IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v67y2014i6p1043-1048.html

Why the self-employed are happier: Evidence from 25 European countries

Author

Listed:
  • Schneck, Stefan

Abstract

Using survey data from 25 European countries, we can show that in most of the countries the self-employed are more satisfied with their jobs than employees. This paper aims to discuss the reasons why this is the case. The results show that part of the differences in job satisfaction between employees and self-employed individuals are due to creativity and autonomy in self-employment. This suggests that our results are in line with procedural utility theory (Benz & Frey, 2004, 2008). In other words, especially self-employed individuals seem to derive utility from the way outcomes are achieved.

Suggested Citation

  • Schneck, Stefan, 2014. "Why the self-employed are happier: Evidence from 25 European countries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 1043-1048.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:67:y:2014:i:6:p:1043-1048
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.06.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296313002634
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.06.008?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

    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. 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.
    3. Milo Bianchi, 2012. "Financial Development, Entrepreneurship, and Job Satisfaction," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 273-286, February.
    4. Matthias Benz & Bruno S. Frey, 2008. "Being Independent is a Great Thing: Subjective Evaluations of Self‐Employment and Hierarchy," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 75(298), pages 362-383, May.
    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. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5067 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Stefan Schneck, 2012. "Revisiting Procedural Utility: Evidence from European Survey Data," EconStor Preprints 57929, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. 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.
    2. 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).
    3. 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.
    4. Bell, David N.F. & Rutherford, Alasdair C., 2013. "Older workers and working time," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 1, pages 28-34.
    5. 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.
    6. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and Subjective Well-Being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 744, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. van der Zwan, Peter & Hessels, Jolanda & Rietveld, Cornelius A., 2018. "Self-employment and satisfaction with life, work, and leisure," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 73-88.
    8. Rietveld, Cornelius A. & Hessels, Jolanda & van der Zwan, Peter, 2015. "The stature of the self-employed and its relation with earnings and satisfaction," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 59-74.
    9. Martin Binder & Alex Coad, 2013. "Life satisfaction and self-employment: a matching approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 1009-1033, May.
    10. Yuji HONJO & Kenta IKEUCHI & Hiroki NAKAMURA, 2019. "Do Entrepreneurs Have High Life Satisfaction? Evidence from Japan," Discussion papers 19083, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    11. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Jolanda Hessels & Peter van der Zwan, 2014. "The Stature of the Self-employed and its Premium," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 14-109/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    12. 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.
    13. Harbi, Sana El & Grolleau, Gilles, 2012. "Does self-employment contribute to national happiness?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 670-676.
    14. Roy Thurik, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and the business cycle," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-90, October.
    15. Bhuiyan, Muhammad Faress & Ivlevs, Artjoms, 2019. "Micro-entrepreneurship and subjective well-being: Evidence from rural Bangladesh," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 625-645.
    16. Jolanda Hessels & José María Millán & Concepción Román, 2015. "The Importance of Being in Control of Business: Work Satisfaction of Employers, Own-account Workers and Employees," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-047/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    17. Peter van der Zwan & Jolanda Hessels & Cornelius A. Rietveld, 2015. "The Pleasures and Pains of Self-Employment: A Panel Data Analysis of Satisfaction with Life, Work, and Leisure," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-099/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. 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.
    19. Clemens Hetschko, 2016. "On the misery of losing self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 461-478, August.
    20. Roy Thurik & Marcus Dejardin, 2012. "Entrepreneurship and Culture," Post-Print halshs-00943684, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:eee:jbrese:v:67:y:2014:i:6:p:1043-1048. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    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.