Person–city personality fit and entrepreneurial success: An explorative study in China

Abstract

While the study of personality differences is a traditional psychological approach in entrepreneurship research, economic research directs attention towards the entrepreneurial ecosystems in which entrepreneurial activity are embedded. We combine both approaches and quantify the interplay between the individual personality make-up of entrepreneurs and the local personality composition of ecosystems, with a special focus on person-city personality fit. Specifically, we analyse personality data from N = 26,405 Chinese residents across 42 major Chinese cities, including N = 1091 Chinese entrepreneurs. Multi-level polynomial regression and response surface plots revealed that: (a) individual-level conscientiousness had a positive effect and individual-level agreeableness and neuroticism had a negative effect on entrepreneurial success, (b) city-level conscientiousness had a positive, and city-level neuroticism had a negative effect on entrepreneurial success, and (c) additional person-city personality fit effects existed for agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism. For example, entrepreneurs who are high in agreeableness and conduct their business in a city with a low agreeableness level show the lowest entrepreneurial success. In contrast, entrepreneurs who are low in agreeableness and conduct their business in a city with a high agreeableness level show relatively high entrepreneurial success. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Regional Cultures and the Psychological Geography of Switzerland: Person–Environment–Fit in Personality Predicts Subjective Wellbeing

“…An Australian study found that high congruence between participants' personalities and where they lived was linked to better mood (Murray et al, 2005 ). Similarly, person–city–fit had a positive effect on entrepreneurial success (Zhou et al, 2017 ) and self-esteem (Bleidorn et al, 2016 ). In a longitudinal study at the University of Berkeley, a better match between students and the university culture was correlated with higher levels of personality consistency and self-esteem as well as lower levels of Agreeableness and Neuroticism (Roberts and Robins, 2004 ).…”

“…In recent years, many different approaches to the measurement of fit have been employed (Phillips et al, 2010 ), ranging from intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC; Fulmer et al, 2010 ), sums of absolute differences (Noë et al, 2016 ), as well as sums of squared differences (Obschonka et al, 2013 ), and squared Euclidian distances (Musiol and Boehnke, 2013 ) to response surface analysis (RSA) techniques (Bleidorn et al, 2016 ; Denissen et al, 2017 ; Zhou et al, 2017 ). Undeniably, all of these methods have their merits.…”

Well-being as a function of person-country fit in human values

“…However, the effect sizes were very small and only reliable for some personality traits (e.g., openness and agreeableness). Similarly, polynomial regressions have been used to examine effects of person-environment fit in traits on indicators of entrepreneurial success 30 , attachment 31 , as well as fit in values on anti-immigrant attitudes 32 and national pride 33 . These studies have demonstrated the utility of the polynomial method as a powerful tool for precisely estimating effects of person-environment fit.…”

Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Success: A Multilevel Study on Stakeholders of Micro-Enterprises

“…Success in running a company is of vital importance not only for entrepreneurs-business owners themselves but also for the society as a whole, since it leads to economic growth and job creation (e.g., van Praag and Versloot , 2007 ). Two kinds of indicators based on which businesses are judged to be successful have been considered in past research: financial indicators of firm performance (e.g., McGee et al, 1995 ; Murphy et al, 1996 ; Zhou et al, 2017 ) and indicators of entrepreneur’s satisfaction from running a firm (e.g., Gorgievski et al, 2011 ; Fodor and Pintea, 2017 ). Success evaluations were usually based on assessments made by entrepreneurs themselves ( Dijkhuizen et al, 2016 ; Przepiorka, 2016 ; Wach et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Popular opinion has it and many studies show ( Baron and Markman, 2003 ; Crane and Sohl, 2004 ; Steffens et al, 2009 ; Unger et al, 2009 ) that entrepreneurial success is evaluated from a financial perspective and identified with the financial yield of the company ( Steffens et al, 2009 ; Zhou et al, 2017 ). High financial outcomes and good position on the market are named as success indicators, together with other economic indicators of entrepreneurial success and firm performance ( van Praag and Versloot, 2007 ; Richard et al, 2009 ).…”