The Most Important Attributes of Entrepreneurs. Case Study of the Environment of Czech SMEs.

• Authors: J. Belás , A. Ključnikov
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The aim of this paper was to define and quantify the most important attributes of entrepreneurs in the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises. The partial objective was to compare the opinions of the entrepreneurs in relation to their gender, age and level of education. Scientific questions, defined in this paper, were verified through empirical research conducted in the Czech Republic in 2015 on a sample of 1,141 entrepreneurs. In our research, we found that entrepreneurs consider expertise, responsibility and perseverance to be the most important personal characteristics and skills. Propensity to risk and decisiveness are ranked right after them. The same group of three most important attributes is presented by all defined groups of entrepreneurs, which means that the assessment of the importance of these attributes remains the same regardless of gender, age and level of education of the entrepreneur. It is interesting that the weight of the expertise increases with the age of the entrepreneur. This trend is caused by the fact that men significantly more intensively presented this opinion. When evaluating the attitudes of entrepreneurs to other characteristics and skills no significant differences in relation to gender, age and education were identified.

Keywords

EN

entrepreneur; small and medium-sized enterprises; personality traits and skills; L26; J16

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 104-111

Dates

published

2016-06-01

online

2016-08-03

Contributors

author

J. Belás

• prof. Ing. Jaroslav Belás, PhD., Department of Enterprise Economics, Faculty of Management and Economics, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Mostní 5139, 760 01 Zlin, Czech Republic

author

A. Ključnikov

• Ing. Aleksandr Ključnikov, PhD., Department of Managerial Economics, University of Business and Law, Prague, Czech Republic

References

• 1. Beugelsdijk, S., Noorderhaven, N. (2005). Personality characteristics of self-employed; An empirical study. Small Business Economics 24(2), 159-167. DOI 10.1007/s11187-003-3806-3[Crossref]
• 2. Caliendo, M., Fossen, F., Kritikos, A. S. (2014). Personality characteristics and the decisions to become and stay self-employed. Small Bus Econ 42, 787 – 814.[Crossref][WoS]
• 3. Deáková, K., Drážovská, K., Grznárik, D., Kondášová, I. (2010). Entrepreneurship. Bratislava: SOPK.
• 4. Fetisovová, E. akol. (2012). Aktuálne problem financií malých a stredných podnikov. Bratislava: Ekonóm.
• 5. Flešková, M., Babiaková, B., Nedelová, G. (2011). Preferencie vysokoškolských študentov v profesionálnom živote a ich predstavy o vlastnom podnikaní. E+M Ekonomie a management, 1/2011, 97-111.
• 6. Frese, M., Gielnik, M. M. (2014). The Psychology of Entrepreneurship. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Vol. 1, pp. 413-438. DOI 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091326[Crossref]
• 7. Goktan, A. B., Gupta, V. K. (2015). Sex, gender, and individual entrepreneurial orientation: evidence from four countries. International Entrepreneurship and management Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 95-112.
• 8. Honjo, Y. (2015). Why are entrepreneurship levels so low in Japan? Japan and the World Economy, 36, 88-101.
• 9. Hvide, H. K., Panos, G. A. (2014). Risk tolerance and entrepreneurship. Journal of Financial Economics, 111: 200 – 223.
• 10. Ilouga, S. N., Mouloungni, A. C. N., Sahut, J. M. (2014). Entrepreneurial intention and career choices: the role of volition. Small Bus Econ, 42: 717 – 728.[WoS]
• 11. Kautonen, T., Down, S. and Minniti, M. (2014). Ageing and entrepreneurial preferences, Small Business Economics, Vol. 42, pp. 579-594.[WoS]
• 12. Kvietok, A. (2013). Psychological profile of the entrepreneur. Retrieved March 24, 2014, from
• 13. Lee, D. Y., Tsang, E. W. K. (2002). The effects of entrepreneurial personality, background and network activities on venture growth. Journal of Management Studies 38(4), 583 – 602.[Crossref]
• 14. Omerzel, G. D., Kušce, I. (2013). The influence of personal and environmental factors on entrepreneurs' performance. Kybernetes 42(6), 906-927. [Crossref]
• 15. Plotnikova, M., Romero, I., Martinez-Roman, J. A. (2016). Process innovation in small business: the self-employed as entrepreneurs. Small Business Economics, 23 May, pp. 1-16. DOI 10.1007/s11187-016-9743-8[Crossref]
• 16. Srpová, J., Řehoř, v. a kol. (2010). Základy podnikání. Praha: Grada.
• 17. Synek, M. a kol. (2006). Podniková ekonomika. Praha: C. H. Beck.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/ijek-2016-0008