Job Satisfaction in Transitions into Self-employment: Subjective Evaluations

Abstract

Purpose: In the current context, toxic workplaces are increasingly popular within organizations which lead to an increase in exhaustion and work related stress. Low staff morale, high employee turnover, low productivity, and poor work quality are just a few effects of this type of toxic workplace environments. Due to such negativity placed upon wage employment, people who are struggling are looking for better means of employment such as self-employment. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate how the transitions decision of self-employment over paid employment influences job satisfaction at the individual level.   Design: A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews. 15 individuals who have transitioned to self-employment were chosen on the basis of purposive sampling. Under the 3 main categories of self-employment, wage employment as well as job satisfaction, key findings were gathered, and conclusions were drawn based on the insights received from the interviewees. Findings: Findings of this study clearly show that individuals are struggling due to the degradation of wage employment and eventually self-employments do attain job satisfaction comparative to wage employment. Implications: The findings further important to individuals who are struggling at their workplace but has not made up their minds to transition to self-employment hence contemplating, to easily make their decisions and to get rid of their toxic workplace. The study provides advisable guidance to the individuals contemplating to transition from wage employment to self-employment. Future Research Suggestions: Conducting more interviews is necessary to draw better conclusions on the subject. The job satisfaction can be a subjective concept therefore, different individuals may hold different opinions which may contradict with each other, therefore is important to do more research on the subject to get wider insights.