Personality Dispositions and Entrepreneurship

Personality consists of broad dispositions, called traits that tend to lead to characteristic responses. People can be described in terms of the basic ways they behave, such as whether the are outgoing and friendly, or whether they are dominant and assertive.

Basic Five Factors

1. Emotional stability

1. Being calm rather than anxious, secures rather then insecure, self-satisfied than self-pitying.

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2. Extraversion

1. Sociable instead of retiring, fun-loving instead of sober, and affectionate instead of reserved.

3. Openness

1. Imaginative rather than practical, preferring variety to routine, and being independent rather than conforming

4. Agreeableness

1. Being softhearted, not ruthless, trusting, not suspicious, and helpful not uncooperative.

5. Conscientiousness

1. Being organized rather than disorganized, careful rather then careless, and disciplined, not impulsive.

Individualism — Giving priority to personal goals rather then to group goals; it emphasizes values that serve the self such as feeling good, personal distinction, and independence.

Collectivism — Emphasizes values that serve the group by subordinate personal goals to preserve group integrity.

Criticism to Trait Theory

1. (Walter Mischel (1968))

1. Personality and Assessment

2. Criticized the trait view of personality, as well as the psychoanalytic approach

1. Both emphasis the interval organization of personality

2. Personality often changes according to a given situation

1. Response to personality as consisting of broad, internal traits that are consistence across situations and time.

3. Trait measure do a poor job of predicting actual behavior

4. Situationism —...