Self-employment experience effects on well-being: A longitudinal study

Nicholas Litsardopoulos, George Saridakis, Yannis Georgellis () and Chris Hand
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Nicholas Litsardopoulos: Kingston Business School, Kingston University London, UK

Economic and Industrial Democracy, 2023, vol. 44, issue 2, 454-480

Abstract: The notion that self-employed individuals are more satisfied with their jobs than wage-employees has found broad empirical support. Previous research exploring the well-being effects of self-employment typically relies on direct cross-sectional comparisons between wage-employees and self-employed or on longitudinal investigations of transitions in or out of self-employment. In this study, the authors use individuals’ employment status histories in British longitudinal data to examine how accumulated self-employment experience affects job satisfaction, satisfaction with leisure and satisfaction with income. The study finds that those with past work experience only as self-employed report higher levels of job satisfaction than those with experience only as wage-employees. However, individuals with mixed work experience profiles are the most satisfied. This suggests a non-monotonic relationship between self-employment and job satisfaction. Patterns of self-employment experience and other satisfaction domains, such as satisfaction with income or leisure, are more nuanced, differing across gender lines.

Keywords: Careers; job satisfaction; self-employment; well-being; work histories (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ecoind:v:44:y:2023:i:2:p:454-480

DOI: 10.1177/0143831X221086017

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