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

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.