Why Senior Workers Are Becoming Entrepreneurs: Necessity or Passion?

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2015), in the next 30 years, the world population will age rapidly, so that in the middle of the twenty-first century those people who are over 60 years of age will be double that at the beginning of the century. Between 2015 and 2050, the world population with more than 60 years of age will increase from 900 million to 2,000 million.

Faced with this demographic change experienced by the world population, formulas are increasingly being raised that make active aging possible, opening possibilities for self-realization and personal and professional growth until the end of life. This is one of the reasons why more and more scholars and practitioners are focusing on the value of entrepreneurship in older adults and the programs that encourage it.

This chapter aims to reflect on what leads the group of so-called senior entrepreneurs to start a new work–life based on entrepreneurship or self-employment, as well as discuss some myths of entrepreneurship. To what extent we must consider the firm performance as a variable on which the decision can be taken is pivoted. Entrepreneurship is a complex issue, and although it is true that it has been strongly analyzed both academically and professionally by different generations of young people, the behavior of senior entrepreneurs, a population group that is becoming increasingly important sociologically and economically, has barely been studied.

Citation

Ortega-Lapiedra, R. (2020), "Why Senior Workers Are Becoming Entrepreneurs: Necessity or Passion?", Caputo, A. and Pellegrini, M.M. (Ed.) The Entrepreneurial Behaviour: Unveiling the cognitive and emotional aspect of entrepreneurship (Entrepreneurial Behaviour Series), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 271-280. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78973-507-920201018