The role of generations in explaining self-employment trends - 24 April 2019

About the seminar

The majority of research on self-employment trends focuses on period effects and ignores cohort (i.e., generational) effects. To address this gap, we use recently developed methodologies of cross-classified random effects models and apply them to the longest nationally-representative data series with a consistent measure of self-employment, the General Social Survey from 1972 to 2014. We find a strong generational effect on the probability of self-employment, even after accounting for period effects and changes in population composition over time. We also find that gender and industry have varying effects on self-employment across generations.

About Seok-Woo Kwon 

Prior to joining the Haskayne School in 2016, Seok-Woo has taught at Temple University, University of California at Riverside, University of Kentucky, and University of Southern California. He is one of the inaugural recipients of the Robert K. Merton Visiting Research Fellowship at Linköping University, and visited the Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado, Boulder.

His research has been published in Academy of Management Review, American Sociological Review, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of International Business Studies, Management Science, Organization Science, and Social Forces. He has won multiple awards including W. Richard Scott Award for Distinguished Scholarship, 2014; Academy of Management Review Decade Award, 2012; Best AMR Paper of 2002 Award.