Resilient entrepreneurs? — revisiting the relationship between the Big Five and self-employment
2022 | journal article. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
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Details
- Authors
- Runst, Petrik ; Thomä, Jörg
- Abstract
- Abstract The Big Five personality traits and their influence on entrepreneurial action have been repeatedly studied using a trait-based approach. The present paper partly deviates from this perspective by analysing the role of personality prototypes in relation to entrepreneurship. This person-centred approach suggests that combinations of Big Five traits form individual personalities. By using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that at least three prototypes can be identified, one of which — the resilient type — can be hypothesized to significantly increase the likelihood of entrepreneurial action. Our regression results provide evidence of a positive impact of this prototype on the likelihood of and transitioning into self-employment but not the likelihood of exit. We also show that the prototyping approach explains individual self-employment decisions over and above what can already be explained by the profiling approach, another person-centred Big Five approach. The paper concludes with implications for policy and research.
- Issue Date
- 2022
- Journal
- Small Business Economics
- Organization
- Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen e.V.
- ISSN
- 0921-898X
- eISSN
- 1573-0913
- Language
- English