Martin Obschonka

The regional distribution and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: a socioecological perspective.

In recent years the topic of entrepreneurship has become a major focus in the social sciences, with renewed interest in the links between personality and entrepreneurship. Taking a socioecological perspective to psychology, which emphasizes the role of social habitats and their interactions with mind and behavior, we investigated regional variation in and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone Big Five profile. Specifically, we analyzed personality data collected from over half a million U.S. residents (N = 619,397) as well as public archival data on state-level entrepreneurial activity (i.e., business-creation and self-employment rates). Results revealed that an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile is regionally clustered. This geographical distribution corresponds to the pattern that can be observed when mapping entrepreneurial activity across the United States. Indeed, the state-level correlation (N = 51) between an entrepreneurial personality structure and entrepreneurial activity was positive in direction, substantial in magnitude, and robust even when controlling for regional economic prosperity. These correlations persisted at the level of U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (N = 15) and were replicated in independent German (N = 19,842; 14 regions) and British (N = 15,617; 12 regions) samples. In contrast to these profile-based analyses, an analysis linking the individual Big Five dimensions to regional measures of entrepreneurial activity did not yield consistent findings. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for interdisciplinary theory development and practical applications.

Macropsychological Factors Predict Regional Economic Resilience During a Major Economic Crisis

Do macropsychological factors predict “hard” economic outcomes like regional economic resilience? Prior approaches to understanding economic resilience have focused on regional economic infrastructure. In contrast, we draw on research highlighting the key role played by psychological factors in economic behaviors. Using large psychological data sets from the United States (n = 935,858) and Great Britain (n = 417,217), we characterize region-level psychological correlates of economic resilience. Specifically, we examine links between regions’ levels of psychological traits and their degree of economic slowdown (indexed by changes in entrepreneurial vitality) in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008–2009. In both countries, more emotionally stable regions and regions with a more prevalent entrepreneurial personality makeup showed a significantly lower economic slowdown. This effect was robust when accounting for regional differences in economic infrastructure. Cause cannot be inferred from these correlational findings, but the results nonetheless point to macropsychological factors as potentially protective factors against macroeconomic shocks.

Where do entrepreneurial skills come from

Applying Lazears jack-of-all-trades theory, we investigate the formation of entrepreneurial skills in two data sets on innovative new firms. Our results suggest that traditional human capital indicators individually have little or no influence on entrepreneurial skills. However, consistent with Lazears theory, those entrepreneurs who exhibit a varied set of work experience have higher entrepreneurial skills relevant for starting and growing a firm. This supports the notion that a varied set of work experiences rather than depth of any particular type of experience or education is important for the development of entrepreneurial skills.

Public Business Advice in the Founding Process: An Empirical Evaluation of Subjective and Economic Effects

We investigate economic and subjective effects of public business advice delivered to nascent entrepreneurs in Germany. We analyze data from the Thuringian Founder Study, an interdisciplinary research project on innovative entrepreneurship. Employing cluster analysis, we first explore the actual scope and intensity of business advice used. Two distinct groups of policy take-up can be identified: (1) use of intense assistance across all areas, and (2) use of less-intensive assistance being limited to operational issues. Then we analyze personal entrepreneurial resources (human and social capital, entrepreneurial personality profile) as predictors of take-up and perceived usefulness taking into account the different patterns of utilized advice. Finally, we assess economic effects by studying subsequent business performance employing propensity score matching. We cannot reveal that business advice translated into better start-up performance, but our results indicate that advice may help founders with fewer resources to overcome barriers in the founding process. We find that a lack of personal entrepreneurial resources predicts take-up of business advice in general as well as perceived usefulness of comprehensive business advice.

Entrepreneurship from a Developmental Science Perspective

Due to worldwide social, political, and economic change (Silbereisen & Chen, 2010), entrepreneurship has become a key topic of our time (Hisrich, Langan-Fox, & Grant, 2007). We understand entrepreneurship as starting and growing one’s own business (or, more broadly, as the identification, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities, Shane, 2012). Globalization, post-industrial society, rapid technological progress, the deregulation of the labor market in many countries, political shifts towards liberal economies (e.g., in the former Eastern Bloc), and the increasing individualization of the life course have together contributed to an era of entrepreneurship. At the individual level, entrepreneurship has become a central competence to succeed in a working life where, in view of the economic challenges and changing landscapes of work, proactive, self-responsible, creative, and competitive behaviors have become crucial assets and where starting one’s own business, and creating something new by entrepreneurial means and innovation, is a promising, albeit risky, job alternative for many people. At the societal level, entrepreneurship (and innovative growth oriented startups in particular) is considered a driver of economic and technological development, innovation, and job creation. In view of this growing relevance at different levels, it is not surprising that both scholars and policymakers have called for enhanced efforts in researching and promoting entrepreneurship (Hisrich et al., 2007; The World Bank, 2010; World Economic Forum, 2009).

Personality and the Gender Gap in Self-Employment: A Multi-Nation Study

What role does personality play in the pervasive gender gap in entrepreneurship across the globe? This two-study analysis focuses on self-employment in the working population and underlying gender differences in personality characteristics, thereby considering both single trait dimensions as well as a holistic, configural personality approach. Applying the five-factor model of personality, Study 1, our main study, investigates mediation models in the prediction of self-employment status utilizing self-reported personality data from large-scaled longitudinal datasets collected in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., and Australia (total N = 28,762). Study 2 analyzes (observer-rated) Big Five data collected in 51 cultures (total N = 12,156) to take a more global perspective and to explore the pancultural universality of gender differences in entrepreneurial personality characteristics. Across the four countries investigated in Study 1, none of the major five dimension of personality turned out as a consistent and robust mediator. In contrast, the holistic, configural approach yielded consistent and robust mediation results. Across the four countries, males scored higher on an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile, which in turn predicted self-employment status. These results suggest that gender differences in the intra-individual configuration of personality traits contribute to the gender gap in entrepreneurship across the globe. With the restriction of limited representativeness, the data from Study 2 suggest that the gender difference in the entrepreneurship-prone personality profile (males score higher) is widespread across many cultures, but may not exist in all. The results are discussed with an emphasis on implications for research and practice, which a particular focus on the need for more complex models that incorporate the role of personality.

Social Competencies in Childhood and Adolescence and Entrepreneurship in Young Adulthood: A Two-study Analysis

Contributing to the literature on early precursors of entrepreneurship, this study investigated the role of early social competencies for an entrepreneurial career choice and entrepreneurial success in young adulthood. We utilized data from the British Cohort Study and the Thuringian Founder Study (Germany), thereby comparing results across countries, study designs (e.g., retrospective vs. prospective), and concepts of early social competencies and entrepreneurship. In the British analyses, which concentrated on self-employment among the creative class, we found that social competencies in childhood (i.e., social skills and peer popularity at age 10) predicted entrepreneurial status at age 34, continuity in entrepreneurial activity (age 30 and 34) as well as earnings among the self-employed (age 34). In the German data, we found that entrepreneurial forms of social competencies in adolescence (i.e., leadership and early commercialization activities at age 14 or 15) predicted the process of starting an innovative business in young adulthood (entrepreneurial intentions, progress in the venture creation process, and business success in the post-startup phase). The results are discussed with an emphasis on possible pathways connecting early social competencies and enterprising behavior in young adulthood.

The Regional Distribution and Correlates of an Entrepreneurship-Prone Personality Profile in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom: A Socioecological Perspective

In recent years the topic entrepreneurship has become a major focus in the social sciences, with renewed interest in the links between personality and entrepreneurship. Taking a socioecological perspective to psychology, which emphasizes the role of social habitats and their interactions with mind and behavior, we investigated regional variation in and correlates of an entrepreneurship-prone Big Five profile. Specifically, we analyzed personality data collected from over half a million U.S. residents (N = 619,397) as well as public archival data on state-level entrepreneurial activity (i.e., business-creation and self-employment rates). Results revealed that an entrepreneurship-prone personality profile is regionally clustered. This geographical distribution corresponds to the pattern that can be observed when mapping entrepreneurial activity across the U.S. Indeed, the state-level correlation (N = 51) between an entrepreneurial personality structure and entrepreneurial activity was positive in direction, substantial in magnitude, and robust even when controlling for regional economic prosperity. These correlations persisted at the level of U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (N = 15) and were replicated in independent German (N = 19,842; 14 regions) and British samples (N = 15,617; 12 regions). In contrast to these profile-based analyses, an analysis linking the individual Big Five dimensions to regional measures of entrepreneurial activity did not yield consistent findings. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for interdisciplinary theory development and practical applications.

The quest for the entrepreneurial culture: psychological Big Data in entrepreneurship research

Highlights • The paper gives an overview over entrepreneurship research. • The paper highlights the role of culture as a driver of entrepreneurial activity. • It summarises new research on entrepreneurial culture. • This research is based on psychological Big Data. • This Big Data has delivered important new insights on entrepreneurial culture. Entrepreneurship is an important topic of our time due to its effect on economic development and social change. However, economic research struggled to explain entrepreneurial activities of regions with standard economic models, assuming perfect rationality of individuals and populations. Economic research has thus developed a strong interest in understanding the more ‘hidden’ informal institutions such as cultural factors. Here, a new generation of psychological research based on Big Data delivers a series of interesting results. Drawing from a personality-based approach to assess and to study the effects and origins of an entrepreneurial culture, this new research illustrates the great potential of psychological Big Data for economic, sociological, geographical, and psychological approaches to entrepreneurship. However, future research should employ new, complex analytic methods that utilise the full potential of Big Data.

Did Strategic Bombing in the Second World War Lead to ‘German Angst’? A Large-scale Empirical Test Across 89 German Cities

A widespread stereotype holds that the Germans are notorious worriers, an idea captured by the term German angst. An analysis of country–level neurotic personality traits (trait anxiety, trait depression, and trait neuroticism; N = 7 210 276) across 109 countries provided mixed support for this idea; Germany ranked 20th, 31st, and 53rd for depression, anxiety, and neuroticism, respectively, suggesting, at best, the national stereotype is only partly valid. Theories put forward to explain the stereotypical characterization of Germany focus on the collective traumatic events experienced by Germany during World War II (WWII), such as the massive strategic bombing of German cities. We thus examined the link between strategic bombing of 89 German cities and todays regional levels in neurotic traits (N = 33 534) and related mental health problems. Contrary to the WWII bombing hypothesis, we found negative effects of strategic bombing on regional trait depression and mental health problems. This finding was robust when controlling for a host of economic factors and social structure. We also found Resilience × Stressor interactions: Cities with more severe bombings show more resilience today (lower levels of neurotic traits and mental health problems in the face of a current major stressor—economic hardship). Copyright