Redefining Success: Women Entrepreneurs and the Future of Social Impact

This empirical study examines how women entrepreneurs redefine success through social value creation and the mechanisms that link leadership traits to social impact outcomes. Using a simulated empirical dataset of N = 300 women-led ventures across urban and semi-urban contexts, the study operationalizes three latent constructs Leadership Traits (LT), Social Entrepreneurship Strategies (SES), and Social Impact Outcomes (SIO) and two categorical demographic variables for chi-square analysis. Objective 1 tests associations between demographic characteristics and perceptions of entrepreneurial success using Chi-square tests. Objective 2 evaluates a theoretical structural model where LT influences SIO directly and indirectly through SES using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results show significant associations between education level and type of social-impact venture (χ² (6) = 24.37, p = .0006) and between prior sectoral experience and perceived redefinition of success (χ²(4) = 15.92, p = .003). SEM results indicate good model fit (χ²(74) = 120.5, χ²/df = 1.63, CFI = 0.965, TLI = 0.957, RMSEA = 0.038, SRMR = 0.041). Path coefficients are significant for LT → SES (β = 0.52, p < .001), SES → SIO (β = 0.61, p < .001), and LT → SIO (direct) (β = 0.18, p = .02). Mediation analysis reveals a partial mediation: LT’s effect on SIO is substantially transmitted via SES (indirect β = 0.32, p < .001). The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurship scholarship, ecosystem actors, and policy-makers seeking to support women-led social ventures.