Business startup motives and satisfaction among Swedish selfemployed

This article investigates if satisfaction with being selfemployed is affected by whether the decision to become selfemployed has been made by choice or by force. After a literature review, the hypothesis was that pull factors lead to higher satisfaction than push factors among the selfemployed. A survey answered by 1040 selfemployed (62% of the sample), shows interesting results since both groups of startup motives lead to equally high levels of satisfaction. These results support a government's strategy to encourage and stimulate people to start a business both in times of economic recession and unemployment as well as during economic prosperity.self-employment; entrepreneurship; business startups; motivation; satisfaction; push factors; pull factors; Sweden; new ventures.