A Conceptual Framework on Self-Employment in Later Life: Toward a Research Agenda

Constrained Agency in Later Working Lives: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…First, this Special Issue presents papers on a diverse set of labor market situations in which individual agency is constrained. Especially in a context of population aging, prolonged working lives, and labor market flexibilization, a forced or involuntary situation may be reflected not only by late-career labor market exit, but also by continued employment (e.g., Fisher et al, 2016) and the type of employment (employee vs. self-employed; e.g., Halvorsen & Morrow-Howell, 2016). As noted by Ebbinghaus and Radl (2015), given the trend towards higher retirement ages and a shift towards more privately funded pensions, the topic of involuntary postponement of retirement increases in importance.…”

Senior Entrepreneurship: A Selective Review and Research Agenda

“…Parker (2009), in his review of the personal and external factors affecting entrepreneurial behavior, argues that age is one of the main determinants of entrepreneurship and self-employment. Extending previous reviews of senior entrepreneurship (Ainsworth, 2015;Furlong, 2004;Gonçalves and Pifano, 2015;Halvorsen and Howell, 2016;Kautonen, 2013;Lewis and Walker, 2011;Luck et al, 2014;Maritz, 2015;Minola et al, 2014;Patel and Gray, 2006;Rogoff, 2007;Weber and Schaper, 2004), we discuss the profiles of the senior entrepreneurs and the potential contribution of senior entrepreneurship to create social wellbeing and economic value by surveying theoretical and empirical work in different fields. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first encompassing and systematic literature review specifically focused on senior entrepreneurship.…”

The role of self-employment in Ireland’s older workforce

“…A feature of employment at older ages that has been observed in many countries is the higher share of older age employment that is accounted for by self-employment (Zissimopoulos and Karoly, 2007, von Bonsdorff et al, 2017, Wahrendorf et al, 2016, Halvorsen and Morrow-Howell, 2017.…”

“…As noted by Halvorsen and Morrow-Howell (2017) and Zissimopoulos and Karoly (2007), much of the literature on the determinants of self-employment has focused on the self-employed workforce as a 3 The SPA for the non-contributory pension was always 66. 4 There is no statutory retirement age for employees in the private sector, but the Employment Equality Acts and Unfair Dismissals Acts do not prohibit the imposition of a compulsory retirement age in a company.…”