IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/sbusec/v48y2017i4d10.1007_s11187-016-9823-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Instant gratification: temporal discounting and self-employment

Author

Listed:
  • Marcus T. Wolfe

    (University of Oklahoma)

  • Pankaj C. Patel

    (Villanova University)

Abstract

Differences in temporal discounting could separate self-employed individuals from employees working for wages. Drawing on a sample of 13,198 individuals, from the 2012–2013 cross-sectional STEP Skills Measurement Survey, we find that higher temporal discounting is more positively associated with the likelihood of self-employment. We further find that younger individuals with higher temporal discounting are more likely to engage in self-employment. The association of lower socioeconomic status at a young age or those who experienced economic shocks at a young age with the likelihood of self-employment is only significant when interaction effects of temporal discounting and age are present in the model. Risk seeking is not associated with the likelihood of engagement in self-employment under higher discounting. These findings have implications for the self-employment literature as well as the literature on behavioral decision making.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcus T. Wolfe & Pankaj C. Patel, 2017. "Instant gratification: temporal discounting and self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 861-882, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:48:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s11187-016-9823-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-016-9823-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-016-9823-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11187-016-9823-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blanchflower, David G., 2000. "Self-employment in OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 471-505, September.
    2. Weber, Bethany J. & Chapman, Gretchen B., 2005. "The combined effects of risk and time on choice: Does uncertainty eliminate the immediacy effect? Does delay eliminate the certainty effect?," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 104-118, March.
    3. Lopes, Lola L., 1996. "When Time Is of the Essence: Averaging, Aspiration, and the Short Run," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 179-189, March.
    4. Alison L. Booth & Patrick Nolen, 2012. "Gender differences in risk behaviour: does nurture matter?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(558), pages 56-78, February.
    5. Kolvereid, Lars & Isaksen, Espen, 2006. "New business start-up and subsequent entry into self-employment," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 866-885, November.
    6. Gatewood, Elizabeth J. & Shaver, Kelly G. & Gartner, William B., 1995. "A longitudinal study of cognitive factors influencing start-up behaviors and success at venture creation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 371-391, September.
    7. David T. Ellwood, 1982. "Teenage Unemployment: Permanent Scars or Temporary Blemishes?," NBER Chapters, in: The Youth Labor Market Problem: Its Nature, Causes, and Consequences, pages 349-390, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Dilip Soman & George Ainslie & Shane Frederick & Xiuping Li & John Lynch & Page Moreau & Andrew Mitchell & Daniel Read & Alan Sawyer & Yaacov Trope & Klaus Wertenbroch & Gal Zauberman, 2005. "The Psychology of Intertemporal Discounting: Why are Distant Events Valued Differently from Proximal Ones?," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 347-360, December.
    9. Palich, Leslie E. & Ray Bagby, D., 1995. "Using cognitive theory to explain entrepreneurial risk-taking: Challenging conventional wisdom," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 425-438, November.
    10. Misbah Tanveer Choudhry & Enrico Marelli & Marcello Signorelli, 2012. "Youth unemployment rate and impact of financial crises," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 76-95, March.
    11. Bennet A. Zelner, 2009. "Using simulation to interpret results from logit, probit, and other nonlinear models," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(12), pages 1335-1348, December.
    12. Enrico Maria Cervellati & Pierpaolo Pattitoni & Marco Savioli, 2013. "Entrepreneurial Under-Diversification: Over Optimism and Overconfidence," Working Paper series 09_13, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, revised May 2016.
    13. Jonathan P. O'Brien & Timothy B. Folta & Douglas R. Johnson, 2003. "A real options perspective on entrepreneurial entry in the face of uncertainty," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(8), pages 515-533.
    14. Lang, Frieder R. & John, Dennis & Lüdtke, Oliver & Schupp, Jürgen & Wagner, Gert G., 2011. "Short Assessment of the Big Five: Robust Across Survey Methods Except Telephone Interviewing," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 548-567.
    15. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    16. G.T. Lumpkin & Keith H. Brigham & Todd W. Moss, 2010. "Long-term orientation: Implications for the entrepreneurial orientation and performance of family businesses," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3-4), pages 241-264, May.
    17. Taylor, Mark P, 1999. "Survival of the Fittest? An Analysis of Self-Employment Duration in Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(454), pages 140-155, March.
    18. Zissimopoulos, Julie M. & Karoly, Lynn A., 2007. "Transitions to self-employment at older ages: The role of wealth, health, health insurance and other factors," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 269-295, April.
    19. Simone Chlosta & Holger Patzelt & Sabine Klein & Christian Dormann, 2012. "Parental role models and the decision to become self-employed: The moderating effect of personality," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 121-138, January.
    20. Gowdy, John & Rosser, J. Barkley & Roy, Loraine, 2013. "The evolution of hyperbolic discounting: Implications for truly social valuation of the future," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(S), pages 94-104.
    21. Sharon Simmons & Johan Wiklund & Jonathan Levie, 2014. "Stigma and business failure: implications for entrepreneurs’ career choices," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 485-505, March.
    22. John F Tomer, 2014. "Adverse Childhood Experiences, Poverty, and Inequality : Toward an Understanding of the Connections and the Cures," World Economic Review, World Economics Association, vol. 2014(3), pages 1-20, February.
    23. T. K. Das & Bing-Sheng Teng, 1998. "Time and Entrepreneurial Risk Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 22(2), pages 69-88, January.
    24. Baron, Robert A., 2004. "The cognitive perspective: a valuable tool for answering entrepreneurship's basic "why" questions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 221-239, March.
    25. Linda N. Edwards & Elizabeth Field-Hendrey, 2002. "Home-Based Work and Women's Labor Force Decisions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(1), pages 170-200, January.
    26. Niels Bosma & Mirjam van Praag & Roy Thurik & Gerrit de Wit, 2004. "The Value of Human and Social Capital Investments for the Business Performance of Startups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 227-236, October.
    27. Raphael Amit & Lawrence Glosten & Eitan Muller, 1993. "Challenges To Theory Development In Entrepreneurship Research," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 815-834, September.
    28. Bin Miao & Songfa Zhong, 2015. "Risk Preferences Are Not Time Preferences: Separating Risk and Time Preference: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(7), pages 2272-2286, July.
    29. Thomas Leoni & Martin Falk, 2010. "Gender and field of study as determinants of self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 167-185, February.
    30. Luisa Rosti & Francesco Chelli, 2005. "Gender Discrimination, Entrepreneurial Talent and Self-Employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 131-142, March.
    31. Davidsson, Per & Honig, Benson, 2003. "The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 301-331, May.
    32. Hill, Martha S. & Sandfort, Jodi R., 1995. "Effects of childhood poverty on productivity later in life: Implications for public policy," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 91-126.
    33. Mead, N.L. & Baumeister, R.F. & Gino, F. & Schweitzer, M.E. & Ariely, D., 2009. "Too tired to tell the truth : Self-control resource depletion and dishonesty," Other publications TiSEM c60167a3-c3aa-4b83-9192-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    34. Ekelund, Jesper & Johansson, Edvard & Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta & Lichtermann, Dirk, 2005. "Self-employment and risk aversion--evidence from psychological test data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 649-659, October.
    35. Begley, Thomas M., 1995. "Using founder status, age of firm, and company growth rate as the basis for distinguishing entrepreneurs from managers of smaller businesses," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 249-263, May.
    36. James G. March & Zur Shapira, 1987. "Managerial Perspectives on Risk and Risk Taking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(11), pages 1404-1418, November.
    37. J. Michael Haynie & Dean A. Shepherd & Jeffery S. McMullen, 2009. "An Opportunity for Me? The Role of Resources in Opportunity Evaluation Decisions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 337-361, May.
    38. Gino, Francesca & Schweitzer, Maurice E. & Mead, Nicole L. & Ariely, Dan, 2011. "Unable to resist temptation: How self-control depletion promotes unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 191-203, July.
    39. Hoang, Ha & Antoncic, Bostjan, 2003. "Network-based research in entrepreneurship: A critical review," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 165-187, March.
    40. Leung, Danny, 2006. "The male/female earnings gap and female self-employment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 759-779, October.
    41. Bates, Timothy, 1995. "Self-employment entry across industry groups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 143-156, March.
    42. Peter J Rentfrow & Markus Jokela & Michael E Lamb, 2015. "Regional Personality Differences in Great Britain," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    43. Allen, W. David, 2000. "Social networks and self-employment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 487-501.
    44. Greg Hundley, 2000. "Male/Female Earnings Differences in Self-Employment: The Effects of Marriage, Children, and the Household Division of Labor," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(1), pages 95-114, October.
    45. Cooper, Arnold C. & Gimeno-Gascon, F. Javier & Woo, Carolyn Y., 1994. "Initial human and financial capital as predictors of new venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 371-395, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ali E. Ahmed & Deniz Ucbasaran & Gabriella Cacciotti & Trenton A. Williams, 2022. "Integrating Psychological Resilience, Stress, and Coping in Entrepreneurship: A Critical Review and Research Agenda," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 497-538, May.
    2. Sotirakopoulos, Panagiotis & Mount, Matthew P. & Guven, Cahit & Ulker, Aydogan & Graham, Carol, 2023. "A tale of two life stages: The imprinting effect of macroeconomic contractions on later life entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(4).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marcus T. Wolfe & Pankaj C. Patel, 2016. "Grit and self-employment: a multi-country study," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 853-874, December.
    2. Nadia Simoes & Nuno Crespo & Sandrina B. Moreira, 2016. "Individual Determinants Of Self-Employment Entry: What Do We Really Know?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 783-806, September.
    3. Nicos Nicolaou & Pankaj C. Patel & Marcus T. Wolfe, 2018. "Testosterone and Tendency to Engage in Self-Employment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(4), pages 1825-1841, April.
    4. Sascha G. Walter & Achim Walter, 2009. "Personenbezogene Determinanten von Unternehmensgründungen: Stand der Forschung und Perspektiven des Fortschritts," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 57-89, February.
    5. Dan K. Hsu & Johan Wiklund & Richard D. Cotton, 2017. "Success, Failure, and Entrepreneurial Reentry: An Experimental Assessment of the Veracity of Self–Efficacy and Prospect Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 19-47, January.
    6. Peter van der Zwan & Ingrid Verheul & Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Progress: Climbing the Entrepreneurial Ladder in Europe and the US," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 09-070/3, Tinbergen Institute, revised 17 Mar 2010.
    7. Fernández-Pérez, Virginia & Alonso-Galicia, Patricia Esther & Rodríquez-Ariza, Lázaro & Fuentes-Fuentes, María del Mar, 2015. "Professional and personal social networks: A bridge to entrepreneurship for academics?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 37-47.
    8. Adil Khan & Mohd Yasir Arafat & Imran Saleem, 2022. "Does Social Legitimacy Matter in an Indian’s Decision to Start a New Venture?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 8(2), pages 188-205, July.
    9. Abeer Alomani & Rui Baptista & Suma S. Athreye, 2022. "The interplay between human, social and cognitive resources of nascent entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1301-1326, December.
    10. T. K. Das & Bing-Sheng Teng, 1998. "Time and Entrepreneurial Risk Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 22(2), pages 69-88, January.
    11. Enrico Santarelli & Hien Tran, 2013. "The interplay of human and social capital in shaping entrepreneurial performance: the case of Vietnam," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 435-458, February.
    12. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    13. Verheul, Ingrid & Thurik, Roy & Grilo, Isabel & van der Zwan, Peter, 2012. "Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 325-341.
    14. Murat Yalcintas & Oyk㜠Iyigãœn & Gokhan Karabulut, 2023. "Personal Characteristics And Intention For Entrepreneurship," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 68(02), pages 539-561.
    15. Jolanda Hessels & Isabel Grilo & Roy Thurik & Peter Zwan, 2011. "Entrepreneurial exit and entrepreneurial engagement," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 447-471, August.
    16. Heinrichs, Simon & Walter, Sascha, 2013. "Who Becomes an Entrepreneur? A 30-Years-Review of Individual-Level Research and an Agenda for Future Research," EconStor Preprints 68590, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    17. Andreas Hack & Frauke Bieberstein & Nils D. Kraiczy, 2016. "Reference point formation and new venture creation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 447-465, March.
    18. Mohd Yasir Arafat & Javed Ali & Amit Kumar Dwivedi & Imran Saleem, 2020. "Social and Cognitive Aspects of Women Entrepreneurs: Evidence from India," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 45(4), pages 223-239, December.
    19. Román, Concepción & Congregado, Emilio & Millán, José María, 2013. "Start-up incentives: Entrepreneurship policy or active labour market programme?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 151-175.
    20. Edelman, Linda F. & Manolova, Tatiana & Shirokova, Galina & Tsukanova, Tatyana, 2016. "The impact of family support on young entrepreneurs' start-up activities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 428-448.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:48:y:2017:i:4:d:10.1007_s11187-016-9823-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.