Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?

Lange, Thomas

Abstract

Most studies in the economics discourse argue that the impact of self-employment on job satisfaction is mediated by greater procedural freedom and autonomy. Values and personality traits are considered less likely to explain the utility difference between self-employed and salaried workers. Psychology scholars suggest that entrepreneurial satisfaction also depends, at least in part, on specific values and personality traits. Utilising a large dataset derived from the 2006 European Social Survey, this study performs a complementary analysis by taking personality traits, personal values and indicators for workers’ autonomy explicitly into account. The empirical findings add further strength to economists’ argument that, net of values and personality traits, autonomy and independence are the mechanisms by which self-employment leads to higher levels of job satisfaction. These results hold true for both male and female sub-samples even when a multitude of socio-demographic characteristics, personal values and personality traits are controlled for.

Citation

Lange, T. (2012). Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?. Small Business Economics, 38(2), 165-177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9249-8

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 30, 2009
• Online Publication Date: Dec 5, 2009
• Publication Date: 2012-02
• Deposit Date: Nov 25, 2021
• Journal: Small Business Economics
• Print ISSN: 0921-898X
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-0913
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 38
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 165-177
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9249-8
• Keywords: Job satisfaction, Self-employment, Personality traits, Autonomy, European social survey
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2824342