IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v73y2019icp101-112.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-employment and travel behavior: A case study of workers in central Puget Sound

Author

Listed:
  • Shin, Eun Jin

Abstract

Self-employment has been an important livelihood means for many U.S. workers. Self-employed workers are likely to have distinctive travel behavior because, compared to employees, they have greater autonomy over work scheduling and are less affected by imperfect information about the labor market, which increases commutes. However, very few empirical studies have addressed this subject. Using data from the 2014 Puget Sound Regional Travel Survey, I examine the multiple dimensions of work and non-work travel behavior of the self-employed in comparison to employees. The results show that the effects of self-employment on travel behavior vary by whether a worker commutes. Specifically, the self-employed who travel to work have a shorter commuting distance and time than their employee counterparts, although this seems to be offset by increased travel distance and time for other work-related and non-work purposes. In addition, self-employed commuters are more likely to drive alone for both commute and non-commute purposes, partly because they tend to travel more during off-peak hours than their employee counterparts. However, for those who work at home, being self-employed does not have significant effects on most travel behavior outcomes. This paper also elucidates the environmental sustainability of workers’ travel behavior by self-employment status, which has been missing in previous literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Shin, Eun Jin, 2019. "Self-employment and travel behavior: A case study of workers in central Puget Sound," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 101-112.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:73:y:2019:i:c:p:101-112
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.11.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X18303007
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.11.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    2. Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Alberto Molina & Raquel Ortega, 2012. "Self-employed mothers and the work-family conflict," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(17), pages 2133-2147, June.
    3. Lyn Craig & Abigail Powell & Natasha Cortis, 2012. "Self-employment, work-family time and the gender division of labour," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 26(5), pages 716-734, October.
    4. van Ommeren, Jos N. & van der Straaten, J. Willemijn, 2008. "The effect of search imperfections on commuting behaviour: Evidence from employed and self-employed workers," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 127-147, March.
    5. Marco Caliendo & Frank Fossen & Alexander Kritikos, 2014. "Personality characteristics and the decisions to become and stay self-employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 787-814, April.
    6. Patricia L Mokhtarian & Gustavo O Collantes & Carsten Gertz, 2004. "Telecommuting, Residential Location, and Commute-Distance Traveled: Evidence from State of California Employees," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(10), pages 1877-1897, October.
    7. Ari Hyytinen & Olli‐Pekka Ruuskanen, 2007. "Time Use of the Self‐Employed," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 105-122, February.
    8. Lu, Xuedong & Pas, Eric I., 1999. "Socio-demographics, activity participation and travel behavior," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 1-18, January.
    9. Rouwendal, Jan, 1998. "Search Theory, Spatial Labor Markets, and Commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 1-22, January.
    10. Kang‐Rae Ma & David Banister, 2006. "Excess Commuting: A Critical Review," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 749-767, May.
    11. Jose Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal & Raquel Ortega-Lapiedra, 2010. "Self-employment and time stress: the effect of leisure quality," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(17), pages 1735-1738.
    12. Arun Kuppam & Ram Pendyala, 2001. "A structural equations analysis of commuters' activity and travel patterns," Transportation, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 33-54, February.
    13. Lombard, Karen V, 2001. "Female Self-Employment and Demand for Flexible, Nonstandard Work Schedules," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(2), pages 214-237, April.
    14. He, Sylvia Y., 2013. "Does flexitime affect choice of departure time for morning home-based commuting trips? Evidence from two regions in California," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 210-221.
    15. Bun Song Lee & John F. McDonald, 2003. "Determinants of Commuting Time and Distance for Seoul Residents: The Impact of Family Status on the Commuting of Women," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(7), pages 1283-1302, June.
    16. Pengyu Zhu, 2013. "Telecommuting, Household Commute and Location Choice," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 50(12), pages 2441-2459, September.
    17. Ipek N Sener & Chandra R Bhat, 2011. "A Copula-Based Sample Selection Model of Telecommuting Choice and Frequency," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(1), pages 126-145, January.
    18. Ugo Lachapelle & Georges A Tanguay & Léa Neumark-Gaudet, 2018. "Telecommuting and sustainable travel: Reduction of overall travel time, increases in non-motorised travel and congestion relief?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(10), pages 2226-2244, August.
    19. Thomas Lange, 2012. "Job satisfaction and self-employment: autonomy or personality?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 165-177, February.
    20. Genevieve Giuliano, 1998. "Information Technology, Work Patterns and Intra-metropolitan Location: A Case Study," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 35(7), pages 1077-1095, June.
    21. Blanchflower, David G & Meyer, Bruce D, 1994. "A Longitudinal Analysis of the Young Self-Employed in Australia and the United States," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, February.
    22. Carlianne Patrick & Heather Stephens & Amanda Weinstein, 2016. "Where are all the self-employed women? Push and pull factors influencing female labor market decisions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 365-390, March.
    23. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal, J. & Molina, Jose Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2018. "The commuting behavior of workers in the United States: Differences between the employed and the self-employed," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 19-29.
    24. Barton H. Hamilton, 2000. "Does Entrepreneurship Pay? An Empirical Analysis of the Returns to Self-Employment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(3), pages 604-631, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Laurent GOMEZ, 2024. "La mobilité quotidienne des immigrés en France," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 59, pages 79-107.
    2. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Velilla, Jorge & Ortega-Lapiedra, Raquel, 2024. "Differences in commuting between employee and self-employed workers: The case of Latin America," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Munch, Emmanuel & Proulhac, Laurent, 2023. "Is work hours' flexibility really a solution to morning peak period congestion? Comparative analysis between Paris and San Francisco," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    4. Shin, Eun Jin, 2020. "Commuter benefits programs: Impacts on mode choice, VMT, and spillover effects," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 11-22.
    5. Reuschke, Darja & Houston, Donald, 2020. "Revisiting the gender gap in commuting through self-employment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    6. Crawford, Fiona, 2020. "Segmenting travellers based on day-to-day variability in work-related travel behaviour," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    7. Palacios, Saúl, 2021. "Desplazamientos y autoempleo en Francia: diferencias por género [Commuting y self-employment in France: gender differences]," MPRA Paper 106555, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Karst Geurs & Cathy Macharis, 2019. "The future of European communication and transportation research: a research agenda," REGION, European Regional Science Association, vol. 6, pages 1-21.
    9. Ozbilen, Basar & Wang, Kailai & Akar, Gulsah, 2021. "Revisiting the impacts of virtual mobility on travel behavior: An exploration of daily travel time expenditures," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 49-62.
    10. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Velilla, Jorge & Ortega, Raquel, 2022. "Revisiting excess commuting and self-employment: The case of Latin America," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1179, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Palacios, Saúl, 2021. "Desplazamientos y autoempleo en Francia: diferencias por género [Commuting y self-employment in France: gender differences]," MPRA Paper 106555, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Reuschke, Darja & Houston, Donald, 2020. "Revisiting the gender gap in commuting through self-employment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    3. Belloc, Ignacio, 2021. "El tiempo de desplazamiento al lugar de trabajo en el Reino Unido: Diferencias entre asalariados y autoempleados [Commuting time in the United Kingdom: Differences between wage-earners and self-emp," MPRA Paper 108260, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Oliva, Andres, 2021. "Estimación del tiempo de desplazamiento al trabajo para los trabajadores portugueses: diferencias entre autoempleados y asalariados [Estimation of commuting time for Portuguese workers: differences," MPRA Paper 107176, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2021. "Two-way commuting: Asymmetries from time use surveys," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Margalejo Hernández, Cristina, 2021. "Commuting y autoempleo en Luxemburgo [Commuting and self-employment in Luxemburgo]," MPRA Paper 106183, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Binder, Martin & Blankenberg, Ann-Kathrin, 2021. "Self-employment and subjective well-being," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 411, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    8. Oliete Peirona, Natalia, 2021. "Tiempos de desplazamiento hogar-trabajo en Austria [Home-work commuting times in Austria]," MPRA Paper 106819, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Lozano, Javier, 2021. "Commuting y auto-empleo en Italia: diferencias por género y localización geográfica [Commuting and self employment in Italy: gender differences and geographical locations]," MPRA Paper 106279, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Belloc, Ignacio, 2022. "Emprendimiento en entornos rurales: Evidencia con la Encuesta Europea sobre Condiciones Laborales [Entrepreneurship in rural settings: Evidence from the European Working Conditions Survey]," MPRA Paper 111591, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Hernández, Jaime, 2021. "Tiempo de desplazamiento al puesto laboral y relación con los empleados autónomos: el caso de las mujeres trabajadoras alemanas [Commuting time and relationship with self-employed: the case of Germ," MPRA Paper 106040, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Ding, Yu & Lu, Huapu, 2016. "Activity participation as a mediating variable to analyze the effect of land use on travel behavior: A structural equation modeling approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 23-28.
    13. Flèche, Sarah & Lepinteur, Anthony & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2021. "The importance of capital in closing the entrepreneurial gender gap: A longitudinal study of lottery wins," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 591-607.
    14. Thorsten Konietzko, 2015. "Self-Employed Individuals, Time Use, and Earnings," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 64-83, March.
    15. Clemens Hetschko, 2016. "On the misery of losing self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 461-478, August.
    16. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Velilla, Jorge & Ortega, Raquel, 2022. "Revisiting excess commuting and self-employment: The case of Latin America," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1179, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Nam Kyoon N. Kim & Simon C. Parker, 0. "Entrepreneurial homeworkers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-25.
    18. Nam Kyoon N. Kim & Simon C. Parker, 2021. "Entrepreneurial homeworkers," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1427-1451, October.
    19. Martin Binder, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Success and Subjective Well-Being: Worries about the Business Explain One's Well-Being Loss from Self-Employment," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 947, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    20. Vincent Viguié, 2015. "Cross-commuting and housing prices in a polycentric modeling of cities," Working Papers 2015.09, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:73:y:2019:i:c:p:101-112. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.