The title of our paper recently published in the Journal of Cultural Economics is reminiscent of the work by Tal Feder and Joanna Woronkowicz (2023), titled “Reluctantly Independent: Motivations for Self-Employed Artistic Work.” This connection is no coincidence – our study serves as an extended replication* of their work with an original focus on the United States, applying their insights and arguments to a new context: The Netherlands.
Both articles examine the motivations behind self-employment in artistic versus non-artistic fields. Traditionally, artists are seen as intrinsically motivated, driven by a passion for creating art for art’s sake, while non-artistic entrepreneurs are assumed to be driven (more) by economic factors. Feder and Woronkowicz’s (2023) study found that artists are less likely to seek self-employment for financial reasons, emphasizing autonomy and creative control. This challenges the assumption that artists differ significantly from non-artistic entrepreneurs, who also value independence.
In our replication study, we add variables from the entrepreneurship literature (experience and risk factors) to further understand motivational overlap between artistic and non-artistic self-employed. We introduce four additional motivational categories not covered in F&W’s US study: task variety, high-quality output, innovation, and community service. The study hypothesizes that innovative freedom and high-quality output are more important for artists than non-artists. Lastly, it adds an artistic core-periphery comparison (cf. Throsby, 2008), suggesting that those in the artistic periphery resemble non-artistic entrepreneurs more than those in the core.
Data from a 2015 Dutch survey on artistic and non-artistic self-employed individuals are used, compared with F&W’s US Census data. Key differences from F&W’s data include variations in control variables and occupational classifications, as well as the measurement of the motive variables. The analysis follows F&W’s method, applying logistic regression models to predict different motivations, with additional variables included for further insights.
Key insights from our analyses reveal several patterns in self-employment motivations.
- Artist Treatment Variable: For both Dutch and US artists, the Artist treatment variable consistently shows a negative sign across all models for Independence, Flexible time, and Economic motives. However, only the Economic motive’s Artist dummy is statistically significant in both samples.
- Explanatory Power: Adding experience and risk-related variables significantly increased the models’ explanatory power (pseudo-R2), with notable improvements across the three main motives (Independence, Flexible time, and Economic) and the new self-employment motives (Diversity, Quality, Innovation, and Community).
- New Motives: The Artist dummy shows mixed results for the new motives, with a positive sign for Innovation and Community, but negative for Diversity and Quality.
- Risk Variables: Risk-related measures are significant in all instances, while experience measures are not significant.
- Control Variables: Work hours consistently show a positive relationship with all motives. College degree has a positive effect on Diversity but a negative effect on Community. Gender plays a significant role for the Community motive, where females are more likely to choose self-employment to serve the community than males.
- Core vs. Peripheral Artists: Core artists are only significantly linked to the Community motive (more prominent in the core), while both groups value the remaining motives (Independence, Flexible time, Economic, Diversity, Quality, Innovation) similarly.
Summarized, our study offers valuable insights into the motivations behind self-employed artistic work, comparing artists to non-artists in the Netherlands. One significant finding is that, like in the US, artists are less likely to choose self-employment for economic reasons, a pattern that emphasizes their preference for creative freedom over financial gain. This highlights a key difference between artists and other self-employed groups, which can be useful for policymakers considering how to support creative workers. Additionally, the study reveals that both artists and non-artists share similar motivations when it comes to autonomy and flexibility, indicating that these factors are not unique to the artistic sector.
Another contribution is the introduction of experience and risk-related factors into the study of artistic self-employment. This broadens the perspective by integrating elements from general entrepreneurship literature, showing that a positive attitude toward risk is a key driver for self-employment across all sectors, including the creative industries. Furthermore, the study expands the understanding of artists’ motivations by introducing new categories like innovation and community service. The findings suggest that artists are motivated not just by creative output, but also by a desire to innovate and serve the community, which could be crucial for fostering intrinsic motivation in the arts.
The distinction between the artistic core and periphery is another critical area, revealing that, motivationally, those on the periphery are more similar in motivation to non-artistic self-employed individuals, providing a deeper understanding of the overlap between artistic and general entrepreneurial motives. This finding invites further exploration of how factors such as gender and education influence artists’ motivations, particularly in relation to community service. Our study’s limitations, including potential biases in self-reported data and sample selection, suggest areas for future research. Replication studies, especially those that extend the initial research by incorporating additional variables, are highly encouraged as they can contribute to a deeper understanding of complex topics such as self-employment motives.
* Gradually more so, systematic replication becomes accepted as a scientific method of verifying research results and developing findings that are more robust than if generated in single studies (Dau et al., 2022). An extended replication study expands the replication, for example by adding new variables.
References
Dau, L. A., Santangelo, G. D., & van Witteloostuijn, A. (2022). Replication studies in international business. Journal of International Business Studies, 53(2), 215–230. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-021-00471-w
Feder, T., & Woronkowicz, J. (2023). Reluctantly independent: motivations for self-employed artistic work. Journal of Cultural Economics, 47(4), 589-607. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-022-09464-5
Throsby, D. (2008). The concentric circles model of the cultural industries. Cultural Trends, 17(3), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/09548960802361951
About the article
Bosma, B., Loots, E., Stroet, P., & van Witteloostuijn, A. (2024). Passionately or reluctantly independent? Artistic and non-artistic self-employment compared. Journal of Cultural Economics, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-024-09525-x
About the authors
Ellen Loots is Associate Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Bas Bosma is Full Professor at School of Business and Economics (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).
Paul Stroet is PhD Candidate at School of Business and Economics (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).
Arjen van Witteloostuijn is Full Professor at School of Business and Economics (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).
About the image
Photo by Dillon Wanner on Unsplash
