FIVE FACTOR THEORY OF PERSONALITY: A NEW & USEFUL LENS TO EXPLORE ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTION OR ANOTHER USELESS DEAD-END?
John H. Eggers, Richard Ivey School of Business
Principle Topic
The study of entrepreneurial personality has lost favor among researchers. This is due to a long history of mixed and nonsignificant results and poor predictive power. However, personality as a serious topic of research has recently experienced a resurgence due to the emergence of a generally accepted taxonomy of personality called the Big Five Factors or Five Factor Theory.
Method
In the present study of 44 Canadian CEO’s of high growth entrepreneurial firms the relationship between each of the five personality factors and the quality of key leadership/management behaviors was explored. Personality data was collected using the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) which has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to measure each of the Five Factors of Personality. Quality of CEO behavior was established using rater data (N=480) from direct reports using the Entrepreneurial Performance Indicator: Leadership. Multiple regression and Partial Least Squares (PLS) Casual Modeling were used to test the studies hypotheses. Significant and meaningful cause and effect relationships (median R-square = .25, p<.01) in the quality of CEO communication, vision dissemination, capacity to motivate employees and two of the five personality factors were identified.
Implications
These findings support recent literature in other fields of inquiry and offer new practical insights for academics and practitioners in the future identification, understanding and prediction of successful entrepreneurial behavior in growing firms.
CONTACT: John H. Eggers, Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, North, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7; (T) 519-661-4170; (F) 519-850-2337; jeggers@ivey.uwo.ca
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