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Well-Being and Work-Life Balance: Differences Between Entrepreneurs and Non-Entrepreneurs

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Contemporary Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This paper is a preliminary study about the main variables that impact on well-being and the use of work-life balance (WLB) practices, bearing in mind the type of employment, entrepreneurs versus non-entrepreneurs. The relationship between being self-employed and well-being is at least controversial, as there are factors which hamper and foster this relationship. The study is based on the data obtained by means of a self-administered questionnaire addressed to a sample of 100 Spanish engineers. The first results show the existence of significant differences among the variables that generate well-being. In particular, entrepreneurs present a higher job and career satisfaction, enjoying a better social inclusion and WLB culture. In fact, the use of WLB practices among entrepreneurs is higher than among regular employees, which may be a stimulus to entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur is not as difficult as people think and this preliminary analysis shows that they may enjoy a more pleasant situation than employees.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the receipt of funding from the Spanish Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality—Women’s Institute (ref. 80/12) and the collaboration of ARHOE for the data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Calle Real 3, 30201, Cartagena, Murcia, Spain

    M. Camino Ramón-Llorens & Antonia Madrid-Guijarro

  2. Department of Business Administration, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Calle Real 3, 30201, Cartagena, Murcia, Spain

    Isabel Olmedo-Cifuentes

Authors
  1. M. Camino Ramón-Llorens
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  2. Isabel Olmedo-Cifuentes
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  3. Antonia Madrid-Guijarro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonia Madrid-Guijarro .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Dieter Bögenhold

  2. University of Caen Lower Normandie, Caen, France

    Jean Bonnet

  3. University of Namur, Namur, Belgium

    Marcus Dejardin

  4. Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), Cartagena, Spain

    Domingo Garcia Pérez de Lema

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Ramón-Llorens, M.C., Olmedo-Cifuentes, I., Madrid-Guijarro, A. (2016). Well-Being and Work-Life Balance: Differences Between Entrepreneurs and Non-Entrepreneurs. In: Bögenhold, D., Bonnet, J., Dejardin, M., Garcia Pérez de Lema, D. (eds) Contemporary Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28134-6_11

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