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. Psychology scholars 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 for workers' 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 by which self-employment leads to higher levels of job satisfaction. These results hold true for both, male and female subsamples even when a multitude of socio-demographic characteristics, personal values and personality traits are controlled for. JEL classification: J28, L26

Reviews and elaborates on some of the major skills development barriers for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). The analysis reveals the influence of the prevalent SME culture to be significant. Other barriers that are identified refer to awareness, finance, access and provision of training and other skills development opportunities. By highlighting the difficulties that SMEs face in deciding to advance the skills of their workforce more formally, some government strategies are also discussed. The paper does this by reference to a number of recent qualitative and quantitative studies undertaken to investigate the attitude of Scottish SMEs towards learning and skills. The paper concludes by arguing that the continuous creation of new skills strategies, new initiatives, new (and at times misleading) names and labels in recent years has added to an apparent state of confusion among small and medium‐sized companies and their employees.

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PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the growing body of empirical evaluations of subjective wellbeing by assessing the impact of basic cultural values and beliefs on job satisfaction across 20 countries in Eastern and Western Europe.Design/methodology/approachBasic cultural values and beliefs are defined by reference to traditional vs secular values and survival vs self‐expression values, respectively. Data derived from the European Values Study 1999/2000 are utilised, which provide detailed information not only on job satisfaction and socio‐demographic characteristics, but also on individuals' subjective views on religion, family values, work, child‐parent ties, political engagement, tolerance and interpersonal trust. Ordered probit regressions are performed to determine the significance of these characteristics, values and beliefs on job satisfaction.FindingsThe study highlights the strong influence of a society's broad cultural heritage on individuals' wellbeing at work. This raises questions about the impetus for numerous motivational interventions by managers and consultants. Traditional cultural values exhibit a strong influence on workers' job satisfaction in Western Europe. Interpersonal trust serves as a particularly strong predictor of job satisfaction for both Eastern and Western Europe, and for both male and female workers. The main difference between Eastern and Western Europe is driven primarily by the importance of family and religion.Originality/valueIn previous studies, job satisfaction has been strongly associated with measures of organisational culture. In contrast, the broad cultural heritage of a society as measured by its basic value and belief system has not figured prominently in this literature. This paper adds value by contributing to this fledgling field of empirical research.

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BackgroundDespite the increasing use of antiretroviral treatment (ART) recent data on frequency and pattern of drug resistance mutations in Ethiopia is not available. Furthermore with increasing mobility of people HIV-1 subtypes other than the predominant subtype C may likely be introduced from the neighbouring countries. This study was aimed to determine the molecular characterization and pre-antiretroviral treatment resistance mutations among HIV-1 chronically infected ART naïve patients after the roll out of ART in Ethiopia.MethodsViral RNA was determined in 160 baseline plasma samples. The entire PR and the first 335 codons (76%) of the RT regions of the pol gene of the HIV-1 genome (N = 160) were amplified and sequenced using an in-house assay. Genotypic drug resistance was defined as the presence of one or more resistance-related mutations as specified by the consensus mutation of Stanford University HIVDB and the International Antiviral Society (IAS) mutation lists.ResultsA predominance of HIV-1 subtype C (98.7%) was observed. The level of drug resistance is found to be 5.6% and 13.1% according to the Stanford University HIVDB drug resistance interpretation algorithms and the International Antiviral Society mutation lists, respectively. Mutations conferring simultaneous resistance to NRTIs and NNRTIs were not detected and no major PR mutation was found. However, a high rate of polymorphic changes both in PR and RT regions were observed. Moreover, twenty four (15%) monophyletic transmission clusters with bootstrap value of 99% were found.ConclusionsStrong evidence for consistent HIV-1C clade homogeneity and low influx of other variant into the country was found. The level of drug resistance observed in chronically infected treatment naïve patients which exceeds the WHO estimates suggests the need for incorporation of HIV-1 drug resistance testing prior to ART initiation. The occurrence of monophyletic transmission clusters affecting (24/160) individuals indicates their potential risk related practice. Thus, an intensified public health intervention program and monitoring of HIV drug resistance testing appears indispensible.

Using data from the European Values Survey (EVS), we examine the relationship between job and life satisfaction across Europe. We find that for the majority of employees job and life satisfaction are positively correlated, thus supporting the spillover hypothesis, whereby attitudes and practices developed in the life domain spill over into the work domain and vice versa. In contrast, we find little support for the compensation hypothesis, whereby employees who are dissatisfied in one domain seek compensatory rewards in the other domain. However, multivariate analysis reveals that the strength of the interaction between job and life satisfaction is mitigated by cultural values and interpersonal trust, as encapsulated in the 'traditional versus secular values' index reported in the EVS data. We thus find that predictors of the job-life satisfaction relationship vary across cultures and that such cross-cultural variations are systematically related to salient cultural values and beliefs. The latter findings raise important questions about the universal application of existing theories in the subjective well-being arena.

This study uses data for 23 countries elicited from the 2010/11 wave of the European Social Survey to examine the stability of social capital as a predictor of job satisfaction at a time of economic crisis. The analysis reveals a remarkably resilient impact of social capital and its constituent components during the economic downturn. However, this resilience is much less pronounced when the focus is on countries where the crisis was most severe, suggesting an economic development threshold below which certain social capital components lose their associational impact. However, religious activity is significantly associated with workers' job satisfaction in these economies, providing comfort during times of socio-economic difficulty. The extent of organizational trust, measured by proxy variables for participative decision-making, has by far the strongest association with job satisfaction. This suggests that employers need to think again about the way they treat their employees to maximize the benefits of social capital and, ultimately, improve the job satisfaction scores of their workers.