Author(s): Rafael Ravina-Ripoll, Luis Tobar-Pesantez, José Antonio López Sanchez
In the era of Industry 4.0 and 5.0, social factors play a very relevant role in people's decision to become a future entrepreneur, whether it is a matter of opportunity or necessity. In this sense, it should be noted that the happiness parameter constitutes a vector of a social nature that has a great influence on entrepreneurs (understood as one of the main actors that fuel the economic growth of urban and rural landscapes). As is known in the scientific literature, this intangible resource plays a very important role in the competitive and sustainable development of territories, especially in ecosystems with high unemployment and school dropout rates (Bjørnskov & Foss, 2020). However, few academic studies have investigated the degree of direct influence that the role of happiness has on entrepreneurs (Ravina-Ripoll et al., 2020). George Gallup (1976) considered the happiness index as an essential factor for achieving a citizen dynamic that would allow the balanced development of a country; he also pointed out the subjective aspect of the concept and how the dependence on certain factors such as GDP, socioeconomic well-being, health and family life directly influence the subjective perception of happiness (Rojas, 2016). Hence, the need to empirically study the cause-effect relationship exerted by socio-demographic, economic, cultural or political variables on the happiness of entrepreneurs (Ravina-Ripoll et al., 2020). This information will allow us, on the one hand, to identify whether happy entrepreneurs are more productive, efficient and innovative. This will contribute to improving the quality of life of citizens in the digital society. This is something we know little about due to the lack of a global statistical overview that includes this information, as well as the absence of econometric models that evaluate the happiness of entrepreneurs in peripheral areas with high internal imbalances. Hence the difficulty of considering the happiness of this human capital as an element that facilitates the creation of innovative and high-quality products or services (Lee, 2019).