RESEARCH_FILE
Pankaj C. Patel
Villanova University School of Business
Known for:Research with Joris Rietveld on why self-employed workers experienced sharper psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“What if no one hires me next month?”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“A quiet week is a gap, not a prediction.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Spend five minutes gathering the last twelve months of invoices or deposits into one view, then mark three months that followed a slow spell. Keep it private; no editing, no decisions, just the record.
Key findings
- 2020
With Joris Rietveld, finds that self-employed workers had greater short-term psychological distress than wage workers during the early pandemic, and that self-reported financial insecurity and perceived job-loss risk — not self-employment status alone — mediated the gap. The Impact of Financial Insecurity on the Self-Employed's Short-Term Psychological Distress: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic ↗