English version:
A. Have the authority to hire or dismiss employees.

German version:
A. Ich bin befugt, Mitarbeiter einzustellen und zu entlassen.

Nein

Online Probing:
With regard to Item A, across the three countries between 62% and 82% of the respondents say they have the authority to hire or dismiss employees. In response to a general probe asking them to explain their answer further, 86% of these respondents note that they are the owner (or one of the co-owners) of their company, have the authority to hire or dismiss employees, and (in many cases) have done so in the past:

• “I am the owner of the company, so I hire people and if necessary also dismiss them.” (R319DE)
• “I am the managing director of this business and it's a small one so I do pretty much most of the things including hiring or dismissing.” (R248UK)

The remaining 14% argue that, in principle, they would have the authority to do so; however, they did not yet have the necessity or the financial means to do so:

• “If I had any I would because I am the owner. But I don’t have any and I didn't have adequate options in the previous question.” (R19UK)
• “If I wanted to, I could hire and dismiss employees. But there is no need to do so.” (R330PL)

Those respondents who said they did not have the authority to hire or dismiss employees received the following specific probe: “Does that mean that you do not have the authority or that you do not have the necessity to hire or dismiss employees (e.g. because you are working on your own and you do not need to employ co-workers)?” The answers to this probe can be divided into two groups. The first group (14%) explains that they simply do not have the authority to hire or dismiss employees (e.g., R454UK: “I don’t have the authority.”). The other group (86%) states that they solely work on their own and do not need to or want to employ co-workers:

• “I work on my own. I don’t want to employ anybody else.” (R43UK)
• “No necessity as working alone.” (R623PL)

This latter group thus strongly resembles those respondents who answered “yes” to Q9, Item A but argue that they do not have the necessity to hire/dismiss employees (even though they would have the authority to do so). In conclusion, Item A does not differentiate well between self-employed who actually do hire/dismiss employees and those who do not have the authority (vs. necessity) to do so.

Cognitive Interviews:
In the German pretest, six respondents answered that they have the authority to hire or dismiss employees, of which five are self-employed as their main job. Four respondents answered that they do not have the authority, of which three are self-employed in their additional job. These respondents all work as one-man freelancers for mainly one company, and do not consider themselves to be “running a business” in that sense (DE11, DE14). The mainly self-employed who answered that he does not have the authority to hire or dismiss is the respondent who mainly takes care of his parents (DE03). One respondent wasn’t certain from a legal point of view as she is running a “microenterprise” and chose “Don’t know” (DE16).
Having the authority to hire or dismiss employees is correctly understood by all respondents, regardless of whether or not they themselves have this authority. It is associated with having the right to sign binding contracts (DE01), having the responsibility of deciding whether personnel is necessary (DE02), being responsible for reaching a decision on whom to hire and justifying this decision (DE09). Not needing someone else’s permission to hire is also essential for several respondents (DE08, DE13).
In the Polish pretest, six respondents answered that they have the authority to hire or dismiss employees, of which four are self-employed as their main job. With one exception, all respondents understand the term “Having the authority to hire or dismiss employees” correctly. This respondent, who is self-employed as his main paid job, answered that he does not have the authority. He justifies his answer with the fact that he does not have any employees. When further probed whether he could employ people being the business owner, he replied: “Theoretically yes, I guess so, yet I never considered that in this situation, I did not think about it“ (PL09).

The quality and benefit of this item are difficult to assess. On the one hand, most respondents demonstrate a correct understanding of the item. However, both studies show that in practice, the necessity of hiring employees is much more accessible than the theoretical option to hire. Consequently, some respondents confound the item with Item C (having employees). Omitting this item is an option.

false