Micro-business and Occupational Stress Process: Occupational Demands, Job Autonomy, and Depression in Korean Immigrant Micro-business Owners and Paid Employees in Toronto, Canada

Kim, Il-Ho

INTRODUCTION: Immigrant status is a pivotal determinant of access to employment and job-related physical and psychological health in North America. Due to labor market challenges, large proportions of Asian immigrants turn to self-employment in low-yielding service sectors. Although occupational stress has long been a central focus of psychological research, few studies investigate how immigrant micro-business owners (MBOs) respond to their unusually demanding occupation, or how their unresolved occupational stress manifests in psychological distress or disorders. Based on a Job Demands-Control (JD-C) model, this study compares MBOs to paid employees on depressive symptoms, occupational demands, and job autonomy.

METHODS: Data were derived from a cross-sectional survey of 1,288 Korean immigrant workers (MBOs, professionals, office workers, and manual workers) aged 20 to 64, living in Toronto and surrounding areas. Person to person interviews were conducted between March and November 2013.

RESULTS: Among the four occupational groups, MBOs reported the greatest physical, psychological, and emotional demands, as well as job autonomy. MBOs also had a higher level of depression than professional and office workers. While all three types of occupational demands were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, the influence of emotional demand was greater for MBOs than professional employees. An inspection of autonomy-stress interactions suggested autonomy significantly moderated against the impact of emotional demand (p<.022) and psychological demand (p<.006) on depressive symptoms. We also found the stress-moderating impact of job autonomy was more clearly highlighted among MBOs than paid employees.

CONCLUSIONS: One in two Korean immigrants choose self-employment, most typically in family-owned micro-businesses, which require long hours of physically demanding work and emotionally taxing dealings with clients and suppliers. However, the mental health of MBOs may be protected from the adverse effects of job stress by the benefits of having more control and autonomy at work compared to paid employees.