Entrepreneurial Attributes

Objectives

What You Will Learn :

1. How entrepreneurship is defined
2. The most common attributes of entrepreneurs according to the literature
3. The ‘Big Five’ Personality Types as they relate to entrepreneurship
4. Some of the environmental factors that impact on personality and attributes
5. Ways of thinking to help you reflect on your understanding of your own attributes and personality in relation to being an entrepreneur

What is an Entrepreneur?

Because you are studying entrepreneurship and innovation this term, it is important that you understand what an entrepreneur is. According to Zhao and Seibert (2006, p. 263), there has been little agreement on the definition of an entrepreneur. Despite this, they draw on broadly acceptable definitions from literature on the subject to propose that an entrepreneur is:

Miller and Miller suggest entrepreneurs need to, at least, be:

• Courageous
• Imaginative
• Creative
• Insightful
• Original/Innovative
• Confident
• Persistent
• Risk Tolerant, and
• Venturesome

They stand firm on the argument that courage and imagination are at the top of the list for entrepreneurs (especially for business start-ups, high tech innovators, and complex corporations). Further to this, they report that Entrepreneurs must have high levels of locus of control (i.e. the belief that you can influence events and outcomes), self-efficacy (i.e. belief in your ability to perform a certain task under certain conditions) and flexibility.

However, you have probably guessed by now, that this is only a taste of what you need to be an entrepreneur. And, other factors affect courage, creativity, confidence, risk tolerance and so forth. For example, life experience can influence levels of confidence, persistence, and willingness to take risks. And, they can build or suppress the kind of courage needed to manage the challenges of entrepreneurial venturing. In addition to this, your values, and organisational values can affect courage. Consider, for example, if you hold dearly values or a mission grounded in helping others, then you might find the courage to take risks around entrepreneurial ventures for such causes.

- Source: Miller and Miller, 2017

So, it is important to not lose sight of how values, and personal history impact on successful entrepreneurship. But, also to keep in mind there are numerous factors at play in the environment that also impact on this such as, restrictions on resources, human resource processes, and governance structure.

So, keep in mind that attributes are not necessarily something you can change overnight! We just encourage you to be aware of what yours are, and how they may or may not impact on your aspirations to become an entrepreneur.

Getting back to personality and attributes, however, demonstrates that there is a lot more to it than the first list above. For example, extensive work, and research, has been done around the personalities and attributes of entrepreneurs. Much of this work links back to Costa and McCrae (1992) who developed a personality inventory (‘The Big Five’) with clusters of attributes within these. Zhao and Siebert (2006) talk about the Big Five in relation to entrepreneurship and this is presented below for students to reflect on. So, what are the 'Big Five'?.

The Big Five

• Openness to Experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extroversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism

What do these words mean?

The following descriptions of what hese personality dimensions mean are direct excerpts from Zhao and Seibert (2006, p. 260-262) as these authors summarise the essence of what they are about. Within each category you will notice a ‘constellation of attributes’. As you read through the material, reflect on the personality types and the attributes within them, and consider: Where do I rate myself on these?

Extraversion

"Extraversion describes the extent to which people are assertive, dominant, energetic, active, talkative, and enthusiastic (Costa & McCrae, 1992). People who score high on Extraversion tend to be cheerful, like people and large groups, and seek excitement and stimulation. People who score low on Extraversion prefer to spend more time alone and are characterized as reserved, quiet, and independent. Costa and McCrae (1992) described salespersons as prototypical extraverts. Extraversion is positively related to interest in enterprising occupations (Costa, McCrae, & Holland, 1984)."

- Zhao and Seibert (2006, p. 260-262)

Openness

"Openness to Experience is a personality dimension that characterizes someone who is intellectually curious and tends to seek new experiences and explore novel ideas. Someone high on Openness can be described as creative, innovative, imaginative, reflective, and untraditional. Someone low on Openness can be characterized as conventional, narrow in interests, and unanalytical…Founding a new venture is likely to require the entrepreneur to explore new or novel ideas, use his or her creativity to solve novel problems, and take an innovative approach to products, business methods, or strategies."

- Zhao and Seibert (2006, p. 260-262)

Agreeableness

"Agreeableness assesses one’s interpersonal orientation. Individuals high on Agreeableness can be characterized as trusting, forgiving, caring, altruistic, and gullible. The high end of Agreeableness represents someone who has cooperative values and a preference for positive interpersonal relationships. Someone at the low end of the dimension can be characterized as manipulative, self-centred, suspicious, and ruthless (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Digman, 1990). Although Agreeableness may lead one to be seen as trustworthy and may help one form positive, cooperative working relationships, high levels of Agreeableness may inhibit one’s willingness to drive hard bargains, look out for one’s own self-interest, and influence or manipulate others for one’s own advantage."

- Zhao and Seibert (2006, p. 260-262)

Conscientiousness

"Conscientiousness indicates an individual’s degree of organization, persistence, hard work, and motivation in the pursuit of goal accomplishment. Some researchers have viewed this construct as an indicator of volition or the ability to work hard (Barrick & Mount, 1991). It has been the most consistent personality predictor of job performance across all types of work and occupations (Barrick, Mount, & Judge, 2001). Many scholars regard Conscientiousness as a broad personality dimension that is composed of two primary facets: achievement motivation [e.g. drive and aspiration] and dependability [e.g. organised, deliberate and methodical] (e.g., Mount & Barrick, 1995)."

- Zhao and Seibert (2006, p. 260-262)

Neuroticism

"Neuroticism represents individual differences in adjustment and emotional stability. Individuals high on Neuroticism tend to experience a number of negative emotions including anxiety, hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness, and vulnerability (Costa & McCrae, 1992). People who score low on Neuroticism can be characterized as self-confident, calm, even tempered, and relaxed… Remarkable self-confidence and resilience in the face of stress therefore appear to be much more important for entrepreneurs... These are traits that define low levels of Neuroticism."

- Zhao and Seibert (2006, p. 260-262)

Life Experiences and Environmental Factors

Although the individual and certain characteristics are important, such as personality, background and skills, it is important to acknowledge that environmental factors also matter (Stevenson and Jarillo, 1990) – such as some noted earlier. And, that individuals who are entrepreneurs do have variations in personality and attributes. So, if you don’t feel you ‘match up’ on every category and attribute, it isn’t something to worry about!

These are purely guides for you to reflect on! If you are worried, set some goals around areas to further develop, or strategies to manage. For example, if you do like to spend most of your time alone and are reserved and quiet (i.e. more of an introvert), then how might you manage this as a budding entrepreneur?

Entrepreneur Personality and Attributes Reflections

Reflection 1

On a scale of 1-5 (where 1 = nothing like me and 5 = exactly like me), how do you look for the personality dimension of Extraversion? Write a short reflection on this in your Professional Portfolio or in a discussion post.

• I am assertive
• I am energetic/active
• I am talkative
• I am enthusiastic
• I seek excitement and stimulation
• I like people and large groups
• I am cheerful

Reflection 2

On a scale of 1-5 (where 1 = nothing like me and 5 = exactly like me), how do you look for the personality dimension of Openness? Write a short reflection on this in your portfolio or in a discussion post.

• I am creative
• I am innovative
• I am imaginative
• I am a reflective thinker
• I am untraditional
• I like to explore new and novel ideas
• I like to draw on my creativity to solve problems
• I like to take an innovative approach to products, business methods, or strategies

Reflection 3

On a scale of 1-5 (where 1 = nothing like me and 5 = exactly like me), how do you look for the personality dimension of Agreeable? Write a short reflection on this in your portfolio or in a discussion post.

• I am trusting
• I am forgiving
• I am altruistic
• I am gullible I have cooperative values
• I prefer to have positive interpersonal relationships

Reflection 4

On a scale of 1-5 (where 1 = nothing like me and 5 = exactly like me), how do you look for the personality dimension of Conscientiousness? Write a short reflection on this in your portfolio or in a discussion post.

• I am always organised
• I am extremely persistent
• I am hard working and dedicated
• I am extremely motivated to pursue my goals
• I am driven and aspirational
• I am methodical
• I am extremely dependable

Reflection 5 & 6

On a scale of 1-5 (where 1 = nothing like me and 5 = exactly like me), how do you look for the personality dimension of Neuroticism? Write a short reflection on this in your portfolio or in a discussion post.

• I am mostly emotionally unstable
• I experience high levels of anxiety
• I am impulsive
• I am extremely self-conscious
• I find I lack confidence and resilience in the face of anxiety
• I am often hostile towards others

On a scale of 1-5 (where 1 = nothing like me and 5 = exactly like me), how do you look when it comes to locus of control, self-efficacy and flexibility? Write a short reflection on this in your portfolio or in a discussion post.

Summary

This module was primarily designed so that students would think about the attributes of entrepreneurs and what kinds of experiences might shape these. The purpose was to generate thinking around what is an entrepreneur? And, to encourage students to reflect on their own attributes and personality to consider any connections with these and being an entrepreneur. Do you think you have what you need to be a successful entrepreneur? Do you need to set goals for yourself to better ensure you can be or develop strategies to manage? Is being an entrepreneur up your ally? Do you think certain attributes have not been covered in this module? If yes, what ones do you think should be added and why?

Skills audits for students to complete that help with reflection and goal setting may be completed in the module below. We recommend students do these every term for their own self development. They are not specific to entrepreneurship or careers in horticulture, but more so general study skills, work skills/essential skills and professional competencies.

Skills Analysis and Audit

References

Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1–26.

Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2001). Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium: What do we know and where do we go next? International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 9, 9–30.

Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: PAR.

Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417–440.

Miller, D & Le-Brenton Miller, I. (2017). Sources of Entrepreneurial Courage and Imagination: Three Perspectives, Three Contexts, Entrepreneurship theory and practice, September Issue.

Mount, M. K., & Barrick, M. R. (1995). The Big Five personality dimensions: Implications for research and practice in human resources management. In G. R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol. 13, pp. 153–200). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Stevenson, H.H., & Jarillo, C.J. (1990). A Paradigm of Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Management. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 11, Special Issue: Corporate Entrepreneurship (Summer Issue), pp. 17-27.

Zhao, H., & Seibert, S.E. (2006). The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Entrepreneurial Status: A Meta-Analytical Review. Journal of Applied Psychology 2006, Vol. 91, No. 2, 259–271.