Jolanda Hessels
Biography
Jolanda Hessels is associate professor at Erasmus School of Economics. Jolanda’s main research area is economics of entrepreneurship and innovation, focusing on human capital, labour markets and institutions. Her primary aim is to uncover new insights into factors that stimulate entrepreneurship.
In current projects Jolanda looks into how previous careers and the hiring strategies of entrepreneurs relate to startup productivity and employee compensation. She also researches the role of peer effects for individual entrepreneurs' entry decisions. In other ongoing research Jolanda studies the impact of carbon taxes on the decarbonization of firms.
Her research has received over 12,000 citations based on Google scholar with an H-index of 32. At the Web of Science she has close to 4,000 citations with an H-index of 21.
List of publications
Agostinho, R., Baptista, R., Hessels, J., Castro-Silva, H. and van der Zwan, P. (2025). The entrepreneurship fountain of youth: Younger management ranks generate more entrepreneurs Journal of Business Venturing, 40(4).
van der Zwan, P., Hessels, J. and Burger, M. (2020). Happy Free Willies? Investigating the relationship between freelancing and subjective well-being Small Business Economics, 55:475--491.
Hessels, J. and Naude, W. (2019). The intersection of the fields of entrepreneurship and development economics: A review towards a new view Journal of Economic Surveys, 33(2):389--403.
Darnihamedani, P., Hessels, J., Block, J. and Simonyan, A. (2018). Taxes, start-up costs, and innovative entrepreneurship Small Business Economics, 51(2):355--369.
Hessels, J., Arampatzi, E., van der Zwan, P. and Burger, M. (2018). Life satisfaction and self-employment in different types of occupations Applied Economics Letters, 25(11):734--740.
van der Zwan, P., Hessels, J. and Rietveld, N. (2018). Self-employment and satisfaction with life, work, and leisure Journal of Economic Psychology, 64:73--88.
Hessels, J., Rietveld, N. and van der Zwan, P. (2017). Self-employment and work-related stress: The mediating role of job control and job demand Journal of Business Venturing, 32(2):178--196.
Terjesen, S., Hessels, J. and Li, D.(. (2016). Comparative International Entrepreneurship research: A review and research agenda Journal of Management, 42(1):299--344.
Hessels, J., Rietveld, N. and van der Zwan, P. (2014). Unraveling two myths about entrepreneurs Economics Letters, 122(3):435--438.
Millan, J., Hessels, J., Thurik, R. and Aguado, R. (2013). Determinants of job satisfaction: A European comparison of self-employed and paid employees Small Business Economics, 40(3):651--670.
Bosma, N., Hessels, J., Schutjens, V., van Praag, C. and Verheul, I. (2012). Entrepreneurship and role models Journal of Economic Psychology, 33(2):410--424.
Hessels, J. and van Stel, A. (2011). Entrepreneurship, export orientation and economic growth Small Business Economics, 37(2):255--268.
Hessels, J., Grilo, I., Thurik, R. and van der Zwan, P. (2011). Entrepreneurial exit and entrepreneurial engagement Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 21(3):447--471.
Hessels, J. and Terjesen, S. (2010). Resource dependency and institutional theory perspectives on direct and indirect export choices Small Business Economics, 34(2):203--220.
Acs, Z., Desai, S. and Hessels, J. (2008). Entrepreneurship, economic development and institutions Small Business Economics, 31(3):219--234.
de Clercq, D., Hessels, J. and van Stel, A. (2008). Knowledge spillovers and new ventures' export orientation Small Business Economics, 31(3):283--303.
Hessels, J., van Gelderen, M. and Thurik, R. (2008). Entrepreneurial motivations, aspirations and their drivers Small Business Economics, 31(3):323--339.