Who becomes an entrepreneur? Early life experiences as predictors of entrepreneurship.

Abstract

Taking a longitudinal perspective, we tested a developmental-contextual model of entrepreneurship in a nationally representative sample. Following the lives of 6,116 young people in the 1970 British Birth Cohort from birth to age 34, we examined the role of socioeconomic background, parental role models, academic ability, social skills, and self-concepts as well as entrepreneurial intention expressed during adolescence as predictors of entrepreneurship by age 34. Entrepreneurship was defined by employment status (being self-employed and owning a business). For both men and women, becoming an entrepreneur was associated with social skills and entrepreneurial intentions expressed at age 16. In addition, we found gender-specific pathways. For men, becoming an entrepreneur was predicted by having a self-employed father; for women, it was predicted by their parents' socioeconomic resources. These findings point to conjoint influences of both social structure and individual agency in shaping occupational choice and implementation.

Impact of Entrepreneurship Training on Entrepreneurial Efficacy and Alertness among Adolescent Youth

“…Schoon and Duckworth's (2012) longitudinal study involving over 6,000 individuals tracked from birth until age 34 revealed that becoming an entrepreneur was associated with entrepreneurial career intent expressed at mid-adolescence (age 16). It will be important for future studies to monitor if youth who undergo training end up establishing their own business ventures at some point in their lifetime.…”

Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies

“…This combination is referred to as entrepreneurial personality (Zhao, Seibert, & Lumpkin, 2010). These personality traits are stable over time and often already displayed at a young age (Obschonka, Duckworth, Silbereisen, & Schoon, 2012;Obschonka et al, 2010;Schoon & Duckworth, 2010). Personality traits have also been linked to success as an entrepreneur (Ciavarella et al, 2004;Owens et al, 2012).…”

“…In the empirical literature is a broad consensus that entrepreneurs have a more aggressive, forward (future) oriented, and extrovert personality (e.g., Schoon & Duckworth, 2010;Stuard & Abetti, 1990;White et al, 2006). Entrepreneurs are better able to tolerate ambiguous situations and uncertainty (e.g., Lüthje & Franke, 2003;White et al, 2006) and they tend to be less comfortable with authority and therefore tend to favor autonomy (e.g., Owens, Kirwan, Lounsbury, Levy, & Gibson, 2012).…”

“…The literature confirms as well that the offspring of entrepreneurs have a higher possibility to express entrepreneurial intent than children without entrepreneurial family members (BarNir, Watson, & Hutchins, 2011;Gurbuz & Aykol, 2008;Scherer, Brodzinski, & Wiebe, 1991;Schmitt-Rodermund, 2004;Schroeder, Schmitt-Rodermund, & Arnaud, 2011;Tong, Tong, & Loy, 2011). Schoon and Duckworth (2010) the role models that grow out of a) networks and b) clusters.…”

“…East and West Germany shared a similar culture but differed sharply in the layout of their formal institutions. Data from studies of (Schoon & Duckworth, 2010) and (Obschonka et al, 2010) Entrepreneurial personality stable over time (childhood to mid adulthood). In order to climb the academic ladder (getting admission to good colleges, programs, graduate schools, scholarships and so on), one has to usually be good at something, preferably the chosen field of study.…”