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Money, Work–Life Balance and Autonomy: Why do IT Professionals Choose Self-Employment?

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Abstract

This article deals with the reasons why IT professionals chose self-employment, as well as advantages and drawbacks of this form of employment. A growing number of workers in industrialized countries are now self-employed, most notably in the IT sector. In order to understand this trend better, we carried out a quantitative survey in collaboration with a professional association of independent IT workers in Quebec (Canada). We examined the different reasons why self-employment is attractive for IT professionals, the advantages they experience and the disadvantages they point out. While some authors postulate that self-employment is attractive because it facilitates work–life balance, our results show a strong predominance of the financial advantages and a weak impact of factors related to work–life balance. We also find high levels of job satisfaction, but the effects on work–life balance remain indirect.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université du Québec à Montréal-TÉLUQ, 100 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montréal, QC, Canada, H2X 3P2

    Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay & Emilie Genin

Authors
  1. Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay
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  2. Emilie Genin
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Correspondence to Emilie Genin.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 7 When you decided to go on your own, what were your motivations?
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Appendix 2

Table 8 In your situation of self-employed worker, is it true that you benefit from the following advantages?
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Appendix 3

Table 9 In your situation of self-employed worker, do you experience the following disadvantages?
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Tremblay, DG., Genin, E. Money, Work–Life Balance and Autonomy: Why do IT Professionals Choose Self-Employment?. Applied Research Quality Life 3, 161–179 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-008-9053-7

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