Financial literacy and firm performance: women entrepreneurs in emerging markets

Purpose The erratic growth of family-owned small businesses (F-OSBs) for an unprecedented period led to self-compassion among female descendant entrepreneurs. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between a female descendant entrepreneur's self-compassion and succession success by focusing on moderating the role of the predecessor-descendant entrepreneur relationship and a female-descendant entrepreneur's education. This study also compared the influence of the predecessor–descendant entrepreneur relationship and the descendant entrepreneur's education on the succession success of F-OSB. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 329 Malaysian female descendant entrepreneurs who had been designated as managing directors or chairmen in F-OSB was surveyed by deploying a purposive sampling technique. SmartPLS software was used with a complete bootstrapping technique to analyze the moderating effect. Findings The results concluded that mindfulness, self-judgment, predecessor-descendant-entrepreneur relationship and education of female descendant-entrepreneurs have a positive relationship, while self-isolation has a negative association with the succession success of F-OSB. Originality/value Exploring female entrepreneurship and succession, with a focus on performance mindfulness, in an emerging country.