial ladder, and subjective well-being

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores the effects of women’s age, education level, and exposure to knowledge on the likelihood of engaging in different entrepreneurial stages, which drives their happiness. The proposed model was empirically evaluated from 304 samples in Taiwan. Results reveal that the age of women entrepreneurs positively affects the move through start-up processes. However, their age negatively impacts their education level, which also negatively influences entrepreneurial engagement. Furthermore, exposure to external knowledge is significantly associated with entrepreneurial engagement. Finally, passing different entrepreneurial stages acquires a feeling of self-fulfillment and is significantly associated with women entrepreneurs’ well-being, representing that happiness belongs to perseverance. These findings suggest that policy makers should improve the networking skills of aging females to help them overcome challenges at various stages and enhance their subjective well-being, which should be considered an integral part of entrepreneurship education.