Does entrepreneurship make you happy?
Research Paper Title:
“Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy.”
Authors:
Ute Stephan (King's College London)
Susana M. Tavares (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)
Helena Carvalho (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)
Joaquim J.S. Ramalho (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)
Susana C. Santos (Rowan University)
Marc van Veldhoven (Tilburg University)
Background:
This study investigates why and where self-employment is related to higher levels of well-being. It focuses on meaningfulness as an important eudaimonic process and subjective vitality as a well-being outcome that is central to entrepreneurs' proactivity.
Methodology:
Sample: Individual-level data obtained from the 2010's data wave of the European Working Conditions Survey merged with country-level data on NSLE obtained from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and control variables from Eurostat (2010).
Sample Size: 22,002 individuals in 16 European countries.
Analytical Approach: Linear two-level mixed-effects models with random intercepts at the country level.
Hypotheses:
Self-employment is positively related to subjective vitality.
Self-employment is positively related to meaningfulness at work. Meaningfulness at work is positively related to subjective vitality. Meaningfulness at work mediates the relationship between self-employment and subjective vitality.
Self-employment is positively related to work autonomy. Work autonomy is positively related to subjective vitality. Work autonomy mediates the relationship between self-employment and subjective vitality.
The national societal legitimation of entrepreneurship moderates the positive relationship between self-employment and meaningfulness at work, such that the relationship is weaker in countries where entrepreneurship is more (compared to less) legitimate. We expect a moderated mediation effect such that, the national societal legitimation of entrepreneurship moderates the indirect positive effect of self-employment on individual's subjective vitality via meaningfulness at work, such that the indirect positive effect is weaker in countries where entrepreneurship is more (vs. less) legitimate.
The national societal legitimation of entrepreneurship moderates the positive relationship between self-employment and work autonomy, such that the relationship is stronger in countries where entrepreneurship is more (vs. less) legitimate. We expect a moderated mediation effect such that the national societal legitimation of entrepreneurship moderates the indirect positive effect of self-employment on individual's subjective vitality via work autonomy, such that the indirect positive effect is stronger in countries where entrepreneurship is more (vs. less) legitimate.
Results:
The study found self-employment to be associated with higher eudaimonic well-being (subjective vitality) which was explained by the self-employed experiencing their work as more meaningful than wage employees, in line with the authors’ predictions drawing on self-determination theory.
The findings could not be better explained by differences in work autonomy or self-selection.
Although the self-employed reported higher work autonomy than wage employees, it was meaningfulness at work, and not work autonomy, that explained why the self-employed experienced higher vitality than wage employees.
These processes were shaped by context, in line with predictions that in countries in which entrepreneurship is seen as an attractive career, everyone makes more self-determined career choices, which enhances the meaningfulness of the chosen option, while magnifying differences in perceived work autonomy.
Conclusion:
Research on entrepreneurship and well-being is focused on hedonic well-being; with little attention given to eudaimonic processes. This study widens the scope of entrepreneurship and well-being research by drawing attention to a hitherto overlooked eudaimonic process (meaningfulness at work) and outcome (subjective vitality) and how they are shaped by context (the societal legitimacy of entrepreneurship). The findings showcase that meaningfulness at work is more central to explaining eudaimonic well-being (subjective vitality) than work autonomy.
