Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy

Abstract

This study investigates why and where self-employment is related to higher levels of eudaimonic well-being. We focus on meaningfulness as an important eudaimonic process and subjective vitality as a eudaimonic well-being outcome that is central to entrepreneurs' proactivity. Building on self-determination theory, we posit that self-employment, relative to wage-employment, is a more self-determined and volitional career choice, which enhances the experience of meaningfulness at work and perceptions of work autonomy. In a multi-level study of 22,002 individuals and 16 European countries, meaningfulness at work mediates the relationship between self-employment and subjective vitality and explains this relationship better than work autonomy. We identify moderating effects of context: the societal legitimacy of entrepreneurship in a country affects the choice set of alternative career options that individuals can consider and thus shapes the experience of meaningfulness at work and work autonomy, and thereby indirectly subjective vitality. These findings expand our understanding of eudaimonic well-being, entrepreneurs' work, and the role of context in entrepreneurship and well-being research. They complement existing research on hedonic well-being of entrepreneurs and extend the scarce literature on their eudaimonic well-being.

Entrepreneurship, Self-Organization, and Eudaimonic Well-Being: A Dynamic Approach

“…Ryff's theory, which formulates the core dimensions of a person's overall psychological wellness, not as motivational states (i.e., as needs and motives) or as means to specific ends, but rather as evolved and achieved aspects of psychological well-being. Parenthetically, we note that both utilitarian-hedonic consequentialism (e.g., Nikolaev et al, 2020) and recent humanistic-organismic formulations (e.g., Stephan et al, 2020) take an instrumental stance on these fundamental aspects of the human condition. That is, purpose, autonomy, and good relationships with others are thought to matter because they contribute to life satisfaction or an increased sense of vitality.…”

“…Although several perspectives and assessments of well-being have been proposed (e.g., Hahn et al, 2012;Kautonen et al, 2017;Shir et al, 2019), the perspective and conceptualization of entrepreneurial well-being as a eudaimonic and dynamically evolving phenomenon has received comparatively little attention despite decades of research on the unfolding nature of well-being in life and work (Avey et al, 2010;Blanchflower & Oswald, 2004;Sheldon & Kasser, 2001;Warr, 1992). Previous studies have also followed a predominately time-invariant or static approach (Lévesque & Stephan, 2019;McMullen & Dimov, 2013;Wood et al, 2021) and relied largely on hedonic measures of well-being (e.g., measures of affect and life satisfaction) in assessing differences in well-being between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs (mostly understood as selfemployed; e.g., Benz & Frey, 2008;Binder & Coad, 2013;Nikolaev et al, 2020;Stephan et al, 2020). However, the relation between well-being and the entrepreneurial life in the process of launching a venture might look very different to people who are deliberating, planning, or struggling to start up their ventures.…”

Recovery in occupational health psychology and human resource management research: An Interview with Prof. Sabine Sonnentag and Prof. Ute Stephan

“…Prof. Stephan: I'm interested in how individuals can sustain performance and wellbeing in the extreme work context of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs' work is rich in stressors (high uncertainty, high workload, often loneliness and pressures of responsibility) but also well-being resources (highly meaningful work, high degrees of autonomy to name a few, see Stephan, 2018;Stephan et al, 2020). Such challenging work makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to disengage from work and find time for recovery -in essence entrepreneurs "live" the recovery paradox that Sabine Sonnentag described so well (Sonnentag, 2018).…”

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

“…This freedom affects all aspects of work: choice of tasks, time schedule, and utilization and development of one’s skills ( Financial Stability Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, 2018 ). Degree of freedom to organize one’s work has been shown to decrease stress levels and increase health in both employed and self-employed workers ( Theorell et al, 2015 ; Aronsson et al, 2017 ; Bujacz et al, 2017 ; Madsen et al, 2017 ; Stephan et al, 2020b ). However, these positive aspects related to freedom do not paint the whole picture.…”