The Importance of Context-Relevance: Entrepreneurial Personality Relates to Entrepreneurial Outcomes Beyond the HEXACO and Dark Triad

Abstract

Entrepreneurial Personality (EP) is a collection of traits that causes someone to be entrepreneurial, including both an attraction to and success in entrepreneurial activities. Although EP and its inclusion criteria is defined by its relevance to entrepreneurship, research has yet to support that it relates to entrepreneurial outcomes more strongly than extant frameworks of personality, causing uncertainty regarding its theoretical rationale and conceptual foundation. Applying the bandwidth-fidelity dilemma as our theoretical lens, the current article reports two studies to test whether EP relates to entrepreneurial outcomes beyond the HEXACO and Dark Triad dimensions. Using a sample of non-business owners, Study 1 supports that EP explains both more variance than and variance beyond the HEXACO and Dark Triad in outcomes associated with the earlier phases of the entrepreneurial process, such as entrepreneurial goal setting, goal striving, and goal achievement. Using a sample of business owners, Study 2 supports that EP explains both more variance than and variance beyond the HEXACO and Dark Triad in outcomes associated with the later phases of the entrepreneurial process, including entrepreneurial performance and well-being. These results encourage future research on EP by supporting the validity of the personality framework, and we suggest several directions for future research, such as broader applications of the bandwidth-fidelity dilemma.