THE EFFECT OF HAVING EMPLOYEES

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Jacob Kramer

FOKSDIEP 59 | 8321 MK URK THE NETHERLANDS

Student number: 1697978

THE EFFECT OF HAVING EMPLOYEES

ON THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH OF A SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

Faculty of Economics and Business

MSc Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Master thesis

31-08-2017

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ABSTRACT

This master thesis is about the question of whether there is a difference between the health status of a business owner with employees and a small business owner without employees. The reason to write this thesis is that the topic of the health of a small business owner interested the writer because he is a small business owner, too. The secondary data is obtained from the European Social Survey (ESS). The data was derived from interviews with approximately 40,000 people from 22 European countries. The exact countries and more information about the data can be found in the data collection section. The most recent data used is from 2014.

The research question: Is there a difference between the health status of small business owners with and without employees?

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1. INTRODUCTION

In this thesis, research is done on the health effects of having employees on small business owners. From the side of science, it would be interesting to see if there is a difference in health since research has shown a difference between small business owners and employed persons. There is not a lot of information that zooms in on the small business owner to see if there is a difference when a small business owner has employees. In practice, it would be interesting for prospective small business owners to show that this is a pro or a con. In addition, it could be a warning to help them watch their health so they will not get problems. Also, companies involved in the health business (for example, health insurance companies) would like to know this information to keep the costs as low as possible.

The most important key words in this research are ‘small business owner’ and ‘health.’ A difference will be shown between the small business owner with and without personnel. In order to see the effects and to make a scientifically acceptable paper, we need to look at the theoretical background of this research.

First, this thesis will look at the reasons for a person to become a small business owner. Mark Taylor (1996) found a link between a higher expected return and self-employment. This means that if people expect higher payment in self-employment, they are likely to choose it. In the same paper, it is also mentioned that the people who engage in self-employment enjoy freedom rather than job security. Ajayi and Parker (2005) found that the relative independence, compared to paid employment, is a reason for choosing self-employment. There is a significant relation between mother to daughter and father to son being small business owners (Wu & Wu, 2014). In many cases, access to money can be an important barrier (Georgellis et al., 2005). An inheritance increases the likelihood of a son or daughter becoming a small business owner, and this is moderated by the age of the person receiving the inheritance (Evans and Jovanovic, 1989, Lindh and Ohlsson, 1996, Blanchflower and Oswald, 1998 in Wu &Wu, 2014). Hout and Rosen (2000) found that children of small business owners will also become small business owners because they have the advantage of an inherited skill set.

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(Reis, 2011). But there is also the case of those who are self-employed due to bad circumstances or to avoid joblessness, instead of a positive reason for self-employment (Blanchflower and Oswald, 1998; Manser and Picot, 1999, IN Zissimopoulis and Karoly, 2005). Policy makers are interested in the mental and physical health of the workforce as well as that of the small business owner because people who are in good health are more likely to be able to work (Andersson, 2012). We expect there to be a difference between small business owners with and without employees because Blanchflower (2004) has already found that business owners with and without employees differ in health status.

Now we arrive at the research question.

RQ: Is there a difference between the health status of small business owners with and without employees?

We will look at the self-perceived health status and the more objective health status. These may have different answers, and therefore, to get a right answer to the question, we will try to answer the sub-questions.

SQ1: Is there a difference between the self-perceived physical health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

SQ2: Is there a difference between the self-perceived mental health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

SQ3: Is there a difference between the objective physical health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

SQ2: Is there a difference between the objective mental health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

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2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Health

In this section, the concept of health will be discussed: the definition according to literature, the difference between self-perceived health and objective health, and more. But this will become clear while reading the section. In the study of Rietveld et al (2014), they choose to use three indicators to show health. The number of health conditions, both self-reported health and self-reported mental health. The number of health conditions is measured by showing a set of chronic diseases and having the subjects select the conditions they have experienced. Mental health is measured by if they were feeling depressed or not. And self-reported health is measured by indicating if they were feeling healthy or not (Rietveld et al, 2014). From a statistical perspective, objective means trusting the evidence and

subjective means the personal beliefs of a scientist (Blyth, 1972). In this case, it would be the personal beliefs of the respondent. It is important to look at objective measures because people tend to think that their risk is lower than average. (Weinstein and Klein, 1995).

2.2. Small business owner

In this section, the concept of self-employment, which in the rest of this thesis will be referred to as “small business owner,” will be discussed. The definition is the difference between a small business owner with and without personnel. In Blanchflower et al (2001), it is found that the number of people wanting to be small business owners is much higher than the actual number of small business owners. There are also a few definitions of small business owner. The first one is by the British Labor Force Survey, and it says that only the small business owner who describe his/her activities as what they really do ─ rather than just being the director of a company ─ is marked as a small business owner(Casey and Creigh, 1988). According to British labor law, a small business owner has more than one service contract of service, while an employed person has a contract of service (Casey and Creigh, 1988). These

definitions are quite old, and there needs to be a more recent one added. It is definitely clear that both developed and developing countries have positive policies towards self-employment (Bordia Das, 2003; Neetha N, 2010). Most of the studies that use NLSY79 (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979), define self-employment as people that work in their own business, practice, or farm (Fairlie, 2005).

2.3. Small business owner and health

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idea that small business owners are healthier and are linked to a better physical vitality, compared to employed workers (Tetrick et al, 2000; Bradley and Roberts, 2004; Stephan and Roesler, 2010, IN Rietveld et al, 2014). It is also found that the overall health of employed women is better than that of a female small business owner (Donlinsky and Caputo, 2003). There is only a little evidence, however, and it is not clear and doesn’t always agree (Torres, 2012). Since small business owners are a big portion of working people, this is a quite surprising outcome (Audretsch and Thurik, 2000; 2001).

Another reason for this could be that the people becoming small business owners are healthier to begin with (Rietveld et al, 2014). Gielnik (2012), for example, found that ill health would not help focusing on new business opportunities. In contrast to this, it is also found that people who are not able to get a job, (for example, because of health problems) will choose self-employment, even though this is a necessity for self-employment (Verheul et al, 2010). In the article by Dennis (1996), there was also the question as to whether people became small business owners because they wanted to, or if they were not able to get a job in a different way. Also, it should be mentioned that choosing to be a small business owner can bring a lot of stress with it, and it is often mentioned as the most stressful job (Uy, Foo and Song, 2013).

In the United States, the cost of stress per year is approximately $5,000 per worker, or $300 million (Cardon & Patel, 2015). It does not say that being a small business owner is the only stressful job, but entrepreneurs often have no others to blame for any mistakes, do all the work by themselves, and have many different roles in the company (Buttner, 1992, IN Cardon & Pattel, 2015). In the article by

Andersson (2008), a comparison is made between employed workers and small business owners. It is found here that small business owners do not perceive their jobs as more stressful, and that their general health is comparable to that of the employed (Andersson, 2008). One risk of being a small business owner versus being employed is that mental problems are more likely, and then specifically, the small business owner gets more tired (Andersson, 2008).

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employees. These are all mental issues, and in this article, we will look at the general health of small business owners, and distinguish between their physical and mental health.

The hypotheses that we have derived from the literature are the following:

H0Subjphy: There is a difference between the subjective physical health of a small business owner with

employees and small business owner without employees.

H0Subjmen: There is a difference between the subjective mental health of a small business owner with

employees and a small business owner without employees.

H0Objphy: There is a difference between the objective physical health of a small business owner with or without employees.

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3. METHOD

First, the data collection is described. The second subsection describes the measurements. The third section explains how the data is analyzed in this research. The descriptive statistics are in Appendix 1.

3.1. Data collection

The observation of the phenomenon is done by secondary data (analyzing available information about the subject).

The data sets that are available are quite extensive and make it possible to compare different years and different companies as well as to have an overview of the European average. The data is found on the following website: www.europeansocialsurvey.com, and we have used the most recent available data that included a broader answer about the health conditions of the people who have been interviewed. This data was published on December 1, 2016. This dataset was first opened on June 15 and was used during the process of writing this thesis. The survey to get the data was done by several interviewers in different countries. Some of the questions were open questions, and some were closed questions where the interviewee could only answer yes or no, and could tick a box. It contains data about the person’s employment status and if a person is a small business owner. Both subjective and objective health statuses are available, and these are used to determine the overall health status. The total population comes from the following countries:

Austria Germany Poland Belgium Hungary Portugal Czech Republic Ireland Spain Denmark Israel Slovenia Estonia Lithuania Sweden Finland Netherlands Switzerland France Norway United Kingdom

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shown in Table 1.1. In Table 1.2, the gender distribution of the sample is shown, and in Table 1.3, the average age of the respondents is shown.

Table 1.1: Where do the people from the sample come from?

The countries the respondents from the sample are living at the moment of the survey.

Country Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent Valid Austria 180 4.2 4.2 4.2 Belgium 183 4.3 4.3 8.6 Switzerland 187 4.4 4.4 13.0 Czech Republic 191 4.5 4.5 17.5 Germany 317 7.5 7.5 24.9 Denmark 135 3.2 3.2 28.1 Estonia 162 3.8 3.8 31.9 Spain 275 6.5 6.5 38.4 Finland 233 5.5 5.5 43.9 France 191 4.5 4.5 48.4 United Kingdom 311 7.3 7.3 55.7 Hungary 95 2.2 2.2 58.0 Ireland 287 6.8 6.8 64.7 Israel 343 8.1 8.1 72.8 Lithuania 132 3.1 3.1 75.9 Netherlands 211 5.0 5.0 80.9 Norway 122 2.9 2.9 83.8 Poland 252 5.9 5.9 89.7 Portugal 162 3.8 3.8 93.5 Sweden 185 4.4 4.4 97.9 Slovenia 90 2.1 2.1 100.0 Total 4244 100.0 100.0

Table 1.2: Gender distribution in sample

Statistics about the gender of the respondents in the sample.

Gender Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent Valid Male 2,650 62.4 62.4 62.4

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Table 1.3: Average age in sample

Statistics about the age of the respondents in the sample. N Valid 4,234 Missing 10 Mean 53.88 Median 54.00 Std. Deviation 16.160 Range 80 Minimum 16 Maximum 96

In this section, the values that are used for the analysis will be shown, and an explanation will be given as to how they were found. The variables that are considered and used in the analysis are the following:

We first made a comparison between the BMI, an objective measure that calculates how the weight of a person is compared to his or her height. This was discovered by Lambert Jaques Quetelet, and the official measure is : QI=W/H2 _{where W=weight and H= height in centimeters}

(https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queteletindex).

3.2. Measurements

In this section, the measured variables are described.

Employment relationship

For this variable, the question was asked: In your main job, you are/were ______________________?

The answer possibilities were: - 1. An employee - 2. Self-employed

- 3. Working for your family business - 6. Not applicable

- 7. Refusal - 8. Don't know - 9. No answer

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Number of employees

For this variable, the question was asked: How many employees (if any) do/did you have?

The answer possibilities were:

- Actual number of employees - Not applicable

- Refusal - Don’t know - No answer

By filtering the small business owners only, there was only the actual number of employees left. We have recoded these into having no employees (0), having 0-250 employees (1), and having more than 251 employees (2) , but this last group was filtered out.

Subjective general health

For this variable, the question was asked: How is your health in general? Would you say it is ________?

The answer possibilities were: - 1. Very good - 2. Good - 3. Fair - 4. Bad - 5. Very bad - 7. Refusal - 8. Don't know - 9. No answer

This variable was used as a measure for subjective physical health.

Subjective mental health

For this variable, the question was asked: Taking all things into consideration, how happy would you say you are in a range from 0 to 10?

The answer possibilities were:

- Range from 0 = “Extremely unhappy” to 10 = “Extremely happy” - 77. Refusal

- 88. Don't know - 99.No answer

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Objective physical health

General Practitioner

For this variable, the question was asked: In the last 12 months, that is since [MONTH/ YEAR], with which of the health professionals on this card have you discussed your health?

General Practitioner - Marked (Yes) - Not marked (No)

Medical Specialist

For this variable, the question was asked: In the last 12 months, that is since [MONTH/ YEAR], with which of the health professionals on this card have you discussed your health?

Medical Specialist - Marked (Yes) - Not marked (No)

Health problems

For this variable, the question was asked: Which of the health problems on this card have you had or experienced in the last 12 months, that is since [MONTH/ YEAR]?

High blood pressure - Marked (Yes) - Not marked (No)

These variables were used to measure for objective physical health.

Objective mental health

For this variable, the question was asked: I will now read out a list of the ways you might have felt or behaved during the past week.

Were happy

Using this card, please tell me how much of the time during the past week, you were happy.

The possible answers were:

- 1. None or almost none of the time - 2. Some of the time

- 3. Most of the time

- 4. All or almost all of the time - 7. Refusal

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Felt depressed

Using this card, please tell me how much of the time during the past week, you felt depressed.

- 8. Don't know - 9. No answer

Felt sad

Using this card, please tell me how much of the time during the past week, you felt sad.

- 8. Don't know - 9. No answer

These variables will be used for objective mental health, since it describes more objectively how the person’s mental health was.

3.3. Analysis

The analysis is done by using a statistical program, called SPSS, to make the correct conclusions about the information we have readily available, and if it is able to give an answer to the research questions. The test used is several one-way ANOVA tests, and the significance level is set at 0.05. That data was available from the European Social Survey, and the relevant questions and answers are taken out. The reason we chose this data is that it is recent (2014), gives answers to a wide array of questions, and has a big sample size.

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4. Results

The first part of the analysis will be about the subjective physical and mental health. The second part of the analysis, existing of a physical and mental part, will be about objective parameters. We will take a significance of 0.05, which means that every number below this figure is significant. In the objective part, we measured the BMI, but this showed no difference, since it was exactly the same for both groups, as discussed in the objective analysis.

4.1. Subjective health

4.1.1. Subjective physical health

The first analysis that is performed is the analysis of the subjective general health. This was a question in the data set: How is the state of your general health? This was merely about the subjective physical health.

For this variable, the lower the outcome, the better it is. As explained in the earlier part, ‘1’ is very good, and ‘5’ is very bad. We can see that the average of the small business owner without employees is lower than the one with employees. However, the outcomes of the ANOVA test show that the results are not significant. Based on this, there is no significant difference between the subjective general health of the two groups. This means that there is a reason to reject H0Subj because the number of employees does not give a significant effect even though it is close to the significance we chose.

Table 2.1: Effect of having employees on subjective general health

Variance between small business owners with and without employees.

ANOVA Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Explained variance 1.729 1 1.729 2,177 .140 Unexplained variance 1992.669 2509 .794

Total 1994.397 2510

Table 2.2: Comparison of means subjective general health

Differences between the subjective general health of small business owners with and without employees.

Descriptives N Mean

Std.

Deviation Std. Error

95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Minimum Maximum Lower Bound Upper Bound

Without

Employees 2401 2.14 .886 .018 2.11 2.18 1 5 With

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4.1.2. Subjective mental health

The second part of the analysis of the subjective health of small business owners is the mental health. For this part, we tested the question: How happy are you? This is subjective because they give their own answer, and it tells something about how they feel compared to others. This effect is significant because the significance of the test is below 0.05. The mean indicates that the small business owner with

employees is happier than the one without employees. In this case, we accept HO, and we can say there is a significant difference in the subjective mental health of small business owners with employees.

Table 3.1: The effect of having employees on subjective mental health

Variance between small business owners with and without employees.

ANOVA Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Explained variance 13.040 1 13.040 3.831 .050 Unexplained variance 8506.388 2499 3.404

Total 8519.428 2500

Table 3.2: Comparison of means of how happy you are

Differences between the subjective metal health of small business owners with and without employees.

Descriptives N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error

Without employees 2391 7.49 1.829 .037 7.42 7.56 0 10 With employees 110 7.14 2.157 .206 6.73 7.54 0 10 Total 2501 7.47 1.846 .037 7.40 7.55 0 10

4.2. Objective health

The second analysis we perform is about the objective health of the small business owner. We consider more variables when performing this analysis.

4.2.1. Body Mass Index

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employees, the BMI is 26.4). This means there is no difference in the BMI of the small business owners with and without employees.

4.2.2. Objective physical health

The second part of the analysis we have some other measures that are used to analyze the following hypothesis about the objective physical health of small business owners.

The following questions are used to determine if the small business owners are physically healthy or not. First questions are, if they have been to their general practitioner and or a medical specialist. Also, we looked at the following medical condition: Blood pressure, because this can be linked to stress and stress is related to having employees if you are a small business owner, as mentioned in the literature review. These issues can be used to describe objective general health.

Table 4.1: Effect of having employees on physical health (general practitioner)

Variance between small business owners with and without employees measured by visiting the general practitioner during the last 12 months.

ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Explained variance .099 1 .099 .483 .487 Unexplained variance 513.860 2514 .204

Total 513.959 2515

Table 4.2: Comparison of means of discussed health problems with general practitioner

Differences between the visits to the general practitioner of small business owners with and without employees during the last 12 months.

Without

employees 2405 .72 .451 .009 .70 .73 0 1 With

Employees 111 .68 .467 .044 .60 .77 0 1

Total 2516 .71 .452 .009 .70 .73 0 1

Table 4.3: Effect of having employees on physical health (medical specialist)

Variance between business owners with and without employees measured by visiting the medical specialist during the last 12 months.

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Table 4.4: Comparison of means of discussed health (medical specialist)

Differences between the visits to the medical specialist of small business owners with and without employees during the last 12 months.

Without

employees 2405 .42 .493 .010 .40 .44 0 1 With

employees 111 .42 .496 .047 .33 .52 0 1

Total 2516 .42 .493 .010 .40 .44 0 1

Table 4.5: Effect of having employees on physical health (high blood pressure)

Variance between small business owners with and without employees measured by high blood pressure during the last 12 months.

Total 358.266 2465

Table 4.6: Comparison of means of health problems (high blood pressure)

Differences in problems with high blood pressure of small business owners with and without employees during the last 12 months.

Without

employees 2358 .18 .382 .008 .16 .19 0 1 With

employees 108 .17 .374 .036 .10 .24 0 1

Total 2466 .18 .381 .008 .16 .19 0 1

This test gives us the result that we have to reject H0objphy, because there is no significant difference. This means there is no significant difference between the health of a small business owner with and without employees. Also, there was no reason to accept H0Objphy since none of the answers gives a significant result. Even though the results are not significant, it does not hurt to look at the means. They are close to each other, or do not even differ.

4.2.3. Objective mental health

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We used these variables because it is up to the research to make conclusions about how many times they felt a certain way, instead of the subjects giving their own happiness a grade. All these issues are part of mental health and were used to find if the hypothesis is accepted or not.

Table 5.1: Effects of having employees on objective mental health (happiness)

Variance between small business owners with and without employees measured by how often they felt happy the past week.

ANOVA Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Explained variance 6.794 1 6.794 10.443 .001 Unexplained variance 1616.710 2485 .651

Total 1623.504 2486

Table 5.2: Comparison of means of how often felt happy

Differences between small business owners with and without employees measured by how often they felt happy the past week.

Desciriptives N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error

Without

employees 2380 2.99 .801 .016 2.95 3.02 1 4 With

employees 107 2.73 .917 .089 2.55 2.90 1 4 Total 2487 2.98 .808 .016 2.94 3.01 1 4

Table 5.3: Effect of having employees on feeling depressed

Variance between small business owners with and without employees measured by how often they felt depressed the past week.

Total 1105.793 2502

Table 5.4: Comparison of means of how often feeling depressed

Differences between small business owners with and without employees measured by how often they felt depressed the past week.

Without

employees 2393 1.40 .657 .013 1.38 1.43 1 4 With

employees 110 1.60 .804 .077 1.45 1.75 1 4

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Table 5.5: Effect of having employees on feeling sad

Variance between small business owners with and without employees measured by how often they felt sad the past week.

Total 1090.221 2496

Table 5.6: Mean of feeling sad

Differences between small business owners with and without employees measured by how often they felt sad the past week.

Without

employees 2389 1.49 .654 .013 1.47 1.52 1 4 With

Employees 108 1.71 .774 .074 1.57 1.86 1 4

Total 2497 1.50 .661 .013 1.48 1.53 1 4

Happiness, depression, and feeling sad all give significant results. This means that there is a reason to accept H0objmen, and it tells us that there is a difference between the mental health of small business owner with employees and without employees. The means are all in favor of the small business owner without employees. Since the measures of these issues are the higher the value, the more often it happens, this means that for the case of happiness, a higher number is better. Since the small business owner with employees has a value of 2.79 and a business owner without employees has a value of 2.99, the small business owner without employees is happier on average. For the depressed and sad,

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5. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

In this part, the results will be discussed and compared to the literature. First, the research question needs to be answered. Before we answer the research question, the sub-questions will be answered. For completeness, we put the sub-questions here with their answers.

SQ1: Is there a difference between the self-perceived physical health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

There is a difference between the self-perceived physical health status of a small business owner with and without employees, but it is not a significant difference. This measure was done with a significance level of 0.05. Based on the outcome of this first analysis, the perceived physical health in the sample of 4,250 people does not differ between small business owners with and without employees.

SQ2: Is there a difference between the self-perceived mental health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

This question can be answered “yes” because the results of the question as to how happy the person was were significantly different even though both groups had a relatively high grade. This grade was above seven, in a one to ten range. The grade of the small business owner without employees was significantly higher, so the self-perceived mental health status of small business owners with employees is better than those without employees.

SQ3: Is there a difference between the objective physical health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

The issues in the physical part were not significant even though it has been found that having employees as a small business owner can lower your health status. There was also no link between blood pressure and having more employees.

SQ4: Is there a difference between the objective mental health status of a small business owner with and without employees?

The mental part presented a significant difference. In earlier research, it was found that business owners with employees seem to be more negative and have a higher chance of developing mental issues

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6. FUTURE RESEARCH AND LIMITATIONS

The field of health and self-employment is still wide open. There are many subjects that can be researched in the future. There is not much known about health and small business owners, which makes it hard to find a theoretical background for research. I think it would be interesting to look at the difference between the health of small business owners whose parent(s) are small business owners as well, versus the ones that are first generation business owners. There could also be more research conducted on what stress does to a small business owner and if this is affected by being a small business owner, or if this is the same as being responsible for one or more people.

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APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Descriptive statistics

Table 1.1: Employment relationship descriptive statistics

Statistics about the employment relationship. N Valid 4244 Missing 0 Mode 2 Range 0 Minimum 2 Maximum 2

Table 1.2: Frequency of employment relation

The frequency of a relationship with employment.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent

Cumulative Percent Valid Self-employed 4244 100.0 100.0 100.0

Table 2.1: Descriptive statistics general practitioner discussed health

Statistics about the discussed health with a general practitioner the last 12 months.

N Valid 4244 Missing 0 Mode 1 Range 1 Minimum 0 Maximum 1

Table 2.2: Discussed health with general practitioner frequency

The frequency of how often the health is discussed by the respondents with a general practitioner in the last 12 months.

Cumulative Percent Valid Not marked 1246 29.4 29.4 29.4

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Table 3.1: Descriptive statistics discussed health medical specialist

Statistics about how often the health is discussed by the respondents with a medical specialist the last 12 months.

Table 3.2: Frequency of discussed health medical specialist

The frequency of how often the health is discussed by the respondents with a medical specialist in the last 12 months.

Marked 1777 41.9 41.9 100.0 Total 4244 100.0 100.0

Table 3.3: Descriptive statistics high blood pressure

Statistics about high blood pressure in the last 12 months.

Table 3.4: Frequency of high blood pressure

The frequency of how of the respondent had high blood pressure in the last 12 months.

Marked 753 17.7 18.4 100.0

Total 4082 96.2 100.0 Missing System 162 3.8

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Table 4.1: Descriptive statistics how happy you are

Statistics about how often the respondent felt happy at that moment N Valid 4225 Missing 19 Mean 7.55 Median 8.00 Mode 8 Range 10 Minimum 0 Maximum 10

Table 4.2: Frequency of how happy you are

The frequency of how often the respondent felt happy at that moment

Cumulative Percent Valid Extremely unhappy 18 .4 .4 .4

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Table 5.1: Descriptive statistics for subjective general health

Statistics about the subjective general health. N Valid 4239 Missing 5 Mean 2.13 Median 2.00 Mode 2 Range 4 Minimum 1 Maximum 5

Table 5.2: Frequency of subjective general health

Frequency of subjective general health.

Cumulative Percent Valid Very good 1047 24.7 24.7 24.7

Good 1920 45.2 45.3 70.0 Fair 998 23.5 23.5 93.5 Bad 222 5.2 5.2 98.8 Very bad 52 1.2 1.2 100.0 Total 4239 99.9 100.0 Missing Refusal 1 .0 Don't know 4 .1 Total 5 .1 Total 4244 100.0

6.1: Descriptive statistics of feeling depressed

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Table 6.2: Frequency of feeling depressed

Frequency of how often the respondents felt depressed the past week

Cumulative Percent Valid None or almost none of the

time 2897 68.3 68.6 68.6

Some of the time 1094 25.8 25.9 94.5 Most of the time 165 3.9 3.9 98.4 All or almost all of the time 67 1.6 1.6 100.0

Total 4223 99.5 100.0 Missing Refusal 8 .2 Don't know 12 .3 No answer 1 .0 Total 21 .5 Total 4244 100.0

Table 7.1: Descriptive statistics of were happy

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Table 7.2: Frequency of were happy

Frequency of how often the respondents felt happy the past week.

time 161 3.8 3.8 3.8

Total 4202 99.0 100.0 Missing Refusal 8 .2 Don’t know 30 .7 No answer 4 .1 Total 42 1.0 Total 4244 100.0

Table 8.1: Descriptive statistics of felt sad

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Table 8.2: Frequency of felt sad

Frequency of how often the respondents felt sad the past week.

time 2478 58.4 58.8 58.8

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Appendix 2: Tables for BMI calculations

Abbreviations in the tables:

- Small business manager is referred to as SBM.

- Small business manager with employees is referred to as SBM WIE. - Small business manager without employees is referred to as SBM WE.

Table 1.1: Weight of employed Table 1.2: Length of employed Table 1.3: Weight of SBM

Table 1.4: Height of SBM Table 1.5: Weight of SBM WIE Table 1.6: Height of SBM WIE

Table 1.7: Height of SBM WE Table 1.8: Weight of SMB WE

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THE EFFECT OF HAVING EMPLOYEES

Jacob Kramer

THE EFFECT OF HAVING EMPLOYEES

ON THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH OF A SMALL BUSINESS OWNER

Faculty of Economics and Business

MSc Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Master thesis

31-08-2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

1. INTRODUCTION

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Health

2.2. Small business owner

2.3. Small business owner and health

3. METHOD

3.1. Data collection

3.2. Measurements

3.3. Analysis

4. Results

4.1. Subjective health

4.1.1. Subjective physical health

4.1.2. Subjective mental health

4.2. Objective health

4.2.1. Body Mass Index

4.2.2. Objective physical health

4.2.3. Objective mental health

5. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

6. FUTURE RESEARCH AND LIMITATIONS

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Descriptive statistics

Appendix 2: Tables for BMI calculations

REFERENCES