Entrepreneurial Choice:

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The International Association for Research in
Economic Psychology The Society for Advancement
of Behavioral EconomicsWORLD MEETING
2008Roma-Italia, September 3-6

• Entrepreneurial Choice
• Aptitudes, Motivations and Behaviour.
• Serena Cubico, Elisa Bortolani,
• Alessia Cubico, Giuseppe Favretto
• Department of Psychology and Cultural
  Anthropology
• Centre for Youth Entrepreneurial
• UNIVERSITY OF VERONA

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Abstract

• Entrepreneurship represents an interesting way of
  developing professionally and personally people
  have different levels of aptitudes they are led
  to be entrepreneurs for various motivations, and
  put specific behaviours to use.
• The sample consists of 100 users of the Chamber
  of Commerces New-Entrepreneurial-Service in
  Verona who were interviewed by telephone.
• The first results reveal that successful
  entrepreneurs are (significantly) less willing
  to conciliate work and family, more intent upon
  realizing new ideas, and more oriented to a
  working without a boss (effects of age and
  educational qualifications are reported) and
  present different entrepreneurial aptitude levels
  related to behaviour (i.e. difficulty in
  information research, management of bureaucracy).

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Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur,Self Employment.
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Introduction

• Entrepreneurship is an important path towards
  personal and economic development
• (Dowling and Schmude, 2007 Fritsch and Mueller,
  2004).
• Study and support of entrepreneurship is
  important
• this phenomenon contributes to job creation and
  growth it is crucial to competitiveness it
  triggers personal potential and is a motivating
  force in the market economy
• (European Commission 2003).

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introduction

• The same Commission (2003, p.6) defines
  entrepreneurship as
• the mindset and process to create and develop
  economic activity by blending risk-taking,
  creativity and/or innovation with sound
  management, within a new or an existing
  organization

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introduction

• As in other studies
• (Grilo and Thurik, 2002 GEM, 2005),
• we equate self-employment to entrepreneurship
• these workers provide income
• for themselves
• in an independent way.

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introduction

• In the beginning, psychological studies
  investigated motivations and personal traits that
  underlie start up and entrepreneurial success.
• Over time, the focus turned increasingly towards
  models that integrate individual and
  environmental factors. In fact, recent research
  highlights ties between personal (motivations,
  aptitude, risk-taking tendencies,
  innovativeness) and contextual elements
  (expectations and family characteristics, social
  and institutional support )
• (Baum et al., 2007 Brockhaus and Nord, 1989
  Favretto and Cubico, 2001).

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introduction

• Sociological studies have been oriented towards
  understanding social and family backgrounds of
  entrepreneurs and effects that entrepreneurial
  choices have on family, roles and social life in
  general
• (Blanchflower, 2000 Steel, 2004).
• Economic factors (paucity, opportunity, costs and
  income), technological developments and their
  effects on work, and the demographical factors of
  entrepreneurs have dominated economic sciences
• (Audretsch and Thurik, 2001 Cuervo, 2005).

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The ResearchThe present research considers
different approaches used in entrepreneurial
studies and focuses on selected personal
variables that play a role with aspiring
entrepreneurs before and after the start up
process.
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The Context

• Research was carried out in the Chamber of
  Commerces New-Entrepreneurial-Service in Verona
• (SNI Servizio Nuova Impresa),
• a free service that offers informational and
  training services to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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The Objectives

• to estimate entrepreneurial aptitudes of people
  who show entrepreneurial interest and to
  distinguish specific ways of being, or of not
  being, an entrepreneur
• to see whether successful entrepreneurs, when
  compared to unsuccessful ones, show different
  motivations in their entrepreneurial choices
• to describe different choices and behaviour of
  people who have different motivations and
  aptitudes

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The Instruments

• The telephone interviews were supported by these
  two instruments
• Entrepreneurship Questionnaire EQ
• EQ is an ad hoc questionnaire made up of 32
  items regarding different aspects of
  entrepreneurial life
• Entrepreneurial Aptitude Test TAI (Test di
  Attitudine Imprenditoriale).
• TAI (Favretto and Sartori, 2007) describes the
  subject in relation to the potential toward
  entrepreneurship and it is defined by selected
  factors (Goal Orientation, Leadership,
  Adaptability, Need for Achievement, Need for
  Empowerment, Innovation, Flexibility, Autonomy).
  In this research we used a shortened version (23
  items instead of 75), created through the Partial
  Credit Model PCM (Master, 1982).

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The Sample

• The sample consists of 100 users (representative
  of population) of the Chamber of Commerces
  New-Entrepreneurial-Service in Verona
  (2005-2006), who were contacted by telephone
  interview in August and September 2007.
• The sample breakdown is as follows
• Sex female 61 male 39
• Average age 32.72 (s.d. 8.29)
• Origin non-city 51 city 49

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The Results

• In general,
• we did not find significant differences
• between entrepreneurs
• and non-entrepreneurs regarding
• origin (city/non-city), gender,
• and previous job.

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The Results Entrepreneurial Aptitude

• In this specific group of aspiring entrepreneurs,
• significant differences in the entrepreneurial
  aptitude did not emerge.
• Entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs alike show
  high levels of aptitude
• it is important to remember that the users of
  New-Entrepreneurial-Service of the Chamber of
  Commerce of Verona are aspiring entrepreneurs
  (not people who only need information).

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The Results Entrepreneurial Aptitude

• It is possible however to discern that the
  different levels in the TAI score for the
  subgroup of 21 entrepreneurs present interesting
  relationships with
• less difficulty in receiving permits
• less use of private financing
• (Chi square analysis, pvalue lt .05)

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The Results Motivations

• We have calculated Chi Square (?2) and
  significant differences between entrepreneurs
  (21) and non-entrepreneurs (79) on motivation.
• It is possible to see that
• some motivations
• distinguish entrepreneurs
• from non-entrepreneurs.

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Motivations for entrepreneurial job among
entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs(N 100
Likert Scale 1-not at all important, 2-little
importance, 3-more or less important,
4-important, 5-very important Chi square
analysis)
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The Results Behaviour

• In the entrepreneurs under study we found that
  some behaviours enacted during the process of
  enterprise creation are related to specific
  personal data variables
• This result reveals that involving banks and
  seeking information from local trade associations
  can be related to different motivations and
  educational levels.

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The Results Other Variables

• In the final part of this work,
• we have chosen to highlight some other
  interesting links that emerge from the research

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Correlations between personal variables, specific
difficulties and motivations in entrepreneurs (N
21 Rho Spearman pvalue .05 .001)1/2
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Correlations between personal variables, specific
difficulties and motivations in entrepreneurs (N
21 Rho Spearman pvalue .05 .001)2/2
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Considerations about these last results

• AGE a higher age helps in the relationship with
  bureaucracy and reduces new ideas
• EDUCATIONAL LEVEL higher levels raise the use of
  the financing and seems to trigger minor levels
  of dissatisfaction accompanied by less desire to
  change from previous job
• aspiring entrepreneurs that declare a strong
  MOTIVATION TO ESCAPE MONOTONY present
  particularly in receiving permits and less
  satisfaction with the New-Entrepreneurial-Service,
  it seems that this type of person is less able
  to manage bureaucratic relationships

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considerations about these last results

• the DESIRE FOR A STEADY JOB and to CONCILIATE
  WORK AND FAMILY appear strongly related, as if a
  tranquil life is part of this way of working
• to WORK WITHOUT A BOSS appears to be correlated
  in an interesting way to DIFFICULTY WITH TIMING
  OF AUTHORIZATIONS and with DISSATISFACTION IN
  PREVIOUS JOB, indicating that authority might
  be a specific problem with some aspiring
  entrepreneurs.

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Discussion

• We have found that successful entrepreneurs
  (users that create enterprises after their
  contact with the New-Entrepreneurial-Service)
  present specific characteristics.
• People who have high entrepreneurial aptitudes
  manage bureaucratic phases and their personal
  financial resources better.

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Discussion

• Different motivations characterized the
  successful entrepreneur, in fact he/she is
• not at all motivated by past education
• less driven by personal time management issues
• more or less motivated by the desire to work
  without a boss
• very much motivated by the possibility of
  realizing new ideas.

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Discussion

• In our research, even with its limited sample
  number, it is possible to suggest that
  educational level influences financial autonomy
  and that local trade associations are an
  effective type of support for aspiring
  entrepreneurs that perceive difficulty in some
  bureaucratic phases.

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Discussion

• These results show that successful entrepreneurs
  are different from unsuccessful entrepreneurs
  (above all in certain motivations), which has
  practical consequences on career guidance of
  aspiring entrepreneurs, on entrepreneurial
  training and on decision-making support for
  entrepreneurial choices.

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References

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• Thank
• you
• for
• your
• kind
• attention
• serena.cubico_at_univr.it