Not All Are Equal: A Latent Profile Analysis of Well-Being Among the Self-Employed

Abstract

This study uses a person-centered approach to distinguish between subpopulations of selfemployed individuals using multidimensional well-being indicators. Data were obtained from European Social Survey including a sample of 3461 self-employed individuals from 29 European countries. The analysis has empirically identified six distinct profiles named 'unhappy', 'languishing', 'happy', 'satisfied', 'passionate', and 'flourishing'. The profiles were associated with significant differences in well-being, health and work-related variables. The results highlight the heterogeneity of the self-employed population, and describe the complex-both hedonic and eudaimonic-character of the well-being concept in this population. Keywords Well-being • Self-employment • Person-centered • Latent profile analysis Thus far, little attention has been given to the heterogeneity among the self-employed in terms of their well-being. In general, the self-employed report high levels of well-being (Baron et al. 2016; Stephan and Roesler 2010; Uy et al. 2013). However, the positive relationship between self-employment and well-being may be limited to the rich (Alesina et al. 2001), to the younger and highly educated (Rietveld et al. 2015), to those who became self-employed out of opportunity rather than necessity (van der Zwan et al. 2016), to selfemployed with employees and to immigrant self-employed (Johansson Sevä et al. 2016).

Occupational safety and health challenges in small-scale enterprises

“…However, around 20% of selfemployed people report that they have no other alternative for work, lower levels of job quality and a worse level of well-being than the former group 17) . These results are supported by a study of European self-employed people showing six distinct profiles within this group with significant differences in well-being, health and work-related variables 18) . It is also interesting to note that the majority of research indicates that there is high level of well-being in self-employed people, although there are differences depending on gender, age and country of birth 18,19) .…”

“…These results are supported by a study of European self-employed people showing six distinct profiles within this group with significant differences in well-being, health and work-related variables 18) . It is also interesting to note that the majority of research indicates that there is high level of well-being in self-employed people, although there are differences depending on gender, age and country of birth 18,19) . Hopefully, this fact can provide motivation to managers to implement OSH measures to also improve the well-being of their employees.…”

Comparing Depressive Symptoms, Emotional Exhaustion, and Sleep Disturbances in Self-Employed and Employed Workers: Application of Approximate Bayesian Measurement Invariance

“…However, the unsubstantially small differences between the groups of workers in mental health problems may lie in the variability within the groups, and that this variability is as large, or even larger, than that between groups. The variability between employed workers are large, and Bujacz et al (2019) recently found that this is true for self-employed workers as well. If true, differences within the groups, for example, type of work, may cancel out any differences that researchers expect to find on the mean level.…”

A balancing act: Swedish occupational safety and health inspectors’ reflections on their bureaucratic role when supervising micro-enterprises

“…In fact, the inspectors mentioned a number of personal skills or roles that they felt were needed to regulate various heterogeneous micro-enterprises specifically. Previous research shows that micro-enterprise managers are heterogeneously related to health and working conditions (Bujacz et al 2019). The OSH inspectors strongly emphasised the need to be able to read a situation, observe a context and make adjustments when inspecting micro-enterprises.…”