Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/55310 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
DIW Discussion Papers No. 1113
Publisher: 
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW), Berlin
Abstract: 
This paper systematically investigates whether different kinds of personality characteristics influence entrepreneurial development. On the basis of a large, representative household panel survey, we examine the extent to which the Big Five traits and further personality characteristics, which are more specifically related to entrepreneurial tasks, influence entry into self-employment and survival of self-employed persons in Germany. The empirical analysis reveals that among the specific characteristics in particular risk attitudes and locus of control have strong effects on entry and survival. With respect to the Big Five approach, in particular the traits openness to experience and extraversion and to a lower extent agreeableness and neuroticism help to explain entrepreneurial development. The explanatory power of the Big Five is comparable to one of the most prominent determinants of entrepreneurship - education - and approximately three times larger than parental selfemployment.
Subjects: 
entrepreneurship
personality
Big Five
risk aversion
locus of control
JEL: 
D81
J23
M13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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