Jump for joy: happiness as the route to increased living standards of entrepreneurs in Zambia

ABSTRACT Little is known of the effect of entrepreneurs’ happiness on living standards in the world’s developing countries. This study explores (1) the causal relationship of entrepreneurs’ happiness and living standards; and (2) examines the interaction effects of socio-demographics (i.e. gender, age and education) and happiness on living standards in a developing context: Zambia. Following a qualitative pre-study with local experts, we develop a quantitative survey study including a unique sample of 170 entrepreneurs in Zambia. The analyses show that the entrepreneurs are relatively happy and an increasing level of happiness is related to an increasing standard of living. Moreover, the entrepreneurs’ happiness moderated by age (i.e. being older and happy) and education (i.e. being better-educated and happy) is a strong positive determinant of their living standard. The entrepreneurs’ awareness of the factors conducive to being happy, as well as the practitioners focussing on the social conditions of happiness, is instrumental.