Money, Work–Life Balance and Autonomy: Why do IT Professionals Choose Self-Employment?

Abstract

This article deals with the reasons why IT professionals chose selfemployment, as well as advantages and drawbacks of this form of employment. A growing number of workers in industrialized countries are now self-employed, most notably in the IT sector. In order to understand this trend better, we carried out a quantitative survey in collaboration with a professional association of independent IT workers in Quebec (Canada). We examined the different reasons why selfemployment is attractive for IT professionals, the advantages they experience and the disadvantages they point out. While some authors postulate that self-employment is attractive because it facilitates work-life balance, our results show a strong predominance of the financial advantages and a weak impact of factors related to work-life balance. We also find high levels of job satisfaction, but the effects on work-life balance remain indirect.Keywords Self-employment . IT professionals A growing number of workers in industrialized countries are now self-employed. In Canada, self-employment registers the strongest increase among all forms of employment. In 2007, self-employment rose three times faster than paid employment (i.e. +4.5%; Tal 2008). In this research, we studied self-employed professionals in the IT sector. Indeed, they appear particularly representative of the evolutions of work and employment in the "knowledge economy" (Ang and Slaughter 2001;Cappelli 2001 (Cappelli 2001;Kunda et al. 2002), whereas on average self-employed earn less than 80% the income of salaried employees (Tal 2008). Based on the "push" and "pull" explanations, we examine the different reasons why self-employment is attractive for IT professionals, the advantages they experience and the drawbacks they point out. The results of previous researches diverge on the advantages and disadvantages of self-employment. While some authors postulate that self-employment is attractive because it facilitates work-life balance, others insist on an increased work-family conflict. Our results underline the importance of "pull" factors in the choice of self-employment, financial advantages in particular. We also find high levels of job satisfaction, but the effects on work-life balance remain unclear for this particular category of workers. Theoretical Framework Self-EmploymentSocial, economic and political actors agree that there is no single definition of selfemployment. Although the expression "self-employed worker" is most commonly used, the independent person may be distinguish from other self-employed persons who hire help. In the last census, Statistic Canada included in the self-employment category those persons who operate a farm either as owner or tenant; workers, for example freelancers or contract workers (architects, private nurses); franchise or concession holders in the sale or direct distribution of products such as cosmetics, newspapers, brushes or household products; and those who fish, either with personally owned equipment or equipment in which they are co-own...

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