Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?

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. Psycholo...

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Main Author: Lange, Thomas
Format: Journal Article
Published: Kluwer Academic Publishers 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17841
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author Lange, Thomas
author_facet Lange, Thomas
author_sort Lange, Thomas
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description 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. Psychologyscholars 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 forworkers’ 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 bywhich 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 sociodemographic characteristics, personal values and personality traits are controlled for.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-178412017-05-30T08:09:02Z Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality? Lange, Thomas Job satisfaction European social survey autonomy self-employment personality traits 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. Psychologyscholars 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 forworkers’ 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 bywhich 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 sociodemographic characteristics, personal values and personality traits are controlled for. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17841 Kluwer Academic Publishers restricted
spellingShingle Job satisfaction
European social survey
autonomy
self-employment
personality traits
Lange, Thomas
Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?
title Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?
title_full Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?
title_fullStr Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?
title_full_unstemmed Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?
title_short Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?
title_sort job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?
topic Job satisfaction
European social survey
autonomy
self-employment
personality traits
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17841