31 research outputs found
Work orientations, well-being and job content of self-employed and employed professionals
Drawing on psychology-derived theories and methods, a questionnaire survey compared principal kinds of work orientation, job content and mental well-being between self-employed and organisationally employed professional workers. Self-employment was found to be particularly associated with energised well-being in the form of job engagement. The presence in self-employment of greater challenge, such as an enhanced requirement for personal innovation, accounted statistically for self-employed professionalsâ greater job engagement, and self-employed professionals more strongly valued personal challenge than did professionals employed in an organisation. However, no between-role differences occurred in respect of supportive job features such as having a comfortable workplace. Differences in well-being, job content and work orientations were found primarily in comparison between self-employees and organisational non-managers. The study emphasises the need to distinguish conceptually and empirically between different forms of work orientation, job content and well-being, and points to the value of incorporating psychological thinking in some sociological research
A Multidimensional, Comparative Analysis of the Regional Entrepreneurship Performance in the Central and Eastern European EU Member Countries
Entrepreneurship research has changed considerably over the last 30 years, and
today entrepreneurship is widely accepted as a major driving force of economic
development, of the creation of employment and of innovation (Acs et al. 2008,
2009; Carree and Thurik 2003; Braunerhjelm et al. 2010; Lazear 2004). However,
the dynamics of the effect of entrepreneurship are very diverse and depend on many
factors such as the development level of the home country and the institutional
context (Acs et al. 2008). Whilst previous studies on entrepreneurship have focused
on examining the role of entrepreneurial activity and start-up rates, recent research has shown that not all entrepreneurial activity is effective. High growth rates, such
as those achieved by innovative gazelle companies, are responsible for the bulk of
new job creation and growth, whilst other non-innovative or traditional businesses
have only minor economic influence (Acs and Mueller 2008; Baumol 1996; Wong
et al. 2005)