Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Institute for Work, Social and Organizational Psychology
Entrepreneurial Motivation, Personality
and Competencies
Dominika Dej
Institute of Work-, Organizational- and Social Psychology, TU Dresden
Prague, 25. 07. 2011
Silesian University in Katowice
Dresden University of Technology
Today‘s agenda

We get to know

Entrepreneurial motivation

Entrepreneurial personality traits

Entrepreneurial competencies

Assess your entrepreneurial potential

Active group exercises
Pillars of the seminar
Theory + (Inter) Action
“Skills cannot be mastered by listening to lectures but by
observation of positive models (…) coupled with repeated
practice and feedback.”
Richard Hackman
 Participation: Leaving the comfort zone
What is motivation?
 Motivation is the desire to achieve a goal, combined with
the energy to work towards that goal
 Motivation is the basic drive for all of our actions and it
directs our behavious
 A motive is a need for specific experiences
 Motives are stimulated by the situation
5
3 main motives
(McClelland, 1985)
Achievement motivation
is based on reaching success and achieving all of our aspirations in life. An
individual with achievement motivation wishes to achieve objectives and advance
up on the ladder of success. Here, accomplishment is important for its own sake
and not for the rewards that accompany it. The capacity to derive satisfaction from
the autonomous mastery of challenging tasks.
Power motivation
is the drive to influence people and change situations. Power motivated people
wish to create an impact on their organization and are willing to take risks to do
so. Includes need for control and prestige. The capacity to derive pleasure from
having mental or emotional impact on other individuals or groups of individuals.
Affiliation motivation
is a drive to relate to people on a social basis. Persons with the affiliation
motivation perform better when they are complimented for their favorable attitudes
and co-operation. A capacity to derive satisfaction from establishing, maintaining,
and restoring positive relationships with others.
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Explicit Motives
Explicit motives are expressed through deliberate choices…
I am a person who…
Achievement: „I am basically a competitive
person, and I compete just for the sake
of competing.“
Autonomy; „In my work assignments, I try
to be my own boss“
Affiliation: „When I have a choice, I try to
work in a group instead of by myself.“
Power: „I seek an active role in the
leadership of a group.“
(PRF, Jackson, 1984)
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Implicit motives
Implicit motives are spontaneous impulses to act…
•
•
•
•
•
(Winter, 1991)
What is going on here?
Who are these people?
What do they think?
What do they want?
What will happen?
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Implicit vs. explicit motives
r ≈.0
Implicit Motives
Explicit Motives
I am a person who…
(McClelland, Koestner & Weinberger, 1989; Brunstein, 2006)
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Class activity: Entrepreneurial motivation
1) What personal factors motivate people to start up a
business?
2) What external situational factors motivate people to start
up a business?
3) What factors (both personal and situational) discourage
people to become entrepreneurs?
Opportunity vs. Necessity
Opportunity driven entrepreneurs
(future orientation)…
- want to exploit a perceived business opportunity
- strive for independence, self-actualisation, recognition and profit
maximization
- on average they rise higher than necessity driven entrepreneurs
Necessity driven entrepreneurs
(‘away from’ orientation)…
- are pushed into entrepreneurship because all other options for work are
either absent or unsatisfactory
- dissatisfaction with working conditions, contents and time
- pursue entrepreneurship to secure their own existence
Push vs. pull motivational
factors
1. Estimation of start up chances
in a given environment
2. Perception of own necessary skills and
Motivation
abilities
3. Availability of role models
4. Fear of failure and its personal, social,
and financial consequences
Start
up
Positive models: Bill Gates – A story of
Success
Example of Entrepreneurial Traits
Need of achievement
 Denotes individual’s need to strive hard to attain success.
 Setting demanding targets for oneself, being proactive, tendency to take
immediate responsibility for tasks, plan and control events. Want to receive
feedback about their level of performance.
Locus of control
 One aspect of the cognitive style which represents the extension to which
individual feels in charge.
 Perception of control over the environment by one’s action, belief that luck
and fate do not really determine what happens.
Risk taking
 Describes the individual cognitive style with respect to taking risks.
 Actively seeking risky assignments and having greater propensity to take
risks.
Personal initiative
 A behaviour syndrome resulting in an individual’s taking an active and selfstarting approach to work and going beyond what is formally required in a
given job.
Tolerance of ambiguity
 Describes one’s ability to make decision with incomplete information.
 Making decisions in situations of high uncertainty.
Creativity


Describes the tendency towards experimentation, trial and error, lateral
thinking.
Thinking in non-conventional ways, challenging existing assumptions,
flexibility and adaptability in problem solving.
Need of autonomy
 Represents one’s strive to be independent and having control.
 Avoiding restrictions, rules, procedures and strong need for
independence and autonomy.
Self-efficacy


Describes optimistic self-beliefs to cope with a variety of difficult
demands.
Belief that one's actions will produce desired results.
Example of Entrepreneurial Motivational Traits
Ambition (Healthy ambition)
 Strong desire to attain high results; willingness to make something real
and to meet high standards
Egoistic passion
 acting in one’s own interests, passion in following own goals doesn’t mean
ignoring other people. Scarifying other things in order to follow own
priorities
Energy
 Hardiness, endurance, stamina
Tenacity
 being persistent in following ideas in troubles, not giving up
Big-Five personality variables
(FFM; Costa &McCrae, 1992)
Dimension
Description
High scores on the scale
Low scores on the
scale
Neuroticism
Represents individual
differences in emotional
stability
Experiencing negative emotions:
anxiety, hostility, depression, self
consciousness, impulsiveness
Self-confidence,
calm, relaxed
Extraversion
Represents the extent to
which an individual is
assertive, dominant,
energetic, talkative
Tendency to be cheerful, like
people and big groups, look for
excitement and stimulation
Tendency to spend
time alone, being
reserved, quiet,
independent
Openness to
Experience
Describes tendency to seek
new experiences, exploration
of novel ideas
Being creative, innovative,
imaginative, reflective,
untraditional
Being narrow,
conventional, non
analytical
Agreeableness
Represents one’s
interpersonal orientation
Trusting, forgiving, caring,
altruistic, gullible, tendency to
have good interpersonal
relationships
Low need for
affiliation,
unforgiving,
able to make difficult
decisions
Conscientious
ness
Describes individual’s degree
of organisation, persistence,
hard work and motivation in
pursuit the goal
accomplishment
High need of achievement,
persistence and dependability
(reflects the extend to which one
is organised, deliberate, fulfils
duties and responsibilities)
Low need of
achievement and low
dependability
Your entrepreneurial potential
1) Personal initiative
2) Self-efficacy
3) Achievement seeking
4) Creativity
Your task
Fill out the questionnaires
Calculate the mean score (M)
Discuss your results briefly with your neighbour
Your vs. entrepreneurs’ entrepreneurial potential
Personal initiative

Entrepreneurs' from Poland, Germany & The Netherlands
(N= 325), Mean = 4.00 (SD= .54)
-
No gender & country differences
No differences between industry sectors (IT vs. Restaurants)
-
Norm Population (M= 3.5)
-
(Frese, Kring, Soose & Zempel, 1996)
Self-efficacy

Entrepreneurs' from Poland, Germany & The Netherlands
(N= 325), Mean = 3.13 (SD= .36)
-
No gender & country differences
No differences between industry sectors (IT vs. Restaurants)
-
Norm Population (M= 2.9)
(Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1989)
Psychological tests - measuring
entrepreneurial potential
-
Are they useful and when?
Advantages/ Disadvantages
What are their alternatives?
Personality traits vs. competencies
Personality trait
 A relative stable, consistent, and enduring internal characteristic
that inferred from a pattern of behaviors, attitudes, feelings, and
habits in the individual.
Competence
 One‘s developed repertoire of skills, especially as it is applied to a
task or set of task
VandenBos, G.R. (Ed.) (2007). APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Washington, DC: American Psychology Association.
Examples of Entrepreneurial Competencies
Entrepreneurial Career Vision
 Includes formulation of long term goals and preparation of actionimplementation plan.
Decision Taking
 Means to analyze the different alternatives available in order to
determine the best path to follow assuming full responsibility of the
outcomes.
Management
 Ability to gather, integrate and manage required resources in order
to start, maintain and grow within the organization.
Conceptual thinking
 One’s disposition to identify the relation existing among different
components in complex situations, that are not directly related, and
the ability to construct models that are easy to use.
Entrepreneurial networking
 Includes establishing, maintaining and taking advantages of
interpersonal and institutional relationships in order to achieve
entrepreneurial goals.
Flexibility
 One’s disposition to change focus in order to follow better fitting
options that allow tasks to be well executed.
THANK YOU!!!