Beyond survival: tracing the processual arc of well-being among disabled entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan

Yousfzai S. Zayadin R. Tarbagataeva A. Abdullah M.H.
2025 Emerald Publishing

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research
2025 1 - 25 pp.

Purpose – This paper introduces the concept of entrepreneurial well-being negotiation to capture how disabled entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan dynamically navigate the tensions between empowerment and strain. Responding to calls for more situated and processual accounts of entrepreneurial well-being, the study theorizes well-being not as a static outcome but as an ongoing, recursive process of managing purpose, precarity and care within structurally disabling environments. Design/methodology/approach – Based on 31 in-depth interviews with disabled entrepreneurs, the study adopts a constructivist grounded theory approach. Through iterative coding, it develops a four-stage process model that traces the evolving interplay between entrepreneurial demands and resources under systemic constraint. Findings – The analysis reveals four interconnected dynamics: (1) systemic exclusion as a catalyst for entrepreneurial entry; (2) transformation of identity and competence through entrepreneurial practice; (3) entrepreneurial well-being negotiation, where pathogenic (e.g. burnout, isolation) and salutogenic (e.g. purpose, resilience) forces are co-constituted; and (4) a feedback loop of social empowerment through advocacy, mentoring and ecosystem repair. Social implications – By centering disabled entrepreneurs in a post-Soviet, resource-constrained context, the study highlights how marginalized actors not only navigate adversity but also reimagine entrepreneurship as a space for collective healing, inclusion and ecosystem transformation. Originality/value – The paper advances the literature by theorizing entrepreneurial well-being negotiation as a fluid, nonlinear process of adaptation and resistance. This reconceptualization challenges dominant models (e.g. JD-R, COR) that treat well-being as a stable end-state, and instead shows how health, identity and resilience are constantly reconfigured across the entrepreneurial journey, especially in contexts of systemic exclusion.

Disability , Entrepreneurial well-being , Grounded theory , Inclusion , Kazakhstan , Transition economy

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Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of International Business, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
Nazarbayev University Research Centre for Entrepreneurship, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Nazarbayev University Research Centre for Entrepreneurship, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan

Nazarbayev University
Department of International Business
Nazarbayev University Research Centre for Entrepreneurship
Nazarbayev University Research Centre for Entrepreneurship

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