Personal strain and ethical standards of the self-employed

Dirk De Clercq and Mourad Dakhli

Journal of Business Venturing, 2009, vol. 24, issue 5, pages 477-490

Abstract: Using strain theory to examine the relationship between sources of personal strain and ethical standards, we study how variations in the self-employed's household income, educational level, associational membership, and trust in institutions link to the extent to which they maintain high ethical standards. We test our hypotheses using data from 3716 self-employed persons across 39 countries. The self-employed's ethical standards relate positively to their household income and trust in institutions but negatively to their educational level and associational membership. A supplementary exploratory analysis provides further insights into how broader cultural and institutional contexts in which the self-employed are embedded might influence the relationship between sources of personal strain and ethical standards.

Keywords: Personal; strain; Ethical; standards; Self-employed; Cultural; and; institutional; context (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:24:y:2009:i:5:p:477-490

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