The Intersection of Self-employment and Unpaid Care Work

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to conduct an exploratory study of how self-employed individuals with caring responsibilities manage their paid work with their unpaid care work. Self-employment continues to rise alongside individual responsibilities for providing unpaid care, and unpaid caregivers are increasingly turning to self-employment. It is crucial for researchers and policymakers alike to understand how self-employment and unpaid care work intersect and what this intersection means in practical terms.

This study adopted an interpretivist and qualitative approach which involved analysing semi-structured interviews with 25 participants. The analysis developed a typology of time management practices that participants drew upon to manage their income generation and unpaid care work. Findings of the study highlighted that participants were faced with different institutional logics - market, family, and profession - which they had to maintain and balance. To navigate this institutional pluralism, and the co-existence of different logics, participants segmented their time to mitigate the impact of the market, family, and profession logics in situations where tensions, contradictions and at times compatibility arose. This was done by drawing from a typology of four time management practices, each with its own set of activities, as a strategy for navigating institutional pluralism. Decisions on how to navigate the challenges and pressures were also influenced by perceived economic security and availability of social support.

The novelty of this study relative to previous research come from focusing on the full spectrum of unpaid care work, and by approaching it based on live-in caregiving and long-distance caring. The study makes a unique theoretical contribution by conceptualising the balancing of the dual roles through a typology of time management practices as a result from institutional pluralism. This study expands on previous research by demonstrating the value of the institutional logics perspective in furthering the understanding of the intersection of self-employment and unpaid care work.