New employment experiences and trajectories between salary-earning and entrepreneurs

International audienceTraditionally, as well as in pop culture, entrepreneurship is conceived of as opposed to salary-earning, and decision from being a salaried employee to entrepreneur as a great leap. However, entrepreneurship studies and new employment forms blur this border between two worlds and the plunging from one world to the other. A study is conducted on employees working at this frontier: French umbrella professionals (salariés portés), inquiring qualitatively about their conception of entrepreneurship, their experience of crossing and of their new condition, as well as their aspirations, fears and values. No leap in activity was found, but there was the feeling of having shifted to another mental universe. The respondents had all the feeling of being entrepreneurs without creating new products, markets or business ventures. They enjoy their full engagement in their work and experience a different relation to time. Considering themselves as entrepreneurs grants them with a desirable social status, but underscores their risky position and an increased portion of their life to be devoted to work. This study aims at providing guidance for public policies fostering employment through entrepreneurship and for workers considering such a working hybrid status. It also puts into perspective the classical contours of entrepreneurship and salaried positions and call for closer examination of the new forms of employment