Abstract:
Entrepreneurial engagement through the entrepreneurial process involves individual
entrepreneurial growth by the development of psychological wellbeing. Military
entrepreneurs are a niche segment that had the rarest concern but yielding a higher
contribution to society. Their involvement in crimes as they become deserters and lack of
welfare measures during the post-war period are the major factors that have caused
underworld development. Given the fact of a lack of empirical evidence, the research was
conducted regarding the impact of psychological wellbeing on entrepreneurial
engagement by military entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. The mixed-method was followed to
determine the supportive nature of qualitative findings to quantitative findings. The
stratified sampling method and snowball sampling method were employed to highlight
the specific subgroup of 206 and 22 military entrepreneurs respectively. Data was
gathered by using self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Apart
from the descriptive data, Structural Equation Modeling, correlation, and thematic
analysis were performed to analyze the data. Psychological wellbeing was measured
using the Ryff’s six-factor model and entrepreneurial engagement was measured using the
entrepreneurial process of identification, evaluation, and exploitation. The analysis
revealed that autonomy had the least impact on military entrepreneurs while the other
dimensions had a moderate impact. Alongside this, it was found that there was a
significant positive relationship between psychological wellbeing and entrepreneurial
engagement. Moreover, the study found that there were barriers and supporting factors for
the engagement in entrepreneurial activities, and further recommended that government
support and counseling is essential for the development of Psychological wellbeing and
Entrepreneurial Engagement.
Keywords: Psychological wellbeing, Entrepreneurial engagement, Military entrepreneurs,
Planned behavior
