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Resilient entrepreneurs? — revisiting the relationship between the Big Five and self-employment

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  • Petrik Runst

    (Institute for Small Business Economics at the Georg-August-University Göttingen)

  • Jörg Thomä

    (Institute for Small Business Economics at the Georg-August-University Göttingen)

Abstract

The Big Five personality traits and their influence on entrepreneurial action have been repeatedly studied using a trait-based approach. The present paper partly deviates from this perspective by analysing the role of personality prototypes in relation to entrepreneurship. This person-centred approach suggests that combinations of Big Five traits form individual personalities. By using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), we show that at least three prototypes can be identified, one of which — the resilient type — can be hypothesized to significantly increase the likelihood of entrepreneurial action. Our regression results provide evidence of a positive impact of this prototype on the likelihood of and transitioning into self-employment but not the likelihood of exit. We also show that the prototyping approach explains individual self-employment decisions over and above what can already be explained by the profiling approach, another person-centred Big Five approach. The paper concludes with implications for policy and research.

Suggested Citation

  • Petrik Runst & Jörg Thomä, 2023. "Resilient entrepreneurs? — revisiting the relationship between the Big Five and self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 417-443, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:61:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s11187-022-00686-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11187-022-00686-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Reher, Leonie & Runst, Petrik & Thomä, Jörg, 2024. "Personality and regional innovativeness: An empirical analysis of German patent data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurship; Self-employment; Big Five; Personality; Prototypes; Profiles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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