Self-employed with hiring employees vs the solo self-employed

Self-employed with hiring employees vs the solo self-employed

On average, the jobs of the self-employed with employees are associated with higher levels of job

demand than the jobs of the self-employed without employees. The self-employed with employees

are more likely to report working under high pressure than those without employees (Blanchflower,

2004). Running a business employing others is also accompanied by a higher workload. Additional

tasks related to running more complex ventures have to be performed, such as attracting and securing

financing and recruiting and supervising employees (Hébert and Link, 1989; Lazear, 2005).

Moreover, one must ensure that there is sufficient work for every employee to be able to pay salaries,

the self-employed with employees must cope with multiple demands and diverging expectations as

delegation also implies a loss of control as tasks are left to others. The relatively high level of job

demand among the self-employed with employees makes us expect that they experience more work-

related stress than the self-employed without employees (Hessels, Rietveld and Zwan, 2017).

The social support may also differ between the self-employed and the employees. Regarding social

support, it differs compared to the solo employed, if the latter has recruited family or friends as

employees, as they may receive better support in the workplace for managing and financial aspects. Also,

the moderating effect of social support varies between the self-employed with hiring employees and the

solo self-employed. However, there is no indication in the literature that the level of social support is

different between the self-employed with and without employees (Sanders and Nee, 1996).

H6a: social support moderates the relationship between job controls and the self-employed’s work-

related stress

This study proposes:

H2c: the self-employed with hiring employees (baseline is the solo self-employed) moderate the

relationship between job demand and work-related stress

H3c: the self-employed with hiring employees (baseline is the solo self-employed) moderate the

relationship between job control and work-related stress

H4c: the self-employed with hiring employees (baseline is the solo self-employed) moderate the

relationship between social support and work-related stress

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