Successful Entrepreneurship as Developmental Outcome

Abstract

Applying a lifespan approach of human development, this study examined pathways to entrepreneurial success by analyzing retrospective and current data. Along the lines of McClelland’s ideas of early entrepreneurship development and Rauch and Frese’s Giessen-Amsterdam model on venture success, we investigated the roles of founders’ adolescent years (early role models, authoritative parenting, and early entrepreneurial competence), personality traits (Big Five pattern), and entrepreneurial skills and growth goals during venture creation. Findings were derived from structural equation modeling studying two comparable samples of founders (N = 531) and nascent founders (N = 100) from Germany. Across both samples, reports on age-appropriate entrepreneurial competence in adolescence and an entrepreneurial Big Five profile predicted entrepreneurial skills during venture creation, which in turn predicted founders’ setting of ambitious growth goals and entrepreneurial success. Early entrepreneurial competence was related to the availability of entrepreneurial role models and authoritative parenting during adolescence as well as to an entrepreneurial Big Five profile. In line with prospective reports on early precursors of entrepreneurship, the findings illuminate the development of entrepreneurship in general and entrepreneurial success in particular over the lifespan, especially with regard to factors relevant in the adolescent years and the interplay with personality across different developmental periods.

Entrepreneurial Passion and Personality: The Case of Academic Entrepreneurship

“…We used a well-validated German 45-item questionnaire (Ostendorf, 1990) to derive the Big Five personality traits. This questionnaire was successfully employed in earlier entrepreneurship studies (e.g., Schmitt-Rodermund, 2004; Obschonka et al, 2011). Extraversion (e.g., “uncommunicative vs. talkative”), conscientiousness (e.g., “lazy vs. diligent”), openness (e.g., “conventional vs. inventive”), agreeableness (e.g., “good-natured vs. cranky”), and neuroticism (e.g., “vulnerable vs. robust”) were measured by nine six-point bipolar items each, with answers ranging from (0) to (5).…”

Model of the Entrepreneurial Intention of University Students in the Pearl River Delta of China

“…The role models were measured by a scale developed by Obschonka et al (2011). According to the scale, respondents were asked whether their parents, relatives, or close friends of the family were self-employed by using two items.…”

Risk Aversion, Entrepreneurial Attitudes, Intention and Entry Among Young People in Uganda and Germany: A Gendered Analysis

“…Although high risk-taking seems to be an important factor to start one’s own business, entrepreneurs have to make decisions to manage risks. Hence, the level of risk-taking behaviour is important to the long-term survival and outcomes of an enterprise (Caliendo et al, 2010, 2014; Obschonka et al, 2015). But most importantly, in line with the aim of the present study, risk aversion is useful in making a decision and actions to establish a business or to become self-employed (Brandstätter, 2011; Obschonka & Stuetzer, 2017).…”