Entrepreneur Behavior: Study on the Entrepreneurs' Personal Characteristics in SMEs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51302/rtss.2010.5331Keywords:
entrepreneurs, personal characteristics, entrepreneurship, employees, occupational statusAbstract
Social and behavioral sciences such as economics, sociology or psychology, which carry out researches on entrepreneurship, emphasize the role that entrepreneurs play in the economy growth, in social stability and welfare. Authors particularly highlight some characteristics linked to personality which lead to business success and growth, such as the need for achievement, creativity and initiative, optimism, self-confidence, risk management capacity, locus of control, etc. In this context, this study compares the attitudes of 200 entrepreneurs and 200 employees on the perception of entrepreneurs’ personal characteristics, using the Entrepreneurial Attitude Scale. Hotelling’s T2 Test, Discriminant Analysis and Regression Analysis have been used as main statistical analysis tools. The results of this study show that the differences in occupational status between entrepreneurs and employees imply likewise differences in the preception of the entrepreneurs attitude characteristics. Entrepreneurs stress on creativity, optimism and luck or fortune as characteristics of succesful entrepreneurs; meanwhile, employees point out self-confidence, tolerance and sense of humor. Important implications for policy makers and future research are made, mainly from the prespective of training young people in entrepreneurship. Further researches are required to build on this work by including more variables of study and by improving the analysis of entrepreneur’s characteristics.
Downloads
References
Ahmed, S. [1985]: «n Ach, risk taking propensity, locus of control and entrepreneurship», Personality and Individual differences, 6: 781-781.
Bisquerra, A. [1989]: Introducción conceptual al Análisis multivariable. Un enfoque informático con los Paquetes SPSS, BMDP, LISREL Y SPAD, Vol. I y II, Barcelona: PPU, S.A.
Begley, T. y Boyd, D. [1986]: «Psychological characteristics associated with entrepreneurial performance». En R. Peterson & K. Vesper [Eds.]: Frontiers of Entrepreneurship research, 2-89, Wesley: Babson College.
Brockhaus, R. H. [1976]: Locus of Control and Risk Taking Propensity as Entrepreneurial characteristics: A comparative study, Private paper.
– [1982]: «The Psychology of the entrepreneur». En C. Kent, D., Sexton, y K. Vesper [Eds]: Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship, 56-89, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Brockhaus, R. H. [1993]: «Series introduction». En J. Katz & Brockhaus (Eds). Advances in entrepreneurship, firm emergence and growth, 1: 1-5, London: JAI Press, Inc.
Birley, S. y Watson, L. [1988]: The British Entrepreneur, 1988: a Study of the Top 100 Owner managers, Granfield occasional Paper.
Burt, R.S. [1997]: «The contingent value of social capital». Administrative Science Quarterly, 42: 339-365.
Bygrave, W. D. [1989]: «The entrepreneurship paradigm [I): a philosophical look at its research methodologies», Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 14: 7-26.
Cantillon, R. [1978]: Ensayo General sobre la naturaleza del comercio en general [1755], México: FCE.
Casson, M. [1982]: The entrepreneur: An economic Theory, Oxford: Martin Robertson.
Clark, B. [1998]: Principles of political economy: A comparative approach, Westport, CT: Praeger.
Collin, O. F. y Moore, D. G. [1964]: The entreprising man. East Lansing, MI: MSU Business Studies.
Davidsson, P. y Honig, B. [2003]: «The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs». Journal of Business Venturing, 18; 301-331.
Durand, D. y Shea, D. [1978]: «Entrepreneurial activity as a función of achievement motivation and reinforcement control». Journal of Psychology, 88: 57-63.
Espace [1990]: La creation d'entreprises en France, Lille: Université de Lille.
European Commission [2003]: Grean Paper on Entrepreneurship in Europe, Brussel: European Commission.
European Council [2000]: Presidency Conclusions, Lisbon Extraordinary European Council, 23-24 march.
Fazio, R. H. [1986]: «How do attitudes guide behavior?» In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins [Eds.], The handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior: 204-243: New York: Guilford Press.
Gartner, W. B. [1989]: «"Who is an entrepreneur?" Is the wrong question», Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 5: 47-67.
Ginsberg, A Y Buchholz, A [1989]: «Are entrepreneurship a breed apart? A look a the evidence». Journal of General Management, 15: 32-40.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor-GEM [2007]: GEM 2007 Report: Entrepreneurship is going global, London: Babson College. London Business School.
Observatorio Industrial de Madrid [2007]: Informe Industrial de Madrid, Madrid: Observatorio económico. Madrid emprende.
Galbraith, C., Latham, D. R. y Benítez, J. [1997]: Entrepreneurship in the Hispanic Community of Southeastern United States, Massachusetts: Babson College entrepreneur research Group.
Galbraith, J. W. y Zinde-Walsh V. [1997]: «On Some Simple, Autoregression-based Estimation and Identification Techniques for ARMA Models» Biometrika 84: 685-696.
Hagen, E. E. [1980]: The Economics of Development, Homewood: Richard D. Irwin Press.
Harris, R. J. [1985]: A primer of Multivariate Statistics, Orlando, Florida: Academic Press.
Harry, Z. E. [1986]: Employers and the Environment challenges, Geneva: International Labour Organization Edition.
Hébert, R. F. y Albert N. L. [1988]: The Entrepreneur: Mainstream views and radical critiques, New York: Praeger.
Jones, C. I. [2002]: Introduction to Economic Growth, New York, N.Y: Norton & Company.
King, A. [1985]: «Self-analysis and assessment of entrepreneurial potential». Stimulation and Games, 16: 399-416.
Kirzner, I. M. [1979]: Perception, opportunity and Profit, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Leibenstein, H. [1978]: General X-Efficiency Theory and Economic Development, New York: Oxford University Press.
Lengnicks, H. y Cynthia, A. [1992]: «Innovation and Competitive advantage. What we know and what we need to learn». Journal of Management, 18 (2), June: 399-429.
Maisonneuve, J. [1973]: Introduction à la Psychosociologie, París: PUF.
Marston, W. M. [1979]: Emotions of normal people. MN: Persona Press, Inc.
Mcclleland, D. C. [1969]: The Achieving Society, New Jersey: Van Nostrand Company, Inc.
Mcguire, J. W. [1985]: Theories of Business Behavior, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewoods Cliffs.
Morrison, A. [2000]: «Entrepreneurship: what triggers it?». International Journal of Entrepreneurship Behavior & Research, 6, N.º 2: 59-71.
Newcomb, T. M., Turner, R. T. y Converse, P. E. [1980]: Social Psychology: A study of Human Interaction. London: Routledge & Kegan.
Penrose, E. [1972]: The Theory of Growth of the Firm (1959). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Prieto, J. M. y Briales, H. [1991]: «Les différents programmes de soutien à la création de Petites entreprises en Espagne». En CEDEFOP [Eds]. Création d'entreprises: politique de soutien et rôle de la Formation. Rapports nationaux sur la France, Italie, Espagne, Royaume Uni et le Rapport Synthèse: 9-86, Luxembourg: Office des Publications Officielles des Communautés Europeènnes.
Rousseau, D. M. [1978]: «Characteristics of departments, positions, and individuals: Contexts for attitudes and behavior». Administrative Science Quarterly, 23: 521-538.
Rotter, J. [1982]: The Development and application of Social Learning Theory. New York: Praeger.
Rubenstein, D. R. [1980]: Max Weber: a catalogue raisonné of his graphic work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Schumpeter, J. A. [1978]: The Theory of Economic Development: an Inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest, and business cycle (1934), Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Stevenson, Howard H. y David E. Gumpert [1985]: «The Heart of Entrepreneurship». Harvard Business Review, March-April: 85-94.
Sexton, D. L. y Bowman, N. [1986]: «Validation of a personality index: Comparative Psychological characteristics analysis of Female entrepreneurs, managers, entrepreneurship students and Business students». En R. Peterson & K. Vesper [Eds.] Frontiers of Entrepeneurship Research, 21-35, Weley: Babson College.
Tatsuoka, M. M. [1988]: Multivariate Analysis: Techniques for Educational and Psychological Research, New York: John Wiley.
Timmons, J, Smollen, L, y Dingee, A. [1977]: New Venture Creation: A Guide to Small Business Development, Homewood: Irwin.
Veciana, J. M. [1989]: «Características del Empresario en España», Papeles de Economía Española, 39: 19-36.
Venkatapathy, R. [1983]: «Biographical characteristics of first generation and second generation entrepreneurs». Journal of Small Entreprise Development in Management, 10: 1 5-24.
Wainer, H y Rubin, I. [1969]: «Motivation of research and development entrepreneurs». Journal of Applied Psychology, 53: 178-184.
