Fortune favors the happy mind in the right place: individual and contextual drivers of serendipity in entrepreneurship

Frame of the research. Entrepreneurs often experience serendipity, yet the individual-level conditions that foster such occurrences remain underexplored. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study situates subjective well-being and environmental context as key antecedents of entrepreneurial serendipity.Purpose of the paper. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between entrepreneurs’ subjective well-being and serendipity and to assess how contextual factors, specifically the intensity of third places and walking infrastructure, moderate this association.Methodology. A survey of 609 entrepreneurs across high-income countries provides the empirical basis for regression analyses. Robustness checks using patent registrations further validate the findings. Results. The findings indicate that subjective well-being is positively associated with serendipity. Moreover, the intensity of third places and walking infrastructure strengthens this relationship. Research limitations. The cross-sectional design limits causal inference, and self-reported data may introduce bias. Perceived measures of environmental factors could differ from objective conditions, and cultural variations in subjective well-being and serendipity require further examination. Managerial implications. Policymakers and ecosystem leaders could enhance third places and pedestrian-friendly environments to create contexts in which entrepreneurial talent is more likely to thrive and remain. Venture-support organizations and entrepreneurs can further “design for serendipity” by fostering informal interaction and protecting time for unstructured exploration and reflective detachment from operational tasks. Originality of the paper. This study integrates psychological and contextual perspectives to explain serendipity in entrepreneurship. By linking SDT to serendipity and emphasizing environmental influences, it extends research on entrepreneurial well-being and opportunity discovery.