Seok-Woo Kwon – The Conversation

A new study suggests that adolescent friendships are associated with entrepreneurship decades later. (Unsplash+)

August 20, 2026

Your high school friends may shape whether you become an entrepreneur decades later

Seok-Woo Kwon, University of Calgary and Xiaoying Wang, Wilfrid Laurier University

Entrepreneurship is usually treated as an adult pursuit, but new research suggests the social influences that help shape who becomes an entrepreneur can begin much earlier.

Solo freelancers earn no more than salaried workers and report lower well-being, according to a new study following nearly 13,000 people from their teens to their 50s. (Unsplash+)

June 14, 2026

Being your own boss doesn’t always pay off: What 30 years of data reveal

Xiaoying Wang, Wilfrid Laurier University and Seok-Woo Kwon, University of Calgary

With entrepreneurial ambitions at an eight-year high in Canada, new research suggests the structure of a business matters more than the decision to start one.

Entrepreneurship is widely celebrated, but its hidden costs are often borne at home by partners whose labour and well-being go uncounted. (Getty Images/Unsplash+)

April 21, 2026

When a spouse starts a business, the other partner pays a hidden price

Kanwal Bokhari, University of Calgary; Jia Bao, City University of Macau; Seok-Woo Kwon, University of Calgary, and Wei Yu, National University of Singapore

Researchers followed hundreds of British couples for three decades to ask: What happens to the spouse who doesn’t choose startup life, but has to live it anyway?

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