Entrepreneurs: Born or Made?
ENTREPRENEURS: THE SERIES
Part 1 of 3 Part Series
Entrepreneurs: Born or Made?
Part 1 of 3 Part Series
Entrepreneurs: Born or Made?
This is part 1 of a 3 part series about entrepreneurs and small business start-ups.
The report examines three recent reports completed about entrepreneurs and small business.
Part 3 comes from the Palo Alto based, Institute of the Future which examines the future of
small business, sponsored by Intuit. The second part examines the recently completed report
of the anatomy of a start-up and their success completed by the Kansas City based Kauffman
Foundation.
We begin with Part 1. It deals with the biological and psychological composition of an
entrepreneur.
Microsoft's Bill Gates, December 13, 1977
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2006,vol. 100, issue 1,
pages 21-34 is authored by Roderick E. White, Stewart Thornhill and Elizabeth Hampson
This paper is interesting because it attempts to look at entrepreneurship through a biological
lens. It flirts with the question "are entrepreneurs born or made?" Here is what the study found.
The results of our research support the primary hypothesis that individuals
with higher salivary testosterone levels are more likely to behave
entrepreneurially. More specifically, T is positively related to risk propensity
(Hypothesis 1). There is also a positive relationship between risk propensity
and the likelihood of an entrepreneurial experience (Hypothesis 2). The data
indicate that risk propensity partially mediates the relationship between T
and E (Hypothesis 3).
Entrepreneurship involves the interaction of individuals and opportunities.
In this research we attempt to explain a portion of the variance on the individual
side of the entrepreneurship equation. There are a wide array of social influences,
learned behaviors, and other factors resulting in individual differences that affect
entrepreneurial behavior. We focused upon an innate, heritable biological attribute,
T level. Our findings indicate risk-taking propensity is related to this heritable
physiological attribute; it is in part innate. More specifically, individual innate
biological differences in testosterone are associated with differences in risk-taking
propensity, and thus with entrepreneurial behavior.
The report examines three recent reports completed about entrepreneurs and small business.
Part 3 comes from the Palo Alto based, Institute of the Future which examines the future of
small business, sponsored by Intuit. The second part examines the recently completed report
of the anatomy of a start-up and their success completed by the Kansas City based Kauffman
Foundation.
We begin with Part 1. It deals with the biological and psychological composition of an
entrepreneur.
Microsoft's Bill Gates, December 13, 1977
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2006,vol. 100, issue 1,
pages 21-34 is authored by Roderick E. White, Stewart Thornhill and Elizabeth Hampson
This paper is interesting because it attempts to look at entrepreneurship through a biological
lens. It flirts with the question "are entrepreneurs born or made?" Here is what the study found.
The results of our research support the primary hypothesis that individuals
with higher salivary testosterone levels are more likely to behave
entrepreneurially. More specifically, T is positively related to risk propensity
(Hypothesis 1). There is also a positive relationship between risk propensity
and the likelihood of an entrepreneurial experience (Hypothesis 2). The data
indicate that risk propensity partially mediates the relationship between T
and E (Hypothesis 3).
Entrepreneurship involves the interaction of individuals and opportunities.
In this research we attempt to explain a portion of the variance on the individual
side of the entrepreneurship equation. There are a wide array of social influences,
learned behaviors, and other factors resulting in individual differences that affect
entrepreneurial behavior. We focused upon an innate, heritable biological attribute,
T level. Our findings indicate risk-taking propensity is related to this heritable
physiological attribute; it is in part innate. More specifically, individual innate
biological differences in testosterone are associated with differences in risk-taking
propensity, and thus with entrepreneurial behavior.
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