WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY

Research shows that many potential entrepreneurs refrain from founding a company due to fear (Welpe et al. 2012; Kelley et al. 2011; Brixy et al. 2011). This study investigates the amount of fear of potential entrepreneurs and its connection to the personal attributes of the individual. The study b...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Filip Berger, Jörg Freiling
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Gdańsk University of Technology 2017-10-01
Series:Research on Enterprise in Modern Economy Theory and Practice
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.mostwiedzy.pl/reme/article/view/135
_version_ 1819278559763496960
author Filip Berger
Jörg Freiling
author_facet Filip Berger
Jörg Freiling
author_sort Filip Berger
collection DOAJ
description Research shows that many potential entrepreneurs refrain from founding a company due to fear (Welpe et al. 2012; Kelley et al. 2011; Brixy et al. 2011). This study investigates the amount of fear of potential entrepreneurs and its connection to the personal attributes of the individual. The study bases on a quantitative survey with 572 participants selected from entrepreneurial environments in Germany in 2013. The data showed that the survey participants could be divided with two approximated normal distributions of fear into two groups of rather fearful and rather fearless entrepreneurs. The central assumption that potential entrepreneurs can be clustered according to certain attributes into each of these two groups with different amounts of fear could be tentatively confirmed. The influence of various individual attributes on the fear of founding a company was analyzed using correlation and regression analyses. The two major attributes to determine the amount of fear of an individual proved to be previous leadership experience and the intrinsic motivation to become an entrepreneur. A subsequent discriminant analysis showed that the amount of fear of an individual survey participant could solely be predicted by those two attributes with an accuracy of 71%. The study concludes with highlighting implications of these findings and potential reactions for academia and policy-makers to influence the fear of potential entrepreneurs.
first_indexed 2024-12-24T00:13:56Z
format Article
id doaj.art-950fdc016d7943d6b014586b84941fc3
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2084-6495
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-24T00:13:56Z
publishDate 2017-10-01
publisher Gdańsk University of Technology
record_format Article
series Research on Enterprise in Modern Economy Theory and Practice
spelling doaj.art-950fdc016d7943d6b014586b84941fc32022-12-21T17:24:49ZengGdańsk University of TechnologyResearch on Enterprise in Modern Economy Theory and Practice2084-64952017-10-0142310.19253/reme.2017.04.001WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITYFilip Berger0Jörg Freiling1Bremen UniversityBremen University, Faculty of Business Studies and Economics Research shows that many potential entrepreneurs refrain from founding a company due to fear (Welpe et al. 2012; Kelley et al. 2011; Brixy et al. 2011). This study investigates the amount of fear of potential entrepreneurs and its connection to the personal attributes of the individual. The study bases on a quantitative survey with 572 participants selected from entrepreneurial environments in Germany in 2013. The data showed that the survey participants could be divided with two approximated normal distributions of fear into two groups of rather fearful and rather fearless entrepreneurs. The central assumption that potential entrepreneurs can be clustered according to certain attributes into each of these two groups with different amounts of fear could be tentatively confirmed. The influence of various individual attributes on the fear of founding a company was analyzed using correlation and regression analyses. The two major attributes to determine the amount of fear of an individual proved to be previous leadership experience and the intrinsic motivation to become an entrepreneur. A subsequent discriminant analysis showed that the amount of fear of an individual survey participant could solely be predicted by those two attributes with an accuracy of 71%. The study concludes with highlighting implications of these findings and potential reactions for academia and policy-makers to influence the fear of potential entrepreneurs. https://journal.mostwiedzy.pl/reme/article/view/135entrepreneurshipaspiring entrepreneursnascent entrepreneursstart-upsen-trepreneurial processcharacteristics/attributes of the entrepreneu
spellingShingle Filip Berger
Jörg Freiling
WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
Research on Enterprise in Modern Economy Theory and Practice
entrepreneurship
aspiring entrepreneurs
nascent entrepreneurs
start-ups
en-trepreneurial process
characteristics/attributes of the entrepreneu
title WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
title_full WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
title_fullStr WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
title_full_unstemmed WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
title_short WHO IS AFRAID TO FOUND? THE INFLUENCE OF INDIVIDUAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE PERCEIVED FEAR OF ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY
title_sort who is afraid to found the influence of individual attributes on the perceived fear of entrepreneurial activity
topic entrepreneurship
aspiring entrepreneurs
nascent entrepreneurs
start-ups
en-trepreneurial process
characteristics/attributes of the entrepreneu
url https://journal.mostwiedzy.pl/reme/article/view/135
work_keys_str_mv AT filipberger whoisafraidtofoundtheinfluenceofindividualattributesontheperceivedfearofentrepreneurialactivity
AT jorgfreiling whoisafraidtofoundtheinfluenceofindividualattributesontheperceivedfearofentrepreneurialactivity