a Profesor, investigador y catedrático del emprendimiento, experto a nivel internacional en psicología social de las organizaciones y director de la Cátedra de Emprendedores, desde donde coordina programas de formación en emprendimiento. Dirige activamente, el grupo de investigación IDEM y la Red AFIDE-EMPRENDE.

The percentage of female entrepreneurs is far below the level of males, although it has increased over the past several years. Based on the theory of planned behavior, the purpose of this article is to specify a model in which the relationship among entrepreneurial potential, gender and entrepreneurial intention are explored, by analyzing how perceived behavioral control (PBC) and perceived entrepreneurial skills, as exogenous variables, affect expression of intention for business, and how these are mediated by their entrepreneurial motivations and risk taking propensity. Control variables where also included in this model, such as necessity-driven motives for business, in order to observe whether these are an influential factor. An implementation of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze data collected from 677 students. Variables within the model were compared by gender using t-Test, and all multivariate analysis were done by each one separately as well in order to better gauge their perceptions. Results showed that mean differences between males and females are not abundant, and come only from intentions, PBC and subjective norm, which are higher in males; and motives for business higher in females. Multivariate analysis shows gender differences at the mediation level and that necessity-driven motives are an influencing factor, more so in males, and it hampers the significance of subjective norm. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the results within the framework of entrepreneurship in Spain and future alternatives to improve the entrepreneurial potential are discussed.

Studying the variability of entrepreneurial attitudes within different countries is important in order to identify where attempts to increase entrepreneurial spirit and activity should focus. This article analyzes differences within multiple countries, as well the causal relationship of three attitudinal variables, namely, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, and entrepreneurial motivations with entrepreneurial intention. We used a cross-national framework and analyzed the relation of four different countries with a sample of 800 students from Argentina (200), Chile (200), Panama (200), and Spain (200). Results show variability in all attitudes between countries with Panama rating the highest in most and Spain rating the lowest. Motivations expressed for entrepreneurship are not statistically significant between most countries, which suggests the perception of entrepreneurship as an engine for personal goals is high and similar in all four countries. Regression analysis showed subjective norm’s effect is not statistically significant in Argentina nor Chile for intentions, and Panama’s intentions are highly driven by entrepreneurial motivations. These suggest policies and programs should tap on the fairly consistent entrepreneurial spirit to capitalize on student’s interest in entrepreneurship, and pull them into training programs to strengthen their competences.

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Entrepreneurship as a research topic has been approached from different disciplines. After justifying the importance of its study, we define it as a process of discovery, assessment, and exploitation of opportunities. As part of this process, it also becomes important to study the person behind these actions. In fact, the personality approach is one of the most classic approaches in the study of entrepreneurship, albeit at same time one of the most controversial. This chapter summarizes relevant literature on personality traits and entrepreneurship, and differences are also established between broad traits (e.g., Big Five) and more specific traits (e.g., Opportunity Recognition or Locus of Control). Due to space constraints, this chapter does not do justice to all the existing developments that have analyzed the relationship between personality traits and entrepreneurship; however, it also includes a section dedicated to cognitive ability as a line of work that can complement the trait-based approach. The authors finalize this chapter with conclusions from the selected literature.