Characteristics of the Maltese entrepreneur

Abstract

This empirical study which is based in Malta seeks to characterize the personality/psychological profile of Maltese entrepreneurs (business owners and self-employed persons) and employed managers. The characteristics investigated in this study are the need for achievement, locus of control, tolerance towards ambiguity, self-confidence, creativity/innovativeness, risk-taking propensity and self-sufficiency/freedom. It also attempts to determine which of these characteristics can adequately distinguish between entrepreneurs and managers. Sixty entrepreneurs and sixty managers, selected by using a combination of purposive and quota sampling techniques, participated in the study by completing the Entrepreneurial Characteristics Questionnaire, which was purposely designed for the present study. Results showed that entrepreneurs have a greater need for achievement, more self-sufficiency/freedom, more self-confidence, a higher tolerance for ambiguity, more creativity/innovativeness, more internal locus of control and a higher propensity to take risks. However, the two characteristics that adequately distinguished between entrepreneurs and managers in this study were self-sufficiency and internal locus of control. In other words, Maltese entrepreneurs are more likely to prefer to be their own boss and to take decisions independently and believe more strongly than managers that they can influence events with their decisions. Additionally, binary logistic regression revealed that self-sufficiency is the most important predictor in classifying a person’s occupation as that of an entrepreneur or a manager, with an overall holdout accuracy of 73.3%. The implications of the findings are discussed.