Although many governments actively stimulate self-employment, their work-related mental well-being remains understudied. The aim of current study is to investigate the mental well-being of different types of self-employed, testing whether mental well-being differences among self-employed are explained by the presence of work characteristics that are in accordance with the ideal-typical image of the “successful entrepreneur” (e.g. creativity, willingness to take risks, innovativeness, high intrinsic motivation, skilfulness and the ability of recognizing opportunities). Moreover, we investigate the relation of country-level “entrepreneurial climate” and the individual mental well-being of self-employed. For this purpose, data from the European Working Conditions Survey, round 6 (2015) was analysed, including 5448 cases, originating from the 28 EU-member states. Multilevel random intercepts modelling was used to investigate associations of both individual- and country-level characteristics with mental well-being. We found that motivation, the ability to recognize opportunities, and finding it easy to be self-employed positively influences the mental well-being of self-employed. Respondents with these characteristics are often medium-big employers, while farmers, dependent freelancers and own account workers generally have less of these features and tend to have lower levels of mental well-being. At the country-level, positive entrepreneurship perception relates to more advantageous mental health scores in self-employed. These results implicate that policies promoting self-employment should be (more) concerned with the work-related characteristics of (future) self-employed.
In this study, the authors investigate the health associations of different employment arrangements in the contemporary European labor market. In doing so, a new approach based on the concept of “employment quality” is introduced. Employment quality refers to the multiple dimensions characterizing the employment situation of wage- and self-employed (European Working Conditions Survey 2015 – N = 31,929). Latent class cluster analyses were applied to construct an overarching typology of employment quality for the waged and self-employed. Using logistic regression analyses, strong associations were found with mental well-being and self-reported general health, pointing at a disadvantaged situation for the most precarious employment arrangements. The study shows that employment quality should be taken seriously as a health determinant both among waged workers and the self-employed. Our (novel) holistic approach offers an alternative to current analyses of the health associates of labor market segmentation that were criticized for being overly simplistic and amounting to inconclusive findings.
In recent decades, labor markets of high-income countries such as Belgium, have been subject to a process of de-standardization. This meant that the number of people with standard, full-time jobs was decreasing while at the same time there was an increase in de-standardized jobs. De-standardized jobs are often associated with adverse health and well-being outcomes. The notion of ‘precariousness’, which pays attention to the quality of the working situation, tries to capture the consequences of de-standardization. Nevertheless, an approach that focuses exclusively on work-related aspects, risks losing sight of the broader social context in which workers are embedded. This study therefore investigated how the social context determines the impact of precarious jobs on well-being. More specifically, we investigated the role of the household context through subjective material deprivation and work-life balance. Regression analyses were conducted on the recently collected (2019) EPRES-be dataset (n = 2.707) with the aim of examining precarious employment in Belgium. The results showed a positive association between precarious employment and low well-being. The household context proved important in explaining that relationship. The effect of precarious employment on well-being was partly explained by subjective material deprivation and the work-life balance.
PurposeThe ideal-typical entrepreneur presents him/herself in the neoliberal iconography as an autonomous and pro-active individual who is highly engaged with his/her vocation. Nevertheless, empirical research on the actual work engagement of the self-employed is scarce. In addition, phenomena like “necessity self-employment” and “economically dependent self-employment” raise concerns about the potential eudaimonic well-being outcomes of these self-employed. In this study, it was therefore investigated to what extent necessity self-employment and economically dependent self-employment are associated to work engagement and whether this relation is mediated by intrinsic job resources.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used data from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) involving 5,463 solo self-employed participants. For analyzing the data, structural equation modeling (SEM) with the Lavaan package was used.FindingsBoth necessity self-employment and economically dependent self-employment were linked to poor work engagement, however, intrinsic job resources mediated both effects.Originality/valueWhile previous studies have shown differences in hedonic well-being between opportunity/necessity entrepreneurs, and economically (in)dependent entrepreneurs, this study considers their distinct profiles regarding eudaimonic well-being. Eudaimonic well-being was deemed particularly relevant because of its implications for other outcomes such as life satisfaction, psychological well-being, ill-health, business performance and persistence in self-employment.
Objective: This article describes the EMPOWER study, a controlled trial aiming to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an eHealth intervention to prevent common health problems and reduce presenteeism and absenteeism in the workplace. Intervention: The EMPOWER intervention spans universal, secondary and tertiary prevention and consists of an eHealth platform delivered via a website and a smartphone app designed to guide employees throughout different modules according to their specific profiles. Design: A stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial will be implemented in four countries (Finland, Poland, Spain and UK) with employees from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and public agencies. Companies will be randomly allocated in one of three groups with different times at which the intervention is implemented. The intervention will last 7 weeks. Employees will answer several questionnaires at baseline, pre- and post-intervention and follow-up. Outcome measures: The main outcome is presenteeism. Secondary outcomes include depression, anxiety, insomnia, stress levels, wellbeing and absenteeism. Analyses will be conducted at the individual level using the intention-to-treat approach and mixed models. Additional analyses will evaluate the intervention effects according to gender, country or type of company. Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses [based on the use of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYS)] will consider a societal, employers’ and employees’ perspective.
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