The Personality Characteristics of an Entrepreneur and ...

Juuli Chavez

The Personality Characteristics of an Entrepreneur and Their Effects on the Performance of a New Business Venture

Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences Bachelor of Business Administration European Management Bachelor's Thesis 11 May 2016

Abstract

Author(s) Title Number of Pages Date

Degree

Degree Programme

Specialisation option

Juuli Chavez The Personality Characteristics of an Entrepreneur and Their Effects on the Performance of a New Business Venture 37 pages 11 May 2016

Bachelor of Business Administration

European Management

Entrepreneurship

Instructor(s)

William Simcoe, Senior Lecturer

The purpose of this study is to examine the personality characteristics of an entrepreneur and their effects on the performance of a business venture. The thesis also aims to explain how the personality characteristics of an entrepreneur differ from those of a nonentrepreneur.

The research paper consisted of a literature review that built up the theoretical framework for the study. The theoretical framework was collected from a vast amount of academic sources concentrating on entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial personality. The literature review concluded in two hypotheses: (1) The characteristics of an entrepreneur differ from the characteristics of a non-entrepreneur and (2) The characteristics of an entrepreneur influence the performance of a business venture.

The two hypotheses were analyzed with the assistance of the findings of the literature review and a number of previous studies related to the topic. The results of these studies combined with the theoretical framework collected in the literature review resulted in the conclusion that both of the hypotheses were true. Therefore, the main conclusion of the research paper was that the performance of a new business venture is affected by the personality characteristics of the entrepreneur.

Keywords

entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial personality, business performance

Contents

1 Introduction

1

1.1 Background of the thesis

2

1.2 Limitations

3

1.3 Research objectives and aims

3

1.4 Methodology

4

1.5 Structure of thesis

4

2 Literature Review and hypotheses

6

2.1 Entrepreneurship and entrepreneur

6

2.1.1 Definitions

7

2.2 The different approaches of entrepreneurship

9

2.3 Entrepreneurial characteristics

11

2.3.1 Need for achievement

13

2.3.2 Locus of control

14

2.3.3 Risk-taking propensity

16

2.3.4 Issues with the study of entrepreneurial characteristics

17

2.4 Defining entrepreneurial success

19

2.5 Entrepreneurial characteristics and business venture performance

19

2.5.1 Issues with the study of entrepreneurial characteristics and business

venture performance

21

3 Findings and analysis

23

3.1 Analysis of hypothesis 1

23

3.2 Analysis of hypothesis 2

27

4 Discussion and conclusions

33

5 References

35

1

1 Introduction

"Entrepreneurship is the backbone of our economies and the mandate for the wealth of our nations. It is at the very core of our existence." (Carland Jr. and Carland 1997: 33)

Entrepreneurship is everywhere around us. It can be found in the smallest of the family shops in any third-world country and it can be found in every global organization anywhere in the world. Our whole economy is based on entrepreneurship. For decades already, entrepreneurship has created great interest among academics and the amount of literature and studies about entrepreneurship can be quite overwhelming. However, in the last few years, the interest in entrepreneurship has been raised to another level. Popular shows such as Dragon's Den and Shark Tank have brought entrepreneurship to every ordinary person's living room. Successful entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg can be seen on the red carpets and are known by anyone in any part of the world.

However, entrepreneurship is much more than these few individuals who make it to the global newspapers. The high-profile accomplishments of the global entrepreneurs are seen as charismatic examples, even as role models, for what is best in entrepreneurship. The examples of the high-profile entrepreneurs turn the concentration away from the characteristics and attitudes of the millions of small-scale entrepreneurs. (Butler 2006: 9) It is the small-scale entrepreneurs that are usually left out of the spotlight but it is exactly these entrepreneurs who should be the ones studied. These are the entrepreneurs who stand for every individual.

Entrepreneurship is a significant but a very broad area of study. People typically relate the study of entrepreneurship to the economical view. Entrepreneurship creates wealth and this is what tends to interest people. This view also limits the study of entrepreneurship. However, a great number of previous studies about the entrepreneur as an individual have been conducted and a selected few will be introduced later on in this thesis. These studies, combined with the theoretical framework about

2

entrepreneurship, build up the core of this thesis, and provide sufficient basis for an extensive conclusion.

This specific bachelor's thesis focuses on the entrepreneur as an individual, the psychological aspect of entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, the economic aspect of entrepreneurship is extremely valuable also and it will be included in the research paper as well. To be specific, the author of this thesis tries to combine the two different aspects and to investigate the personality characteristics of an entrepreneur and how they are related to the performance of a new business venture. Although previous research has been done about this specific research area, a comprehensive study of this sort provides the reader with a deeper understanding of the topic in question.

Although the clear focus of this research paper is on the entrepreneur as an individual, it is important to acknowledge the environmental factors as well. Dollinger (1995) claims that the environment creates both threats and opportunities for a new business venture. The opportunities are mainly resources such as technology, people and money. The key environmental elements are the ecosystem, sociodemographics, technology, economy and government and politics. (Dollinger 1995: 12) In the last few decades, particularly the promotion of entrepreneurship as a career or lifestyle choice has improved greatly and this has encouraged many people to consider entrepreneurship as a valid option. Government assistance schemes and venture capital opportunities have appeared to further encourage entrepreneurial behaviour and this is directly linked to the growing number of business start-ups. However, due to the word limit of a bachelor's thesis, the discussion of these issues must be left aside and the central theme remains on the entrepreneur as an individual.

1.1 Background of the thesis

This thesis topic emerged from the author's own personal interest to make sense of the wide amount of entrepreneurship literature, concentrating especially on the studies of the entrepreneur as an individual. The author is interested in becoming an entrepreneur herself in the near future and the studies linked to the psychology of an entrepreneur will hopefully give her a clearer understanding on how the personality characteristics of the entrepreneur are associated with the performance of a new business venture.

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download