Reap What You Sow: How Effort-Reward Reciprocity Impacts the Job Satisfaction of Self-Employment

Sammanfattning: This study examines how effort-reward reciprocity at work impacts the job satisfaction of the self-employed. The self-employed regularly show higher job satisfaction than the wage-employed. Theories point toward effort-reward reciprocity, the balance between what one gives and what one receives at work, as a predictor of higher job satisfaction. No earlier research has explored the mediating effect of effort-reward reciprocity in order to explain the higher job satisfaction for the self-employed. This model was explored among employed individuals in the Nordic Region (N = 3,916). Job satisfaction was measured via an index of nine items. The effort-reward reciprocity measure followed the theoretical model of effort-reward imbalance. A causal mediation analysis showed that effort-reward reciprocity fully mediated the impact that employment form had on job satisfaction. The results suggest that this effect is not part of some elusive feature of self-employment. Further research should expand on the model by introducing rewards more attuned to self-employment, such as autonomy and flexibility.