Motivational and success factors of entrepreneurs: the evidence from a developing country

This paper is focused on the study of motivational and success factors of entrepreneurs in Serbia with respect to the basic methodological approach developed by Chu (using principal component factor analysis with varimax rotation). The objective of the research was to analyse the motives of entrepreneurs starting their own business and to determine factors that affect the success of SMEs. The empirical research was conducted according to 11 motivational items of entrepreneurs to establish their own business and 17 items affecting entrepreneurs’ success. Four motivational factors are obtained in this research (greater business achievement, independence, intrinsic factor and job security), as well as seven factors affecting entrepreneurs’ success (position in society, interpersonal skills, approval and support, competitive product/ service, leadership skills, always to be informed and business reputation). Based on these results and their comparison with the empirical findings in other countries, it may be concluded that motivational factors of entrepreneurs are generic in developing countries. The results showed that there was a lack of motives concerned with sustainable development of enterprise in a long run. On the other hand, there is a variety of different success factors affecting entrepreneurs, which primarily depend on the current situation in the local environment.