Purpose This study explores how personal and household characteristics influence self-employment in Poland, with a focus on gender differences. Specifically, it examines the roles of a spouse/partner's employment type and income as well as the presence of children, in shaping the propensity for self-employment. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the 2015 to 2019 Polish Household Budget Survey, this paper employs probit regression models to analyze self-employment determinants. Separate models are estimated for women and men to uncover gender-specific effects. The analysis considers individual, household and socio-demographic factors. Findings The findings reveal that having a self-employed spouse or partner significantly increases the likelihood of self-employment, particularly for men, with the effect being twice as strong compared to women. The presence of other self-employed adults in the household also raises self-employment probability, again with a notably larger effect for men. For women, having a spouse employed on a labor contract reduces the likelihood of self-employment, whereas this factor is not significant for men. Additionally, parenthood slightly increases self-employment probability for both genders. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on gender and entrepreneurship by offering new insights into how household and personal characteristics influence self-employment choices. It underscores the role of human capital transfer within households, highlights gender asymmetries in these processes and challenges the assumed gender neutrality of existing theoretical models. The analysis is situated in the distinct socioeconomic context of Poland – a transitional economy that accounts for 12% of all self-employment in the EU.
Sałach et al. (2025) studied this question.