"I want it all": exploring the relationship between entrepreneurs' satisfaction with work-life balance, well-being, flow and firm growth

Drawing from the conservation of resources theory, we explore how two personal resources (satisfaction with work-life balance and experience of flow at work) contribute to two important outcomes in entrepreneurship: entrepreneurs' subjective well-being and firm growth. Although previous research has emphasized the importance of personal factors for firm growth and explored a variety of factors affecting entrepreneurs' subjective well-being, little attention has been paid to the role of satisfaction with work-life balance as a critical personal resource for entrepreneurs. With this study, we find that entrepreneurs' satisfaction with work-life balance is positively associated with subjective well-being, which, in turn, mediates the relationship between satisfaction with work-life balance and firm growth. Our study also shows that experiencing flow at work accentuates the relationship between satisfaction with work-life balance and subjective well-being. Based on our findings, we offer implications for practicing entrepreneurs in terms of how to achieve higher levels of well-being and better firm growth. Specifically, we emphasize the benefits of achieving satisfaction with work-life balance, as this is important for an entrepreneur's subjective well-being and has an indirect impact on firm growth. Stakeholders in entrepreneurial ecosystems should embrace subjective well-being as an important indicator of firm outcomes alongside traditional economic measures.