TY - JOUR
T1 - Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being
T2 - Energized by meaning, enabled by societal legitimacy
AU - Stephan, Ute
AU - Tavares, Susana M.
AU - Carvalho, Helena
AU - Ramalho, Joaquim J.S.
AU - Santos, Susana C.
AU - van Veldhoven, Marc
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Daan van Knippenberg for his helpful comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. This work was partially supported by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation [ UID/GES/00315/2019 ].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106047
DO - 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106047
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85090413225
SN - 0883-9026
VL - 35
JO - Journal of Business Venturing
JF - Journal of Business Venturing
IS - 6
M1 - 106047
ER -