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Everybody hurts: Self-employment, financial concerns, mental distress, and well-being during COVID-19

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

Abstract

Adopting an abductive approach, in this paper we use two studies to examine the relationships between financial worries and well-being amongst the self-employed during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Study 1 of 4806 participants from the Understanding Society’s COVID-19 survey of the UK population, we find that financial worries were associated with higher mental distress for self-employed when facing reduced work hours. In Study 2, in a sample of 1794 participants from the six-country COVID study, we find that higher than expected fall in income mediates the association between self-employment and happiness. The findings have implications for research regarding financial worries, distress, and well-being of the self-employed.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfe, Marcus T. & Patel, Pankaj C., 2021. "Everybody hurts: Self-employment, financial concerns, mental distress, and well-being during COVID-19," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:15:y:2021:i:c:s2352673421000093
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2021.e00231
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    7. Haridhan Goswami & Gour Gobinda Goswami & Bijoy Krishna Banik & M. Ibrahim Khalil, 2023. "Factors Associated with Children’s Subjective Wellbeing During COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 1889-1911, October.
    8. Gish, J. Jeffrey & Guedes, Maria João & Silva, Bárbara G. & Patel, Pankaj C., 2022. "Latent profiles of personality, temperament, and eudaimonic well-being: Comparing life satisfaction and health outcomes among entrepreneurs and employees," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    9. Brink, Siegrun & Weicht, Rebecca & Levering, Britta & Icks, Annette, 2022. "Unternehmertum während der Corona-Pandemie: Individuelle Resilienz," IfM-Materialien 293, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
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    12. Jinho Kim & Sujeong Park & S. V. Subramanian & Taehoon Kim, 2023. "The Psychological Costs of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Heterogeneous Effects in South Korea: Evidence from a Difference-in-Differences Analysis," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 455-476, February.
    13. 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.
    14. Simon Coulombe & Marcus Dejardin & Sylvain Luc, 2022. "Covid or not Covid? Psychological Distress and Entrepreneurial Intentions among Canadian Workers during the Pandemic," Post-Print halshs-03659225, HAL.
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