Satisfaction of Psychological Needs and Entrepreneurial Success: Mediating Effects of Well-Being and Work Engagement (Case study: Nahavand County, Iran)

One of the most important questions in the entrepreneurship literature is how entrepreneurial success can be explained. Despite extensive research on this question, the relationship between the satisfaction of psychological needs and entrepreneurial success has not been well understood, especially among rural entrepreneurs in developing countries. This study mainly aimed to examine the relationship between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and entrepreneurial success and find out whether well-being and work engagement played mediating roles in this relationship. Data were collected from a sample of 110 rural entrepreneurs in Nahavand County, Iran. Structural Equation Modeling with Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 3.0 statistical software was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the satisfaction of basic psychological needs was not directly related to entrepreneurial success. However, this relationship was significantly mediated via well-being and work engagement. These findings highlighted well-being and work engagement as important pathways between the satisfaction of psychological needs and entrepreneurial success. The findings also provided important theoretical and practical implications for researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs.