Does self-employment lead to more stress?

Previous studies on the link between self-employment and stress have yielded conflicting results. A major problem with such studies was separating the effects of a person's stress resilience from the stress effects of self-employment. The problem was that people who are naturally more stress-resistant may be more inclined to become self-employed. As a result, however, the self-employed individuals studied already exhibit one-sided predispositions, which makes it difficult to examine the stress effects of self-employment in isolation. An international research group, including Prof. PhD. Evangelos Souitaris from the School of Management at HSG, was able to circumvent this problem in a new study.

Study with Finnish and American twins

To overcome this selection bias, the researchers conducted a twin study. Two independent studies were carried out with Finnish and American identical twins. These included pairs of twins in which one was self-employed and the other was employed. Since these twins share exactly the same genetic makeup and grew up in similar environmental conditions, genetic predispositions and environmental factors could be controlled in a good way. Differences in stress levels could thus be directly attributed to self-employment. In the study with Finnish participants, stress was measured as perceived stress, while in the US twins, physiological stress indicators such as cortisol levels in saliva were measured.

Longer working hours lead to more stress

The results of both studies show that self-employment is associated with increased stress levels, both in terms of self-reported perception and physical reactions. Self-employed people showed a flatter daily cortisol curve and higher cortisol levels in the evening compared to employees. This indicates impaired ability to recover after work, a sign of chronic stress. Longer working hours among the self-employed were identified as a decisive factor in this effect. The study did not find evidence that entrepreneurship, which is often associated with a high degree of work variety, could have a stress-reducing effect. The high demands and associated long working hours seem to outweigh the potential benefits of work variety.

Economically important but health-vulnerable group

According to the researchers, it is crucial that prospective self-employed people are aware of the increased stressors. It is then important to develop strategies for coping with stress, for example through self-help measures or professional support. Politicians are also called upon to promote more sustainable models of entrepreneurship that support a healthy work-life balance and remove administrative hurdles in order to relieve the burden on this economically important but health-vulnerable group.