Purpose

The self-employed are an essential segment of society who contribute to economic growth and stabilisation in their communities. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate whether they enjoy a work–life balance (WLB) and life satisfaction (LS), which are two separate concerns of the self-employed in this study. Existing literature indicates that household income (HI) is a significant determinant of WLB and LS. This study investigates the levels and relationship of WLB and LS among the self-employed in the USA and the possible influence of HI on this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are from an online panel survey of 435 self-employed persons residing in the USA. The authors test the hypotheses via regression analysis and ANOVA.

Findings

This study revealed that WLB is a significant predictor of LS for the self-employed. Further, it showed that HI has a statistically significant direct effect on LS and moderates the relationship between WLB and LS. Among the control variables, only firm size was seen to contribute positively to a high level of LS. Gender, education, age, the number of dependent children, industry and hours worked were not found to be statistically significant. The study also found that WLB was most important in predicting LS of the self-employed followed by HI and then firm size.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to investigate the relations between WLB and LS among the self-employed and extends the scant existing scholarship on this issue.

中文翻译：

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自雇人士的工作与生活平衡与生活满意度

目的

自雇人士是社会的重要组成部分，他们为社区的经济增长和稳定做出贡献。因此，调查他们是否享受工作与生活的平衡 (WLB) 和生活满意度 (LS) 至关重要，这是本研究中自雇人士的两个独立关注点。现有文献表明，家庭收入 (HI) 是 WLB 和 LS 的重要决定因素。本研究调查了美国个体经营者中 WLB 和 LS 的水平和关系，以及 HI 对这种关系的可能影响。

设计/方法/方法

数据来自对居住在美国的 435 名自雇人士的在线小组调查。作者通过回归分析和方差分析检验了这些假设。

发现

这项研究表明，WLB 是个体经营者 LS 的重要预测指标。此外，它表明 HI 对 LS 具有统计上显着的直接影响，并缓和了 WLB 和 LS 之间的关系。在控制变量中，只有企业规模被认为对高水平的 LS 有积极贡献。性别、教育、年龄、受抚养子女的数量、行业和工作时间在统计上没有显着意义。该研究还发现，WLB 在预测个体经营者的 LS 方面最重要，其次是 HI，然后是公司规模。

原创性/价值

这项研究是最早调查个体经营者中 WLB 和 LS 之间关系的研究之一，并扩展了关于这个问题的现有研究。