The Bigger the Better? Business Size and Small-Business Owners' Subjective Well-Being

Business growth is often portrayed as an important outcome for small-business owners. Few empirical studies have however examined whether there is a positive relationship between business size and different dimensions of small-business owners' subjective well-being. In a large cross-sectional sample (n = 1089) of small-business owners from Sweden, we investigate the relationship between business size and the two main components of subjective well-being, life satisfaction and emotional well-being. By means of structural equation modelling, we determine the importance of business size for subjective well-being by focusing on potential advantages (financial satisfaction) and disadvantages (time pressure) related to business size. The results show that there is no overall relationship between business size and life satisfaction, but a weak negative relationship between business size and emotional well-being. However, in a subsequent mediation analyses we find that these findings largely can be explained by the fact that financial satisfaction and time pressure relate to subjective well-being in opposite directions and thus cancel each other out. The results of the mediation analysis also reveal differences across the two components of subjective well-being. We here find that financial satisfaction is more important for small-business owners' life satisfaction while time pressure is more important for their emotional well-being.

Automated summary

The study investigates the relationship between business size and small-business owners' subjective well-being, finding that financial satisfaction and time pressure have opposite effects on subjective well-being, which cancels each other out. Financial satisfaction is more important for life satisfaction, while time pressure is more important for emotional well-being among small-business owners.