The subjective well-being of self-employed persons: a national survey evidence from Ghana

Purpose: This study aims to examine the subjective well-being of self-employed persons relative to wage employees in Ghana. Two measures of subjective well-being, comprising life satisfaction and happiness, are considered. Design/methodology/approach: The current study focuses on Ghanaian working adults, uses pooled cross-sectional datasets from the 2005 to 2014 World Values Survey (WVS), applies survey weights, estimates ordered probit models and computes marginal effects. Findings: The results show that being self-employed is associated with a lower probability of being satisfied with life than being wage employed. The result for happiness is negative but not statistically significant. The perceived low level of life satisfaction among the self-employed in Ghana could explain the rationale behind the desire of some Ghanaians to seek wage employment rather than pursuing self-employment. The results also could partly explain the non-survival of some entrepreneurial firms in Ghana over time. Research limitations/implications: Data relating to factors such as business size, location (urban or rural), degree of internationalization (domestic or foreign), number of years of being in self-employment, the number of employees, financial knowledge and behavior and personality traits are unavailable in the WVS for analyses. The present study also uses a pooled cross-sectional dataset for the analyses; thus, causal inferences are not possible. Originality/value: The study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between self-employment and subjective well-being in the context of Ghana. The study provides insights into how self-employed Ghanaians perceive well-being relative to wage employees.