How the value created by student entrepreneurs affects their psychological well-being: a social identity perspective

Research on psychological well-being (PWB), a fundamental indicator of individuals’ mental health, has gained importance in the entrepreneurship field because it represents a fundamental outcome for the individual entrepreneur. In this paper, we extend this research stream by studying how the social context in which entrepreneurs are embedded influences the PWB they obtain by creating value by means of their business. To do so, we propose that student entrepreneurs have to align the value created as entrepreneurs with their sense of belonging to the university in which they are embedded. Drawing on social identity theory, we hypothesize that three different dimensions of value creation – for oneself, for customers, for society – contribute to their PWB, but that the extent of such contribution is influenced by university involvement into academic entrepreneurship, a visible component of university’s culture. Our analysis on a sample of 138 Italian student entrepreneurs nested in 11 universities shows that university’s involvement into academic entrepreneurship negatively moderates the impact on PWB of the value created by the firm for oneself and for customers. Conversely, it positively moderates the effect on PWB of the value created by the firm for society.