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Nearly three-quarters of people worldwide would prefer to be their own boss, but Australians rank as the least enthusiastic about self-employment, according to a new global survey.
The research, conducted by cross-border payments provider Remitly Business and fielded via academic research platform Prolific, has found 74.6 per cent of respondents globally prefer self-employment over traditional employment.
Kenya leads the pack at 98.0 per cent, followed by South Africa at 92.7 per cent and Morocco at 90.7 per cent.
Australia sits at the opposite end of the spectrum, with just 59.4 per cent of respondents favouring self-employment and 40.6 per cent preferring traditional employment - making it the least entrepreneurially inclined country surveyed.
Australia sits just ahead of New Zealand with 39.5 per cent preferring traditional work and the Czech Republic at 37.1 per cent.
The main reasons for this are greater job security and benefits such as pensions and sick pay (61.7 per cent), lower financial risk (61.1 per cent) and not wanting the responsibility of running a business (56 per cent).
Independence and control topped the list of motivations for those drawn to self-employment, cited by 72.7 per cent of respondents globally.
Flexibility ranked second at 58.6 per cent, followed by higher earning potential at 52.2 per cent and the ability to pursue a passion at 50.2 per cent.
Yet the gap between aspiration and action is stark with only a third of respondents saying they are likely to take concrete steps toward self-employment in the next 12 months.
Financial risk has emerged as the dominant barrier, with unstable income cited by 56.5 per cent of respondents as the biggest concern.
More than half say they will need at least a 51 per cent pay increase over their current salary to consider making the leap.
The survey of more than 5,100 adults across 28 countries also found 84 per cent of respondents believe social media makes self-employment look more appealing than it actually is, suggesting a widespread scepticism about curated portrayals of entrepreneurial life online.
“Our research highlights a growing gap between the ambition to start a business and the confidence to take that first step," says Ankur Tiwari, vice president and general manager of Remitly Business.
"Many people are drawn to the independence and flexibility that entrepreneurship can offer, but ongoing financial uncertainty is making it harder to make the leap."
Tiwari says that it is "especially interesting" how global entrepreneurship is becoming.
"People want to build businesses that operate across borders from day one," says Tiwari.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data released last year reflects the nation's relatively tempered appetite for going it alone.
The ABS recorded 1.1 million independent contractors in Australia, representing 7.6 per cent of all employed persons.
A further 2.4 million Australians were employed on a casual basis, accounting for 22.2 per cent of all employees.
Among Australian independent contractors, 53.6 per cent operated as sole traders without employees, and the median tenure in their current contract arrangement was 4.4 years.
The data points to a mature but modestly sized independent workforce, one that may already capture many of those inclined toward autonomous work, leaving a larger share of the population settled in permanent roles.
The Remitly survey sampled between 150 and 200 respondents per country across 28 nations including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Brazil and India, with fieldwork conducted in February last year.
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