IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/65432.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Job Satisfaction of Wage and Self-Employed workers. Do preferences make a difference?

Author

Listed:
  • Cueto, Begona
  • Pruneda, Gabriel

Abstract

A large body of the literature on job satisfaction concludes that self-employed workers enjoy higher levels of job satisfaction than their wage counterparts. In this article, we test this statement by including as an explanatory variable the preference of individuals for either type of employment. Using data drawn from 24,187 workers in the Spanish private sector, our results show that only self-employed workers report higher satisfaction levels than salaried employees when they actually display a preference for self-employment. Our conclusions posit that it is not self-employment per se, but being on the type of employment of preference (wage or self-employment) what contributes to explain the greater job satisfaction of self-employed workers when compared to employees. Additionally, our findings provide evidence on the lower level of satisfaction of reluctant entrepreneurs when compared to latent entrepreneurs. In other words, self-employed workers who prefer salaried employment are less satisfied than employees who report a preference for self-employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Cueto, Begona & Pruneda, Gabriel, 2015. "Job Satisfaction of Wage and Self-Employed workers. Do preferences make a difference?," MPRA Paper 65432, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:65432
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/65432/3/MPRA_paper_65432.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. W.D. McCausland & K. Pouliakas & I. Theodossiou, 2005. "Some are Punished and Some are Rewarded: A Study of the Impact of Performance Pay on Job Satisfaction," Labor and Demography 0505019, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Croson, David C. & Minniti, Maria, 2012. "Slipping the surly bonds: The value of autonomy in self-employment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 355-365.
    3. Blanchflower, David G., 2000. "Self-employment in OECD countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 471-505, September.
    4. Allen, Jim & van der Velden, Rolf, 2001. "Educational Mismatches versus Skill Mismatches: Effects on Wages, Job Satisfaction, and On-the-Job Search," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 434-452, July.
    5. Joern Block & Philipp Koellinger, 2009. "I Can't Get No Satisfaction—Necessity Entrepreneurship and Procedural Utility," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 191-209, April.
    6. Thurik, A. Roy & Carree, Martin A. & van Stel, André & Audretsch, David B., 2008. "Does self-employment reduce unemployment?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 673-686, November.
    7. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1998. "What Makes an Entrepreneur?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 26-60, January.
    8. David G. Blanchflower, 2004. "Self-Employment: More may not be better," NBER Working Papers 10286, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Bruno Frey & Matthias Benz & Alois Stutzer, 2004. "Introducing Procedural Utility: Not Only What, but Also How Matters," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 160(3), pages 377-401, September.
    10. Benz, Matthias & Frey, Bruno S., 2008. "The value of doing what you like: Evidence from the self-employed in 23 countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(3-4), pages 445-455, December.
    11. Melanie K. Jones & Richard J. Jones & Paul L. Latreille & Peter J. Sloane, 2009. "Training, Job Satisfaction, and Workplace Performance in Britain: Evidence from WERS 2004," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 23(s1), pages 139-175, March.
    12. Jörn Block & Philipp Sandner, 2009. "Necessity and Opportunity Entrepreneurs and Their Duration in Self-employment: Evidence from German Micro Data," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 117-137, June.
    13. Cooper, Arnold C. & Artz, Kendall W., 1995. "Determinants of satisfaction for entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(6), pages 439-457, November.
    14. Scott Shane, 2009. "Why encouraging more people to become entrepreneurs is bad public policy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 141-149, August.
    15. Rui Baptista & Murat Karaöz & Joana Mendonça, 2014. "The impact of human capital on the early success of necessity versus opportunity-based entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 831-847, April.
    16. Giuliano Guerra & Roberto Patuelli, 2016. "The Role of Job Satisfaction in Transitions into Self–Employment," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(3), pages 543-571, May.
    17. Teemu Kautonen & Simon Down & Maria Minniti, 2014. "Ageing and entrepreneurial preferences," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 579-594, March.
    18. Matthias Benz & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "The Value of Autonomy: Evidence from the Self-Employed in 23 Countries," IEW - Working Papers 173, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    19. Martin Carree & Ingrid Verheul, 2012. "What Makes Entrepreneurs Happy? Determinants of Satisfaction Among Founders," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 371-387, April.
    20. Andersson, Pernilla, 2008. "Happiness and health: Well-being among the self-employed," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 213-236, February.
    21. Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2005. "Latent and actual entrepreneurship in Europe and the US: some recent developments," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2005-24, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    22. Konstantinos POULIAKAS & Ioannis THEODOSSIOU, 2010. "Differences in the job satisfaction of high-paid and low-paid workers across Europe," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 149(1), pages 1-29, March.
    23. Barton H. Hamilton, 2000. "Does Entrepreneurship Pay? An Empirical Analysis of the Returns to Self-Employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 604-631, June.
    24. 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.
    25. Origo, Federica & Pagani, Laura, 2009. "Flexicurity and job satisfaction in Europe: The importance of perceived and actual job stability for well-being at work," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 547-555, October.
    26. Isabel Grilo & Jesus-Maria Irigoyen, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the EU: To Wish and not to be," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 305-318, May.
    27. Green, Francis, 2010. "Well-being, job satisfaction and labour mobility," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 897-903, December.
    28. José Millán & Jolanda Hessels & Roy Thurik & Rafael Aguado, 2013. "Determinants of job satisfaction: a European comparison of self-employed and paid employees," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 651-670, April.
    29. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew & Stutzer, Alois, 2001. "Latent entrepreneurship across nations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 680-691, May.
    30. Thomas Lange, 2012. "Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 165-177, February.
    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. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and Subjective Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 744, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Díaz Serrano, Lluís & Teruel, Mercedes, 2020. "On the Link between Self-Employment and Job Satisfaction: What Do Really Change after Becoming a Self-Employee?," Working Papers 2072/376034, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.

    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. Begoña Cueto & Gabriel Pruneda, 2017. "Job Satisfaction of Wage and Self-Employed Workers. Do Job Preferences Make a Difference?," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 12(1), pages 103-123, March.
    2. Aguilar, Alexandra Cortés & García Muñoz, Teresa M. & Moro-Egido, Ana I., 2013. "Heterogeneous self-employment and satisfaction in Latin America," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 44-61.
    3. Martin Binder, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Success and Subjective Well-Being: Worries about the Business Explain One's Well-Being Loss from Self-Employment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 947, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Raquel Justo & Emilio Congregado & Concepción Román, 2021. "Becoming self-employed from inactivity: an in-depth analysis of satisfaction," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 145-187, January.
    5. Pakura, Stefanie, 2015. "Unternehmerische Motivation und Wiedergründungsbereitschaft: Eine empirische Untersuchung deutscher Unternehmensneugründungen in der Frühentwicklungsphase," Lüneburger Beiträge zur Gründungsforschung 10, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Department of Entrepreneurship & Start-up Management.
    6. Nikolova, Milena, 2018. "Self-Employment Can Be Good for Your Health," GLO Discussion Paper Series 226, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Cortés Aguilar Alexandra & Teresa Garcia-Muñoz & Ana I. Moro Egido, 2013. "Heterogeneous Self-employment and Subjective Well-Being. Evidence from Latin America," ThE Papers 13/05, Department of Economic Theory and Economic History of the University of Granada..
    8. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2014. "How satisfied are the self-employed? A life domain view," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-17, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    9. Nikolova, Milena, 2019. "Switching to self-employment can be good for your health," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 664-691.
    10. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and Subjective Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 744, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2013. "Life satisfaction and self-employment: a matching approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1009-1033, May.
    12. Panka Bencsik & Tuugi Chuluun, 2021. "Comparative well-being of the self-employed and paid employees in the USA," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 355-384, January.
    13. Koch, Michael & Park, Sarah & Zahra, Shaker A., 2021. "Career patterns in self-employment and career success," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    14. Peter Zwan & Roy Thurik & Ingrid Verheul & Jolanda Hessels, 2016. "Factors influencing the entrepreneurial engagement of opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 6(3), pages 273-295, December.
    15. Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr & Zhang, Mao, 2018. "Self-employment, financial development, and well-being: Evidence from China, Russia, and Ukraine," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 754-769.
    16. HONJO Yuji & IKEUCHI Kenta & NAKAMURA Hiroki, 2019. "Do Entrepreneurs Have High Life Satisfaction? Evidence from Japan," Discussion papers 19083, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Daniel S. J. Lechmann, 2015. "Can working conditions explain the return-to-entrepreneurship puzzle? [Können Arbeitsbedingungen das „return-to-entrepreneurship puzzle“ erklären?]," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 48(4), pages 271-286, December.
    18. Fritsch, Michael & Sorgner, Alina & Wyrwich, Michael, 2019. "Self-employment and well-being across institutional contexts," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(6).
    19. Keith A. Bender & Kristen Roche, 2016. "Self-employment and the paradox of the contented female worker," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 421-435, August.
    20. Paul A. Coomes & Jose Fernandez & Stephan F. Gohmann, 2013. "The Rate of Proprietorship Among Metropolitan Areas: The Impact of the Local Economic Environment and Capital Resources," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(4), pages 745-770, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    job satisfaction; preferences; self-employment; wage employment; entrepreneurship;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:pra:mprapa:65432. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.