Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are important for new wealth creation and economic development. Yet insufficient attention has been paid in entrepreneurship research to psychological characteristics such as the big five personality characteristics. In this study, we address this issue by investigating the psychological determinants of real-life entrepreneurial start-up decisions and intentions by contrasting entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs as regards the big five personality factors (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). Using data collected via face-to-face structured interviews with 546 individuals from Slovenia, we tested hypotheses using multi-nominal logistic regression (supplemented by MANOVA).

The purpose of the paper is to develop a consistent measure of the entrepreneurs' personal network multiplexity and to analyse its relationship to firm growth. The research goals were achieved with a quantitative approach. The data were collected with a structured questionnaire delivered to micro and small firms in Slovenia. The research results confirmed the multidimensionality of the network multiplexity concept and showed that it may influence firm growth. Entrepreneurs' personal networks represent an important form of support during the entrepreneurial process, therefore they need to be efficiently and carefully managed by entrepreneurs.

The purpose of the study is to develop a multidimensional construct of networking self-efficacy, empirically test its multidimensionality, and analyse its relationship to firm growth. The empirical study is based on data collected through a structured questionnaire that was emailed to entrepreneurs from small-and medium-sized firms in Slovenia. The developed scale was examined for convergent and discriminant validity with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The predictive validity of the scale was measured by linking networking self-efficacy to firm growth. The results confirmed a three-dimensional structure of the networking self-efficacy construct and a positive relationship between networking self-efficacy and firm growth. The results of the study show that a stronger sense of networking self-efficacy can actually result in greater network support and consequently also better firm growth. Thus, entrepreneurs should be confident in their abilities to obtain and efficiently use resources acquired through their personal networks in order to exploit all the benefits of their social networks.

The aim of this study is to get a better understanding of the benefits of networking activities among firms operating in the tourism industry. The study classifies a sample of 421 tourism firms from three Mediterranean countries – Croatia, Italy and Slovenia – into three distinct groups based on their networking activities – Non-networkers (group 1), Great Networkers (group 2) and Limited Networkers (group 3) – and seeks to identify similarities and differences among these groups. The research results show that tourism firms from these three groups differ from each other based on the firm’s country of origin, industry, age, size, and performance. According to the results, we may be able to advise firms operating in the tourism industry regarding how to increase their collaboration with their internal and external environment in order to achieve better firm performance.

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