IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/jecxxx/v23y2015i03ns0218495815500132.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

One-Person Enterprises and Business Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Pekka Belt

    (University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland)

  • Kaarlo Paloniemi

    (Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland)

  • Janne Sinisammal

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland)

Abstract

Solopreneurs, i.e. entrepreneurs who run their businesses alone, are surprisingly common constituting some 15% of the work force in Europe and the United States. This study aims to clarify solopreneurs’ relationship to growth by analyzing the daily work of established solopreneurs from two different perspectives; how they perceive their well-being at work and how they perceive the development of their businesses. This research objective is addressed by using grounded theory methodology and thematic interviews. According to the findings of this study, solopreneurs follow a specific pattern in their activities that differentiates them from other entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur’s position as a solopreneur encourages him or her to continue alone. The feedback that solopreneurs receive from the environment directs them to focus on their personal professional skills rather than on business and growth. In addition, solopreneurs do not use networks to develop their businesses even though entrepreneurship literature highlights the importance of networks for business development. However, solopreneurs acknowledge the importance of networks for their personal well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Pekka Belt & Kaarlo Paloniemi & Janne Sinisammal, 2015. "One-Person Enterprises and Business Growth," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(03), pages 381-404, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:jecxxx:v:23:y:2015:i:03:n:s0218495815500132
    DOI: 10.1142/S0218495815500132
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0218495815500132
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S0218495815500132?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. Pernilla Andersson & Eskil Wadensjö, 2007. "Do the unemployed become successful entrepreneurs?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(7), pages 604-626, October.
    2. Ardichvili, Alexander & Cardozo, Richard & Ray, Sourav, 2003. "A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 105-123, January.
    3. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew J, 1998. "What Makes an Entrepreneur?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 26-60, January.
    4. Eden, Benjamin, 1976. "On the Specification of the Demand for Money: The Real Rate of Return versus the Rate of Inflation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(6), pages 1353-1359, December.
    5. DeTienne, Dawn R., 2010. "Entrepreneurial exit as a critical component of the entrepreneurial process: Theoretical development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 203-215, March.
    6. David G. Blanchflower, 2004. "Self-Employment: More may not be better," NBER Working Papers 10286, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Pamela Mueller, 2007. "Exploiting Entrepreneurial Opportunities: The Impact of Entrepreneurship on Growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 355-362, April.
    8. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    9. David Audretsch & Max Keilbach, 2004. "Entrepreneurship Capital and Economic Performance," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(8), pages 949-959.
    10. Israel Kirzner, 1999. "Creativity and/or Alertness: A Reconsideration of the Schumpeterian Entrepreneur," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 11(1), pages 5-17, January.
    11. Leon Schjoedt, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Job Characteristics: An Examination of Their Effect on Entrepreneurial Satisfaction1," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(3), pages 619-644, May.
    12. Arent Greve & Janet W. Salaff, 2003. "Social Networks and Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(1), pages 1-22, January.
    13. Jerome A. Katz, 1993. "How Satisfied Are the Self-Employed: A Secondary Analysis Approach," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 17(3), pages 35-51, April.
    14. Michael A. Hitt & R. Duane Ireland & S. Michael Camp & Donald L. Sexton, 2001. "Strategic entrepreneurship: entrepreneurial strategies for wealth creation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 479-491, June.
    15. Paul Steffens & Per Davidsson & Jason Fitzsimmons, 2009. "Performance Configurations over Time: Implications for Growth– and Profit–Oriented Strategies," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(1), pages 125-148, January.
    16. Alan Waterman & Seth Schwartz & Regina Conti, 2008. "The Implications of Two Conceptions of Happiness (Hedonic Enjoyment and Eudaimonia) for the Understanding of Intrinsic Motivation," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 41-79, January.
    17. Lars Kolvereid, 1996. "Organizational Employment versus Self-Employment: Reasons for Career Choice Intentions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 20(3), pages 23-31, April.
    18. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew & Stutzer, Alois, 2001. "Latent entrepreneurship across nations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 680-691, May.
    19. Kirzner, Israel M, 1999. "Creativity and/or Alertness: A Reconsideration of the Schumpeterian Entrepreneur," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 11(1-2), pages 5-17.
    20. Pernilla Andersson & Eskil Wadensjö, 2007. "Do the unemployed become successful entrepreneurs?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 28(7), pages 604-626, November.
    21. Zoltan Acs & Sameeksha Desai & Jolanda Hessels, 2008. "Entrepreneurship, economic development and institutions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 219-234, October.
    22. Duane Ireland, R. & Webb, Justin W., 2007. "Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating competitive advantage through streams of innovation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 49-59.
    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. Anmari Viljamaa & Elina Varamäki & Sanna Joensuu-Salo, 2017. "Best of Both Worlds? Persistent Hybrid Entrepreneurship," Journal of Enterprising Culture (JEC), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 25(04), pages 339-359, December.

    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. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    2. Kostas Mavromaras & Darcy Fitzpatrick, 2017. "Self-employment Dynamics in Australia and the Importance of State Dependence," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 93, pages 144-170, June.
    3. Christopher J. Boudreaux & Boris Nikolaev, 2019. "Capital is not enough: opportunity entrepreneurship and formal institutions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 709-738, October.
    4. Marco Vivarelli, 2013. "Is entrepreneurship necessarily good? Microeconomic evidence from developed and developing countries," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(6), pages 1453-1495, December.
    5. Mueller, Pamela, 2005. "Entrepreneurship in the region: Breeding ground for nascent enterpreneurs?," Freiberg Working Papers 2005/05, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    6. Fellnhofer, Katharina, 2023. "Positivity and higher alertness levels facilitate discovery: Longitudinal sentiment analysis of emotions on Twitter," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    7. Milo Bianchi, 2012. "Financial Development, Entrepreneurship, and Job Satisfaction," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(1), pages 273-286, February.
    8. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 277-305.
    9. Roy Thurik & Isabel Grilo, 2005. "Latent and actual entrepreneurship in Europe and the US: some recent developments," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2005-24, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    10. Lanivich, Stephen E. & Smith, Adam & Levasseur, Ludvig & Pidduck, Robert J. & Busenitz, Lowell & Tang, Jintong, 2022. "Advancing entrepreneurial alertness: Review, synthesis, and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1165-1176.
    11. André van Stel & Andrew Burke & José Maria Millán & Concepcion Roman, 2013. "Start-Up Size Strategy and Risk Management: Impact on New Venture Performance," Scales Research Reports H201207, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    12. Vahid Aliabadi & Pouria Ataei & Saeed Gholamrezai, 2024. "The Prediction of Entrepreneurial Alertness Among Rural Cooperatives Based on Social Capital and Entrepreneurial Passion," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(3), pages 21582440241, September.
    13. P. Mueller, 2006. "Entrepreneurship in the Region: Breeding Ground for Nascent Entrepreneurs?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 41-58, August.
    14. Dorian Boumedjaoud & Karim Messeghem, 2019. "L'influence de la créativité sur la vigilance entrepreneuriale des repreneurs de PME," Post-Print hal-02570575, HAL.
    15. Mirjam Praag & André Stel, 2013. "The more business owners, the merrier? The role of tertiary education," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 335-357, August.
    16. Joo Y. Park & Chang Soo Sung & Il Im, 2017. "Does Social Media Use Influence Entrepreneurial Opportunity? A Review of its Moderating Role," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-16, September.
    17. José María Millán & Emilio Congregado & Concepción Román, 2010. "Determinants of Self-Employment Dynamics and their Implications on Entrepreneurial Policy Effectiveness," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 72, pages 45-76.
    18. A. Uday Bhaskar & Somayajullu Garimella, 2017. "A Study of Predictors of Entrepreneurial Intentions: Development of Comprehensive Measures," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 18(3), pages 629-651, June.
    19. repec:dau:papers:123456789/5067 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Emanuela Carbonara & Hien Thu Tran & Enrico Santarelli, 2020. "Determinants of novice, portfolio, and serial entrepreneurship: an occupational choice approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 123-151, June.
    21. Araujo, Clécio Falcão & Karami, Masoud & Tang, Jintong & Roldan, Lucas Bonacina & dos Santos, Julia Aita, 2023. "Entrepreneurial alertness: A meta-analysis and empirical review," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).

    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:wsi:jecxxx:v:23:y:2015:i:03:n:s0218495815500132. 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: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/jec/jec.shtml .

    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.