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Not all paths lead to Rome: Self-employment, wellness beliefs, and well-being

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  • Patel, Pankaj C.
  • Wolfe, Marcus T.

Abstract

Entrepreneurship research in recent years has developed a meaningful understanding of well-being among self-employed individuals. Moving from the direct and conditional association between self-employment and well-being, we propose a moderated-mediation model based on the mediating effects of wellness beliefs. Wellness beliefs could be an important channel to explaining variations in subjective well-being among the self-employed. The mediation effects of wellness beliefs are conditional on two main demographic factors—gender and ethnicity—widely studied in the entrepreneurship literature. Based on a sample of 5822 participants (5208 employed and 614 self-employed) from the 2015 National Health Attitude Survey we find that wellness beliefs are an important mediator in realizing higher subjective well-being from self-employment, however, the strength of the mediation does not vary by white vs. non-white, however, there is marginal support for differences in strength of mediation for males relative to females. The effect sizes are small. Our findings unpack the self-employment and well-being association and highlight the important role of wellness beliefs.

Suggested Citation

  • Patel, Pankaj C. & Wolfe, Marcus T., 2020. "Not all paths lead to Rome: Self-employment, wellness beliefs, and well-being," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:14:y:2020:i:c:s2352673420300391
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00183
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    4. Étienne St-Jean & Maripier Tremblay, 2023. "Turbulence and adaptations to the coronavirus crisis: resources, coping and effects on stress and wellbeing of entrepreneurs," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 1153-1175, September.

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