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Research on entrepreneurial personality

Researchers have invested a great deal of time and effort over the last few decades trying
to paint a clear picture of “the entrepreneurial personality.” Although these studies have identified
several characteristics entrepreneurs tend to exhibit, none of them has isolated a set of traits
required for success. We now turn to a brief summary of the entrepreneurial profile.

risks being taken

1. Desire for responsibility

 Entrepreneurs feel a deep sense of personal responsibility for the
outcome of ventures they start. They prefer to be in control of their resources, and they use
those resources to achieve self-determined goals. Deborah Sullivan, a lifelong serial entrepreneur
realized at the age of 16 that she did not want to spend her life working for others.
“You’re stuck by all of these different rules [when you work for someone else],” she says.
“I wanted to create something for myself.” Sullivan has been an entrepreneur since she
was 22 years old, when she launched a hair salon and spa in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2012, at
the age of 60, Sullivan started Consign Werks, a consignment shop in Greenville, South
Carolina, which she says has been the most gratifying of her entrepreneurial ventures
perhaps because she knew almost nothing about the business until she spent months
researching and learning everything she could about consignment shops.13

2. Preference for moderate risk

 Entrepreneurs are not wild risk takers but are instead calculated
risk takers. Lee Lin, who left his job at a large investment bank to start RentHop, an online
service that helps renters find the ideal apartment in New York City, says that entrepreneurs
who risk everything typically do not stay in business very long. Lin says that to minimize risk,
he manages his company’s finances carefully and focuses on profitable growth opportunities.14
A study of the founders of the businesses listed as Inc. magazine’s fastest-growing companies
found no correlation between risk tolerance and entrepreneurship. The common belief that entrepreneurs
prefer taking big risks is a myth. Unlike “high-rolling, riverboat gamblers,” entrepreneurs
rarely gamble. Their goals may appear to be high—even impossible—in others’ eyes,

3. Self-reliance

 Entrepreneurs must fill multiple roles to make their companies successful,
especially in the early days of a start-up. Because their resources usually are limited, they
end up performing many jobs themselves, even those they know little about. Yet, entrepreneurs
demonstrate a high level of self-reliance and do not shy away from the responsibility
for making their businesses succeed. Perhaps that is why many entrepreneurs persist in
building businesses even when others ridicule their ideas as follies.

4. Confidence in their ability to succeed. 

Entrepreneurs typically have an abundance of
confidence in their ability to succeed and are confident that they chose the correct career
path. Entrepreneurs’ high levels of optimism may explain why some of the most successful
entrepreneurs have failed in business—often more than once—before finally succeeding.

5.Determination

 Some people call this characteristic “grit,” the ability to focus intently
on achieving a singular, long-term goal. Studies show that grit is a reliable predictor of
achievement and success, whether the goal involves launching a successful business,
Courtesy of M-Edge Accessories

Entrepreneurial behaviours

British entrepreneur Karren Brady has an estimated net worth of $123 million
The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator — a designer of new ideas and business processes. Management skill and strong team building abilities are often perceived as essential leadership attributes for successful entrepreneurs. Political economist Robert Reich considers leadership, management ability, and team-building to be essential qualities of an entrepreneur.

Risk-taking

Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network event in New York City, May 2013
Theorists Frank Knight[52] and Peter Drucker defined entrepreneurship in terms of risk-taking. The entrepreneur is willing to put his or her career and financial security on the line and take risks in the name of an idea, spending time as well as capital on an uncertain venture. Knight classified three types of uncertainty:
Risk, which is measurable statistically (such as the probability of drawing a red color ball from a jar containing 5 red balls and 5 white balls)
Ambiguity, which is hard to measure statistically (such as the probability of drawing a red ball from a jar containing 5 red balls but an unknown number of white balls)
True uncertainty or Knightian uncertainty, which is impossible to estimate or predict statistically (such as the probability of drawing a red ball from a jar whose contents are entirely unknown)
Entrepreneurship is often associated with true uncertainty, particularly when it involves the creation of a novel good or service, for a market that did not previously exist, rather than when a venture creates an incremental improvement to an existing product or service. A 2014 study at ETH Zürich found that compared with typical managers, entrepreneurs showed higher decision-making efficiency, and a stronger activation in regions of frontopolar cortex (FPC) previously associated with explorative choice.

Strategies

Strategies that entrepreneurs may use include:
Innovation of new products, services or processes
Continuous Process Improvement (CPI)
Use of technology
Use of Business Intelligence
Using a frugal approach
Development of future products and services
Optimized talent management

Designing individual/opportunity nexus

According to Shane and Venkataraman, entrepreneurship comprises both "enterprising individuals" and "entrepreneurial opportunities", and researchers should study the nature of the individuals who respond to these opportunities when others do not, the opportunities themselves and the nexus between individuals and opportunities. On the other hand, Reynolds et al. argue that individuals are motivated to engage in entrepreneurial endeavors driven mainly by necessity or opportunity, that is, individuals pursue entrepreneurship primarily owing to survival needs, or because, they identify business opportunities that satisfy their need for achievement. For example, higher economic inequality tends to increase entrepreneurship rates at the individual level. However, most of it is often based on necessity rather than opportunity.

Opportunity perception and biases

The ability of entrepreneurs to innovate relates to innate traits, including extroversion and a proclivity for risk-taking.[citation needed] According to Joseph Schumpeter, the capabilities of innovating, introducing new technologies, increasing efficiency and productivity, or generating new products or services, are characteristic qualities of entrepreneurs. Also, many scholars maintain that entrepreneurship is a matter of genes, and that it is not everyone who can be an entrepreneur.Some people may be able to use [weasel words] "an innate ability" or quasi-statistical sense to gauge public opinion and market demand for new products or services. Entrepreneurs tend to have the ability to see unmet market needs and underserved markets. While some entrepreneurs assume they can sense and figure out what others are thinking, the mass media plays a crucial role in shaping views and demand. Ramoglou argues that entrepreneurs are not that distinctive and that it is essentially poor conceptualizations of "non-entrepreneurs" that maintain laudatory portraits of "entrepreneurs" as exceptional innovators or leaders  Entrepreneurs are often overconfident, exhibit illusion of control, when they are opening/expanding business or new products/services.Courtesy of wikipedia...