Environment and Social Psychology (2024) Volume 9 Issue 5 doi: 10.54517/esp.v9i5.2063 Research Article Relationships between well-being, resilience, leadership, and perceived success in SME owners-managers of Ecuador Gelmar García-Vidal 1 , Laritza Guzmán-Vilar 1 , Alexander Sánchez-Rodríguez 2,* , Rodobaldo Martínez-Vivar 1 , Reyner Pérez-Campdesuñer 1 1 Faculty of Law, Administrative and Social Sciences, Universidad UTE, Quito 170527, Ecuador 2 Faculty of Engineering Sciences and Industries, Universidad UTE, Quito 170527, Ecuador * Corresponding author: Alexander Sánchez Rodríguez, alexander.sanchez@ute.edu.ec ABSTRACT This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurial success among owners and managers of Ecuadorian SMEs through the relationship between variables such as business efficiency, psychological resilience and perceived entrepreneurial leadership. We surveyed 385 SME owners and managers in Ecuador and employed hierarchical linear modeling to analyze the data. The findings of this article suggest that entrepreneurial well-being, psychological resilience, and entrepreneurial leadership perceived by owners and managers of Ecuadorian SMEs are positively correlated with entrepreneurial success. There may be a tendency to associate success with economic performance. The practical implications of this study are that owner-managers of SMEs can use the developed measurement scale to evaluate their success and identify areas where they may need support or improvement and develop strategies to foster the best possible business experience. The study also provides insights into factors affecting entrepreneurial success and highlights the importance of promoting a positive entrepreneurial experience. In addition, the study contributes to literature by identifying some limitations and identifying areas for future research. Keywords: business success; well-being; resilience; leadership; micro-enterprise; small enterprise; small entrepreneurs 1. Introduction Despite the crucial role of SMEs, there is limited understanding of how factors like well-being, leadership, and resilience influence their perceived success, especially in regions like Ecuador. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the economy and society [1,2] . Their success or failure can have implications for job creation economic growth and community development in many countries this is one of the reasons why studying perceived entrepreneurial success in SMEs helps to understand the factors that contribute to their growth and sustainability [3] . Perceived entrepreneurial success provides insights into how entrepreneurs themselves evaluate their achievements and satisfaction with their businesses [4] and allows for a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of success beyond traditional economic indicators an facilitate a better understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities faced by small business owners [5–8] . There is a strong academic interest in identifying factors that are vital to SMEs success [5,9] . Many studies of perceived entrepreneurial success have been conducted in developed countries but some author point out ARTICLE INFO Received: 5 September 2023 | Accepted: 7 December 2023 | Available online: 29 February 2024 CITATION García-Vidal G, Guzmán-Vilar L, Sánchez-Rodríguez A, et al. Relationships between well-being, resilience, leadership, and perceived success in SME owners-managers of Ecuador. Environment and Social Psychology 2024; 9(5): 2063. doi: 10.54517/esp.v9i5.2063 COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2024 by author(s). Environment and Social Psychology is published by Asia Pacific Academy of Science Pte. Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), permitting distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is cited.