Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Entrepreneurs in Latin America

  • Published:
Small Business Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper, by analyzing how narrow task-related personality traits relate to different entrepreneurial behavior in Latin America, contributes to the literature that is moving the focus from the big five personality traits to narrow traits, the literature that is searching for answers of how the environment mediates the relationship between traits and entrepreneurial behavior, and the literature that analyzes the differences among different types of entrepreneurs. We exploit a large and rich database that has individual-level information for nine Latin American countries and one USA city. The evidence indicates that there are some narrow personality traits that are positively associated with entrepreneurial behavior in Latin America, that this association is weaker for individuals who show weaker entrepreneurial behavior, and that the environment seems to be relevant to understanding the differences in the personality traits of Latin American and USA entrepreneurs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Even though meta-analysis is a relatively new methodology in social sciences, it has been the standard for more than 40 years in medicine and related sciences, increasingly displacing narrative reviews. Narrative reviews cannot provide the same type of quantitative evaluation of the literature that a meta-analysis generates, they cannot “correct” for studies that were not optimally designed and for moderator effects, and are less able to have an unbiased look at the data and detect small correlations as compared to meta-analysis (Hunter and Schmidt 2004).

  2. Openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

  3. We will also include the multitasking characteristics which are available in our dataset.

  4. Mischel (1968) is credited with triggering the personality versus situation debate. Gazzaniga and Heatherton (2006, p. 608), referring to this debate, points out that ‘‘one of the most important lessons of social psychology is that people consistently underestimate the power of situations in affecting human behavior”.

  5. As Rauch (2014) points out “[o]ne might speculate whether favorable environments, which provide rich resources, many opportunities and market growth, allow the expression of personality traits and, as a consequence, whether there is a stronger relationship between personality characteristics and performance in favorable environments as compared to unfavorable environments”.

  6. Even though we report a regression with interaction terms only for personality traits, we have also run a regression with interaction in all variables and the results with respect to personality traits are similar. This regression is available upon request.

  7. A general version of the Haussmann specification test (i.e.: not considering the cluster structure) was performed, rejecting the hypothesis that the coefficients vary when excluding other categories, meaning that we are likely not violating the IIA assumption.

References

  • Aldrich, H. E. (1999). Organizations evolving. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37(2), 122–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (2005). Yes, personality matters: Moving on to more important matters. Human Performance, 18(4), 359–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchflower, D., & Oswald, A. (1998). What makes an entrepreneur? Journal of Labor Economics, 16(1), 29–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchflower, D., Oswald, A., & Stutzer, A. (2001). Latent entrepreneurship across nations. European Economic Review, 45(4–6), 680–691.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branstätter, H. (2011). Personality aspects of entrepreneurship: A look at five meta-analyses. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 222–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brockhaus, R. H., & Horwitz, P. S. (1985). The psychology of the entrepreneur. In D. L. Sexton & R. W. Smilor (Eds.), The art and science of entrepreneurship. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caliendo, M., Fossen, F., & Kritikos, A. (2014). Personality characteristics and the decision to become and stay self-employed. Small Business Economics, 42(4), 787–814.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caliendo, M., & Kritikos, A. (2012). Searching for the entrepreneurial personality: New evidence and avenues for further research. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33(2), 319–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castrogiovanni, G. J. (1991). Environmental munificence: A theoretical assessment. Academy of Management Review, 16(3), 542–565.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, C. J., Hanges, P. J., & Locke, E. E. (2004). The relationship of achievement motivation to entrepreneurial behavior: A meta-analysis. Human Performance, 17(1), 95–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T, Jr, & McCrae, R. R. (1988). From catalog to classification: Murray’s needs and the five-factor model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(2), 258–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cromie, S. (2000). Assessing entrepreneurial intentions: Some approaches and empirical evidence. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 9(1), 7–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeNisi, A. S. (2015). Some further thoughts on the entrepreneurial personality. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(5), 997–1003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dudley, N. M., Orvis, K. A., Lebiecki, J. E., & Cortina, J. M. (2006). A meta-analytic investigation of conscientiousness in the prediction of job performance: Examining the intercorrelations and the incremental validity of narrow traits. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 40–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eden, D. (1988). Pygmalion, goal setting, and expectancy: Compatible ways to raise productivity. Academy of Management Review, 13(4), 639–652.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ensley, M. D., Pearce, C. L., & Hmieleski, K. M. (2006). The moderating effect of environmental dynamism on the relationship between entrepreneur leadership behavior and new venture performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 21(2), 243–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairlie, R., & Robb, A. (2007). Families, human capital, and small business: Evidence from the characteristics of business owners survey. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 60(2), 225–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frese, M. (2009). Towards a psychology of entrepreneurship. An action theory perspective. Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 5(6), 435–494.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gartner, W. B. (1989). “Who is an entrepreneur?” Is the wrong question. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 12(2), 47–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga, M.S., & Heatherton, T. (2006). Psychological Science: Mind, Brain, and Behavior (2nd ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • GEM. (2014). 2014 global report. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

  • Glaub, M. E., Frese, M., Fischer, S., & Hoppe, M. (2014). Increasing personal initiative in small business managers or owners leads to entrepreneurial success: A theory-based controlled randomized field intervention for evidence-based management. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 13(3), 354–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, W. (2003). Econometric analysis (5th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansemark, O. C. (1998). The effects of an entrepreneurship programme on need for achievement and locus of control of reinforcement. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 4(1), 28–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herbert, R., & Link, A. (1989). In search of the meaning of entrepreneurship. Small Business Economics, 1(1), 39–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hmieleski, K. M., & Baron, R. A. (2008). Regulatory focus and new venture performance: A study of entrepreneurial opportunity exploitation under conditions of risk versus uncertainty. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 2(4), 285–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland, J. L. (1985). Making vocational choices. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall

    Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, J., & Schmidt, F. (2004). Methods for meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, F. H. (1921). Risk, uncertainty and profit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leutner, F., Ahmetoglu, G., Akhtar, R., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2014). The relationship between the entrepreneurial personality and the big five personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 63, 58–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Low, M. B., & MacMillan, I. C. (1988). Entrepreneurship: Past research and future challenges. Journal of Management, 14(2), 139–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland, D. C. (1961). The achieving society. New York: Free Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Minkov, M. (2013). Cross-cultural analysis: The science and art of comparing the world’s modern societies and their cultures. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mischel, W. (1968). Personality and assessment. New York, NY: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naudé, W. (2009). Out with the sleaze, in with the ease: Insufficient for entrepreneurial development? WIDER research paper RP 2009/01.

  • Paunonen, S. V., & Ashton, M. C. (2001). Big five factors and the prediction of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(3), 524–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pender, M. (2009). The meaning of entrepreneurship: A modular concept. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, 9(2), 77–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rauch, A. (2014). Predictions of entrepreneurial behavior: A personality approach. In E. Chell & M. Karatas-Özkan (Eds.), Handbook of research in small business and entrepreneurship (pp. 165–186). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rauch, A., & Frese, M. (2007). Let’s put the person back into entrepreneurship research: A meta-analysis on the relationship between business owners’ personality traits, business creation, and success. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 16, 353–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rotter, J. B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 80(1), 1–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoar, A. (2010). The divide between subsistence and transformational entrepreneurship. Innovation Policy and the Economy, 10, 57–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter, J. A. (1934). The theory of economic development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Economic Forum. (2014). The global competitiveness report 2014–2015. World Economic Forum.

  • Stewart, W. H., & Roth, P. L. (2001). Risk propensity differences between entrepreneurs and managers: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 145–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, W. H., & Roth, P. L. (2007). A meta-analysis of achievement motivation differences between entrepreneurs and managers. Journal of Small Business Management, 45(4), 401–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thapa, A. (2015). Determinants of microenterprise performance in Nepal. Small Business Economics, 45(3), 581–594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toth, R. (2012). Entrepreneurial human capital and entrepreneurial dynamics: Evidence from a natural experiment. In 3rd IZA workshop on entrepreneurship research.

  • Verheul, I., Thurik, R., Grilo, I., & Van der Zwan, P. (2012). Explaining preferences and actual involvement in self-employment: Gender and the entrepreneurial personality. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33(2), 325–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welter, F. (2011). Contextualizing entrepreneurship—conceptual challenges and ways forward. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35(1), 165–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, H., & Seibert, S. E. (2006). The big five personality dimensions and entrepreneurial status: A meta-analytical review. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 259–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, H., Seibert, S., & Lumpkin, G. (2010). The relationship of personality to entrepreneurial intentions and performance: A meta-analytic review. The Journal of Management, 36(2), 381–404.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The financial support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for this research is gratefully acknowledged. We thank the comments and suggestions by anonymous reviewers and referees, and participants of the IDB’s research project workshop “Entrepreneurship in Latin America”. The usual disclaimer applies.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigaciones Económicas (CINVE), Uruguay 1242, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Diego Aboal & Federico Veneri

  2. Universidad ORT Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Diego Aboal

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Administración, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Diego Aboal

Authors
  1. Diego Aboal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Federico Veneri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diego Aboal.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 13, 14 and 15.

Table 13 Correlation between personality traits, LATAM
Full size table
Table 14 Descriptive statistics, LA
Full size table
Table 15 Descriptive statistics, LA
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Aboal, D., Veneri, F. Entrepreneurs in Latin America. Small Bus Econ 46, 503–525 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-015-9696-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-015-9696-3

Keywords

JEL Classifications

Search

Navigation