I Am My Own Boss: Do I Have Quality of Work-life?

Abstract

Scholars and policymakers have long been interested in the relationship between work and various non-work life areas. This has become a public concern in recent years, as more people recognize the need of quality of life. Indeed, others argue that work and work-life balance are non-negotiable for the next generation of workers. Although the quality of work-life has traditionally focused on organizational members, there are now convincing indications that it is a growing concern for selfemployed. A report by OECD (2017) examines the current policy for self-employed and proposes to revise it by considering the quality of work-life of self-employed, beyond the economic concerns of increasing the quantity of new business and labor market inclusion. However, whereas recent quality of work-life research has focused on how organisational members reconcile with their demanding work and quality of life, we still know very little about how self-employed people, who have autonomy while also being overwhelmed by work, perceive quality of life. A further consequence of the focus on organisational members' quality of work-life, factors traditionally connected with organisational members' work have gotten greater attention than factors related to self-employment. Despite growing concerns among scholars, policymakers, and the general public, little is known about why and under what conditions self-employed people have a higher (worse) quality of work-life (QWL). The core tenet of the quality of work-life approach is that one's work life, as well as non-work life domains such as family, community, leisure, health, and overall life, is heavily influenced by the work one does. Self-employment have a substantial impact on one's work and non-work life domains in several research publications as well as real-world examples. The impact of self-employment on a person's work and non-work life domains is significant, but the evidence is conflicting, depending on the kind of self-employed job. Policymakers and entrepreneurship scholars see self-employment as a path to independence and personal growth. According to proponents, self-employment frees individuals from bureaucracy, hierarchical control, and organisational structure and thus are more satisfied. There are, nonetheless, other evidences that self-employment may not be so rewarding. While self-employed may not be constrained by the hierarchal control, they are overburdened by managing responsibilities and are overloaded by work. Given the failure rate of self-employed businesses, assurance of the work security is difficult. Contemporary business practices such as promoting intrapreneurship, employee engagements, and job enrichment are likely to provide a better work environment. These conflicting evidence make it is pertinent to undertake a review to investigate whether the self-employed individuals are satisfied in their work and non-work life domain. More specifically, why and under what conditions are they more (less) satisfied in their work and non-work life domains, inturn quality of work-life? However, there exist no review on the quality of work-life in context of self-employed workers, which greatly limits our understanding of this topic. Hence, we plan to outline both the positive and negative aspects of selfemployment using scoping review. The insights of this study provide policymakers and academics with a holistic understanding of self-employment as a phenomena and a concept.