Testing a Psychological Typology of Entrepreneurship Using Business Founders

Abstract

This study follows upon previous research among established entrepreneurs indicating that a four-way psychological typology (i.e., personal achievers, real managers, expert idea generators, and empathic supersalespeople) predicts firm growth. It extends support for the typology to the venture initiation phase and to a student population. The results confirm that those students who are characterized by one or more of the types are more likely to be entrepreneurs after graduation. Measures of entrepreneurial propensities and skill in business plan preparation—both obtained prior to graduation—are also predicted by the typology. As a test of the basic theory, this research provides substantial support. It also extends the domain of that theory to incorporate the enterprise start-up phase.

Cognition and international entrepreneurship: implications for research on international opportunity recognition and exploitation

“…They have also shown that differences in psychological profiles determine why some individuals, and not others, identify certain entrepreneurial opportunities and behave differently toward these opportunities. These psychological attributes are also related to entrepreneurial orientation (Begley and Boyd, 1987;Miller and Droge, 1986;Miller et al, 1982;Miner, 2000), defined as a person's willingness to take the risks associated with creating new companies and exploit these opportunities. For example, compared with non-founders, business founders have higher scores on risk-taking propensity and tolerance of ambiguity (Begley & Boyd).…”

Escala de Potencial Empreendedor: evidências de validade fatorial confirmatória, estrutura dimensional e eficácia preditiva

“…Some approaches associate specifically the entrepreneurial leadership style to narcissism traits (Mathieu & St-Jean, 2013) and internal locus of control (Miner, 2000;Mueller & Thomas, 2001). Beyond the personality traits, behavioural and psychological aspects related to the entrepreneurial leadership style probably lead the entrepreneur to the acquisition of management, communication and persuasion skills (Mueller & Goić, 2002;Schmidt & Bohnenberger, 2009;Nassif et al, 2010).…”

“…More than opening a business, the entrepreneurial action is directly related to aspects of personality [cognitive development, adaptation, traits, interests, impulses, self-concept, capacity and emotional patterns (see, Schultz & Schultz, 2006)] and human values [guide for actions and cognitive expression of basic needs (see, Gouveia et al, 2014)] (Littunen, 2000;Miner, 2000;Kristiansen & Indarti, 2004;Santos, 2008;Alves & Bornia, 2011;Brandstätter, 2011;Abebe, 2012;Barba-Sánchez & Atienza-Sahuquillo, 2012;Karabey, 2012;Minello & Scherer, 2012;Mathieu & St-Jean, 2013).…”

“…Among the instruments that deal with the measurement of entrepreneurial behaviour (e.g., McClelland, 1972;Carland et al, 1988Carland et al, , 1992Caird, 1991;Miner, 2000;Kristiansen & Indarti, 2004;Gonçalves et al, 2007;Santos, 2008;Cardon et al, 2013;Souza et al, 2013;, the Entrepreneurial Potential Scale, developed by Santos (2008), is one of which has shown better functionality, theoretical support and satisfactory standards of factorial validity and internal consistency, also demonstrating broad relevance to the area of entrepreneurship in Brazil -instrument validated complementarily with the Item Response Theory (IRT) by Alves & Bornia (2011).…”

Enterprise Ritual: A Theory of Entrepreneurial Emotion and Exchange

“…Being active rather than passive, particularly in relation to opportunity exploitation: taking the initiative, even at high risk, rather than settling for routine; workaholic tendencies; seeking control over others/situations rather than being controlled; aversion to passive, unquestioning conformity; see also 'need for achievement'; 'type A' personalities (Collins, 2004;Harper, 1996;Miner, 2000;Stewart et al, 1999;Cromie and O'Donaghue, 1992;Shane, 2003).…”