Social scientific research continues to attempt to distill the social prerequisites of entrepreneurship. This research on small-scale industrial entrepreneurs in a Philippine marketing center and its hinterland towns and villages attempts to contribute to this line of research.
Through hypothesis testing and path analysis an attempt is made to establish which among a group of independent variables are important for determining achievement orientation of entrepreneurs, and which are the relatively more important variables. Family ties in business, education, and individual modernity are found to be significantly related to achievement orientation, and the strength of their impact on achievement orientation is in that order. Variables, such as social class and urban-rural origin, dating from the early life experiences of entrepreneurs, are not related significantly to achievement orientation.
For small-scale manufacturing entrepreneurs in a rural marketing region, this research reinforces theorists' doubts regarding the immutability of early socialization on later life experiences and the contention that family ties ubiquitously hinder the modernization process.