Spiritual Capital Innovative Work Behavior and Subjective Well Being of Startup Founders

Tri Siwi Agustina (1) , Abdullah Talha GENÇ (2) , Ari Prasetyo (1)
(1) Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia,
(2) Sakarya University, Turkey

Abstract

The rapid growth of the startup ecosystem in Indonesia presents substantial opportunities as well as significant challenges for startup founders, particularly in maintaining their subjective well-being. This study aims to examine the effect of spiritual capital on the subjective well-being of startup founders in Surabaya, Indonesia, with innovative work behavior as a mediating variable. This study adopts a quantitative research design using survey data collected from 107 startup founders through a structured questionnaire. The sampling technique employed was convenience sampling. This study employs a reflective measurement model for all latent constructs within the PLS-SEM framework. The findings reveal that spiritual capital has a positive and significant effect on the subjective well-being of startup founders. Furthermore, innovative work behavior partially mediates the relationship between spiritual capital and subjective well-being. These results indicate that spiritual capital not only directly enhances subjective well-being but also indirectly contributes through the promotion of innovative behaviors among startup founders.

Full text article

Generated from XML file

References

[1] Startup Genome, “The state of global startup ecosystems in 2022,” 2022, accessed: Jan. 06, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://startupgenome.com/articles/the-state-of-global-startup-ecosystems-in-2022

[2] J. Jurgens, “How startups drive economic recovery while growing responsibly,” 2024, world Economic Forum. [Online]. Available: https://www.weforum.org/stories/authors/jeremy-jurgens/

[3] E. Ries, The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. Yogyakarta: Bentang Pustaka, 2022, indonesian translation edition available at National Library of Indonesia.

[4] A. Manawar, “An innovative and secure platform for leveraging the blockchain approach for online exams,” Aptisi Transactions on Technopreneurship (ATT), vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 99–108, 2023.

[5] M. W. M. Jr., “Se asia deals barometer report: Startup fundraising falls to five-month low of $1.42b in may,” DealStreetAsia, 2022, accessed: Jan. 20, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://www.dealstreetasia.com/dealsbarometer/report-se-asia-may-2022/

[6] O. N. R. Ledezma, “Exploring spiritual well-being for entrepreneurial performance,” Ph.D. dissertation, Doctoral dissertation, Instituto Tecnol´ogico y de Estudios Superiores de . . . , 2025.

[7] F. Sutisna, N. Lutfiani, E. Anderson, D. Danang, and M. O. Syaidina, “E-commerce and digital marketing strategies: Their impact on startupreneur performance using pls-sem,” IAIC Transactions on Sustainable Digital Innovation (ITSDI), vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 215–223, 2025.

[8] Z. Yang et al., “What are the recipes of an entrepreneur’s subjective well-being? a fuzzy-set approach,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 20, no. 1, 2023.

[9] L. Zhou, “Startup failure statistics: What percentage of startups fail?” luizazhou.com, 2025, accessed: Jan. 20, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://luisazhou.com/blog/startup-failure-statistics/

[10] A. Sugiura, “The well-being of startup employees: contradictory value systems at work,” epidemiology, vol. 41, pp. 11–17, 2023.

[11] A. Das, “The 2024 tech layoff landscape unveiled: A detailed breakdown,” StartupSuperb, 2024, accessed: Jan. 20, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://startupsuperb.com/international-insights/the-2024-tech-layoff-landscape-unveiled-a-detailed-breakdown/

[12] N. Lutfiani, D. A. Astrieta, V. Wildan, H. Sulistyaningrum, M. R. Anwar, and E. D. Astuti, “Emotional well-being and psychological support in infertility a multi-modal ai approach,” International Journal of Cyber and IT Service Management, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 81–92, 2025.

[13] N. Flocco, F. Canterino, and R. Cagliano, “To control or not to control: How to organize employee-driven innovation,” Creativity and Innovation Management, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 396–409, 2022.

[14] M. F. Helmi and A. Azmy, “Fostering innovative work behavior (iwb) in startup companies: A literature review study,” International Journal of Multicultural and Multireligious Understanding, vol. 10, no. 12, p. 429, 2023.

[15] P. Y. Putri, “Can spiritual capital improve young entrepreneurs’ performance?” JIMEA, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 3140–3158, 2024.

[16] M. P. Lerman, T. P. Munyon, and D. W. Williams, “The (not so) dark side of entrepreneurship: A meta-analysis of the well-being and performance consequences of entrepreneurial stress,” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 377–402, 2021.

[17] N. Lucellia and T. S. Agustina, “The effect of spiritual capital on women entrepreneurial success with iwb and swb mediation,” SEIKO Journal of Management & Business, vol. 7, no. 1, 2024.

[18] N. U. Khan, M. Zada, and C. Estay, “Servant leadership and employee prosocial rule-breaking: The underlying effects of psychological safety and compassion at work,” PLoS ONE, vol. 18, no. 4, p. e0282832, 2023.

[19] D. Games, T. S. Agustina, R. Lupiyoadi, and R. Kartika, “An examination of spiritual capital and innovation: Insights from high-growth aspiration entrepreneurs in a developing economy,” Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 705–723, 2024.

[20] Z.-A. Ehsan, “Defining a startup – a critical analysis,” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021.

[21] Z. Yang et al., “What are the recipes of an entrepreneur’s subjective well-being? a fuzzy-set approach for china,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 20, no. 1, 2023.

[22] L. Tisu, D. Vˆırg˘a, and T. Taris, “Entrepreneurial well-being and performance: antecedents and mediators,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, p. 1112397, 2023.

[23] I. Chandraningtyas, H. Pratikto, A. Winarno, and P. Handayati, “Do innovative work behavior mediate the contribution of spiritual and social capital to small and medium enterprise performance,” Pakistan Journal of Life and Social Sciences, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 20 228–20 247, 2024.

[24] N. Shir and C. D. Ryff, “Entrepreneurship, self-organization, and eudaimonic well-being: A dynamic approach,” Entrepreneurship theory and practice, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 1658–1684, 2022.

[25] T. Islam, I. Zulfiqar, H. Aftab, O. H. M. Alkharabsheh, and M. K. Shahid, “Testing the waters! the role of ethical leadership towards innovative work behavior through psychosocial well-being and perceived organizational support,” Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 1051–1072, 2024.

[26] J. Wilson and E. Erika, “Empowering eco-innovation through digitalization in startup enterprises,” Startupreneur Business Digital (SABDA Journal), vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 146–154, 2025.

[27] R. Widayanti and L. Meria, “Business modeling innovation using artificial intelligence technology,” International Transactions on Education Technology (ITEE), vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 95–104, 2023.

[28] R. Wang, H. Zhou, and L. Wang, “The influence of psychological capital and social capital on the entrepreneurial performance of the new generation of entrepreneurs,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 13, p. 832682, 2022.

[29] S. W. A. Putri and S. Tirtoprojo, “The effect of organizational justice and organizational commitment on innovative work behavior: Mediating role of knowledge sharing,” International Journal of Medical Science and Health Research, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 1–16, 2023.

[30] A. A. Patoding, “The effect of empowering leadership on individual innovative behavior mediated by work group cohesiveness and individual learning orientation in company distributor of fast moving consumer goods,” Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 2310–2324, 2024.

[31] N. Flocco, F. Canterino, and R. Cagliano, “To control or not to control: How to organize employee-driven innovation,” Creativity and Innovation Management, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 396–409, 2022.

[32] S. Buecker et al., “The development of subjective well-being across the life span: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal studies,” Psychological Bulletin, vol. 149, no. 7–8, pp. 418–448, 2023.

[33] Y. Wang, A. Derakhshan, and L. J. Zhang, “Researching and practicing positive psychology in second/foreign language learning and teaching: The past, current status and future directions,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, p. 731721, 2021.

[34] S. Wijono, U. Rahardja, H. D. Purnomo, N. Lutfiani, and N. A. Yusuf, “Leveraging machine learning models to enhance startup collaboration and drive technopreneurship,” Aptisi Transactions on Technopreneurship (ATT), vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 432–442, 2024.

[35] W. Ali, J. Wen, H. Hussain, N. A. Khan, M. W. Younas, and I. Jamil, “Does green intellectual capital matter for green innovation adoption? evidence from manufacturing smes of pakistan,” Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 868–888, 2021.

[36] W. D. Hunsaker and W. Ding, “Workplace spirituality and innovative work behavior: The role of employee flourishing and workplace satisfaction,” Employee Relations, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 1355–1371, 2022.

[37] H. Singla, M. D. Mehta, and P. Mehta, “Modeling spiritual intelligence on quality of work life of college teachers: A mediating role of psychological capital,” International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 341–358, 2021.

[38] M. T. Al Nahyan, M. S. Al Suwaidi, N. Al Zaabi, F. Al Qubaisi, and F. Jabeen, “Managerial coaching and innovative work behavior: Mediating role of psychological empowerment and moderating role of task interdependence,” Evidence-Based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 49–67, 2025.

[39] L. Meria, S. Hidayat, N. D. Santiago, S. Saukani, and S. H. Khotimah, “Blending work values, engagement, and satisfaction to drive ocb in technopreneurial startups,” Aptisi Transactions on Technopreneurship (ATT), vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 324–338, 2024.

[40] K. Hina, M. Khalique, J. Abdul, N. Shaari, and M. Rafi, “Nexus between green intellectual capital and the sustainability business performance of manufacturing smes in malaysia,” Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 233–252, 2024.

[41] C. D. J. van Vuuren, “Contemporary leadership behavior enabling leadership effectiveness in a public university,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of the Western Cape, 2021, doctoral dissertation. [Online]. Available: https://etd.uwc.ac.za

[42] A. Kumar, R. Singh, R. Gupta, and P. K. Sinha, “Entrepreneurial competencies influence subjective well-being of subsistence entrepreneurs: Examining the mediating role of business performance,” Journal of Small Business Management, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 819–848, 2025.

[43] M. B. Elayan, “The new world of work and digital learning: Millennials and generation z,” Webology, vol. 19, no. 2, p. 4593, 2022. [Online]. Available: http://www.webology.org

[44] A. Purwanto and Y. Sudargini, “Partial least squares structural equation modeling (pls-sem) analysis for social and management research: A literature review,” Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Research, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 114–123, 2021.

[45] J. F. Hair et al., Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), 2nd ed. Sage, 2021.

[46] T. H. Chiles, B. Crawford, and S. R. Elias, “Mind, body, and soul: A spiritual perspective on the entrepreneurial imagination,” Organization Theory, vol. 2, no. 2, 2021.

[47] D. Wang, X. Zhou, X. Liu, B. Sidor, J. Lynch, and J. B. Zwischenberger, “Respiratory support: Wangzwische double lumen cannula—toward a percutaneous and ambulatory paracorporeal artificial lung,” in American Society for Artificial Internal Organs (ASAIO) Platinum 70th Anniversary Special Edition. CRC Press, 2024, pp. 211–216.

[48] R. M. Travia, J. G. Larcus, S. Andes, and P. G. Gomes, “Framing well-being in a college campus setting,” Journal of American College Health, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 758–772, 2022.

Authors

Tri Siwi Agustina
[email protected] (Primary Contact)
Abdullah Talha GENÇ
Ari Prasetyo
Agustina, T. S., GENÇ, A. T., & Prasetyo, A. (2026). Spiritual Capital Innovative Work Behavior and Subjective Well Being of Startup Founders. Aptisi Transactions on Technopreneurship (ATT), 8(1), 365–376. https://doi.org/10.34306/att.v8i1.614

Article Details