Personal characteristics, business relationships and entrepreneurial performance: some empirical evidence

Abstract

Purpose - This paper examines the influence of individual and relational factors on new ventures’ performance. Particular emphasis is given to entrepreneurs’ personal attributes and business relationships (both social and institutional). Design/methodology/approach – Drawn upon a quantitative methodological approach, the current study relies on a survey questionnaire applied to a non-probabilistic sample of entrepreneurial firms which were set up in the last 4-5 years in different industries. Findings – This study found that support from central government, support from sector associations and support from a financial institution evidenced a difference of means along three categories of entrepreneurial performance (low, moderate and high). The same result was found in the case of the entrepreneur’s family support, entrepreneur’s previous knowledge about potential customers and entrepreneur’s previous experience in business. Influence from entrepreneur’s personal characteristics, such as entrepreneur’s personal qualities; entrepreneur’s intuition that he/she is in the presence of an innovative and unique business and entrepreneur’s need for self-achievement, was also observed. Practical implications – Since entrepreneurial activities are considered important drivers of a country’s economic development and growth, it is hoped that governments and sector associations put in place suitable policies and incentives to develop an entrepreneurial culture and mainly reduce the burden of bureaucracy for new ventures. Originality/value – The present study suggests that entrepreneurial performance is the result of a combination of personal and context-based factors and neither can be explained by a single set of entrepreneurial personal characteristics nor a set of more or less institutional relationships.