Movements between Entrepreneurship and Paid Employment: Experiences of Polish Entrepreneurs in the International Context

Abstract

The present paper, drawing on qualitative interviews with Polish former and current entrepreneurs based in the Opole region focuses on their experiences as it relates to movements from wage employment to entrepreneurship and from entrepreneurship to wage employment. In so doing, it seeks to find out why they decided to become entrepreneurs or to return to paid employment, what they experience in their new occupations, and how their prior experiences influence the way they run their businesses or work as employees. The interview findings suggest that people become entrepreneurs because they seek to earn more, be autonomous, or to test their “inner mettle.” The interviews also lend credence to the view that running one’s own company is a testing experience and that not everyone can and should be an entrepreneur. Yet, at the same time, the study shows that a spell of entrepreneurship can help one gain skills and develop personal attributes that come in handy in wage employment. As there are lacunae in topical literature, the study seeks to fill some of these gaps and, by this token, make some contributions to the existing body of knowledge.

Keywords

• entrepreneurship
• entrepreneur experiences
• career trajectories
• in-depth individual interviews