An Empirical Analysis About Relationship Between the Innovation Capabilities and Entrepreneurial Characteristics

Increasing level of competitiveness and rapid progression of technology make the entrepreneurs innovate in order to provide their businesses’ sustainability. Entrepreneurs starting their trip for making up a business generally fail due to the personal and environmental effects. Innovation abilities are important for the survival of entrepreneurs against their competitors. Especially, the small and medium sized businesses by their flexible movement and response capacity play a key role in the reach of basic business objectives. Participants of the study are the members of Silifke Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The data obtained from 254 participants by simple random sampling method are included. The basic assumption of the study is the existence of the relationship between entrepreneurial characteristics and innovation capabilities. The method used in the study is mixed research method in which data are presented by first quantitative and then qualitative ways. Innovation capabilities scale of Marvel (2006) is used in the research process. A large number of variables such as business processes of entrepreneurs are included in terms of the socio-demographical characteristics. In addition, open-ended questions are included in the research process to make quantitative evaluations about entrepreneurial characteristics. The features leading participants to the entrepreneurship process are analyzed thanks to the discourses collected via open-ended questions. The research might contribute to the literature by addressing the entrepreneurs who are thought to be the pioneers of local development.