Determinants of life satisfaction among early stage entrepreneurs:

This paper looks at whether opportunity motive, education, gender and working in the not for profit sector relate to the life satisfaction of entrepreneurs and whether education, gender and working in the not for profit sector cause a difference in life satisfaction levels for opportunity and necessity entrepreneurs. Opportunity entrepreneurs are those that choose self-­‐employment because of an opportunity in the market while necessity entrepreneurs are forced into self-­‐ employment because all other options for work are either absent or unsatisfactory. This research was performed to contribute to the field of life satisfaction, both in general and for entrepreneurs. It could help determine whether self-­‐employment would be a good decision for certain individuals and help the government decide which types of potential entrepreneurs they should encourage. Regression analysis was done on data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for the Netherlands in 2012, specifically from the Adult Population Survey. None of the determinants that the study focused on turned out to be significant for life satisfaction among entrepreneurs.