The Role of the Entrepreneurial Personality in New Ventures

Abstract

For new ventures, entrepreneurs must obtain critical support, such as financial, material, and social resources, to succeed and thrive. These demands suggest that successful entrepreneurs have distinct personal characteristics that allow them to excel. Previous work has found particular personality traits that are inherent in entrepreneurs. However, the role of entrepreneurial personalities has been largely ignored, especially from the perspective of negative personality traits. Thus, in this chapter, we will examine the role of entrepreneurial personality underlying the success of new ventures. Specifically, we will analyze both the positive and negative aspects of the entrepreneurial personality. As it pertains to the positive traits, we will present a number of factors, including emotional intelligence, hardiness, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and warmth. These personality traits can enhance an entrepreneur’s willingness to take initiative, tolerate risk, and deal with setbacks, enabling new ventures to continue to innovate, renew, and keep pushing forward, even after having achieved success. As for the negative traits, we will discuss several factors including narcissism, overconfidence, and fear of failure. Given the costly repercussions of these negative characteristics, we will examine the possible impacts of these attributes on the success or failure of new ventures. We find that entrepreneurial positive traits are conducive to the growth of new ventures, while the negative personality traits hinder the survival and development of start-ups. Our research provides a sharper theoretical framework for the research of entrepreneurial personality.