Papers by Josette Dijkhuizen
Four types of affective well-being were investigated in a sample of 135 Dutch entrepreneurs: work... more Four types of affective well-being were investigated in a sample of 135 Dutch entrepreneurs: work engagement, job satisfaction, exhaustion and workaholism. Compared to employees, entrepreneurs score extremely high on work engagement. Scores on job satisfaction, exhaustion and working compulsively are also higher. Scores on working excessively are lower. When investigating the overlap between the four types of well-being, results were found to vary with the approach chosen. When analyzing correlations, overlap appears especially high between workaholism and exhaustion. When analyzing cases identified as high scorers, overlap is especially evident between entrepreneurs high on both work engagement and job satisfaction. A final issue studied concerned the relation between well-being and performance. Entrepreneurs scoring high on working excessively reported the highest turnover, profits and number of employees. Satisfied entrepreneurs also reported relatively high profits and number of employees. Implications of these findings for trainers and researchers interested in well-being and performance in entrepreneurs are discussed.
This cross-sectional study among 277 Dutch entrepreneurs investigates how entrepreneurs’ job dema... more This cross-sectional study among 277 Dutch entrepreneurs investigates how entrepreneurs’ job demands relate to their work-related strain and work engagement, as well as their feelings of subjective success. As such it contributes to the literature firstly by focusing on psychological rather than business outcomes of entrepreneurship, and secondly by contextualizing demands and resources for entrepreneurs, e.g. capturing the general but also the specific factors that are demands and resources in entrepreneurial work. Results of the study show that work-related strain is related to both less personal and less financial subjective business success. Work engagement is related to higher personal, but not financial subjective business success. As predicted by the JD-R Model, both high job demands and low job resources predicted work-related strain. In contrast to findings of other studies, high job demands are not related to low work engagement, only having low job resources did. The practical implication of these findings is that entrepreneurs can achieve an important competitive advantage over other entrepreneurs if they can learn to deal effectively with job demands and work-related strain. The challenge for policy makers is to get more information about how to assist business owners in eliminating and preventing work-related strain in order to achieve higher subjective financial and personal success.
The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale for measuring specific entrepreneur... more The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale for measuring specific entrepreneurial job demands, over and above regular job demands. Scale content was based on extant literature search and interviews with ten entrepreneurs. Based on this information 14 items were developed. The factor structure, reliability and construct validity of the scale were examined in a sample of 291 entrepreneurs in The Netherlands. Findings demonstrate that the scale captured three dimensions of entrepreneurial job demands: 'time demands' (5 items), 'uncertainty & risk' (6 items), and 'responsibility' (3 items). The Entrepreneurial Job Demands Scale (EJDS) showed criterion validity in explaining work-related strain (positive relationship), and well-being (negative relationship) in a sample of 277 entrepreneurs over and above regular measures of job demands, e.g. emotional load, quantitative workload and task complexity. The conclusion is that including specific demands does seem to add to the explanation of work-related strain and well-being in entrepreneurs. The EJDS can be used as a tool for entrepreneurs, job coaches, and government institutions that want to monitor potential risk factors for strain, well-being and business success in entrepreneurs.
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Papers by Josette Dijkhuizen