Personality aspects of entrepreneurship: A look at five meta-analyses

Research on personality aspects of entrepreneurship, recently summarized in five meta-analyses, has intensified during the past two decades. Internationally, entrepreneurship has been recognized as highly important for socio-economic prosperity. After discussing a few basic concepts relating task and context of entrepreneurship to personality characteristics the main results of the meta-analyses are reported. In the system of the Big Five, personality traits make a difference when entrepreneurs are compared with managers (C+, O+, E+, N−, A−). They are also relevant in predicting entrepreneurial intention (C+, O+, N−, E+) and entrepreneurs’ performance (C+, O+, E+, N−). For other more specific scales that have frequently enough been used and could therefore be included in meta-analyses (e.g., readiness for innovation, proactive personality, generalized self-efficacy, stress tolerance, need for autonomy, locus of control) have also been reported significant correlations with business creation and business success. Risk propensity supports business foundation, but not necessarily business success. Achievement motivation is favourable both for business foundation and business success. The effect sizes are mostly small, some moderate. Complementing the results of the meta-analyses, some recent single studies on mediator or moderator effects are briefly reviewed.     

Longitudinal Study on the Relationships between Organizational Factors and Autonomous and Controlled Motivation among Older Japanese Bridge Employees1

Longitudinal relationships between organizational factors and autonomous and controlled motivation among older Japanese bridge employees were investigated. The study sample consisted of 331 older people working in bridge employment at the same organizations where they worked before retirement (M_age = 63.45 years, SD = 3.28 years). Data were taken at two time points 10 months apart. Multiple regression analysis indicated that organizational justice predicted autonomous motivation at Time 2, after controlling for demographic variables and autonomous motivation at Time 1, whereas organizational justice did not predict controlled motivation. Moreover, support from coworkers positively predicted autonomous motivation and negatively predicted controlled motivation at Time 2. These results indicate that optimal organizational environments might promote autonomous motivation and reduce controlled motivation among older workers. It is suggested that organizations develop environments where older workers can receive fair evaluations from their superiors and close relationships with their coworkers.     

Motivation in Person Perception: Role of the Other's Perspective

Abstract

In previous studies (G. Steins & R. A. Wicklund, 1993, 1996, 1997; R. A. Wicklund & G. Steins, 1996), perspective-taking depended on the interplay between 2 variables–(a) press (the relationship intensity between perceiver and perceived person) and (b) conflict. In the absence of conflict, perspective-taking was positively related to press; in the presence of conflict, perspective-taking was negatively related to press. In the present 3 studies, involving samples of German students, the author conducted a detailed exploration of the motivational impact of press on perspective-taking: In the 1st study, she measured press via the participant's wish to deal with the other person; in the 2nd study, via the perceiver's preoccupation with the target; and in the 3rd study, she defined press as a general tendency of some participants to become absorbed in other individuals. All 3 studies included elements of conflict. The results further supported the perspective-taking model and improved the understanding of the influence of motivation in person perception.     

A Field Examination of Two Measures of Work Motivation as Predictors of Leaders' Influence Tactics

Abstract

The authors tested 2 motivation measures, the Motivation Sources Inventory (MSI; J. E. Barbuto & R. W. Scholl, 1998) and the Job Choice Decision-Making Exercise (A. M. Harrell & M. J. Stahl, 1981) as predictors of leaders' influence tactics. The authors sampled 219 leader-member dyads from a variety of organizations and communities throughout the central United States. Results strongly favored the MSI as a predictor of influence tactics. Limitations of the study include low power of relationships, sample size as limited by the research design, and education levels of participants. Future researchers should use larger and more diverse samples and test other relevant antecedents of leaders' behaviors.     

Implicit Motives and Sexual Conservatism as Predictors of Sexual Behaviors

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to provide an assessment of the relationship between the two most important implicit motives and the most frequently studied sexual behaviors. A community sample of 102 men and 92 women completed measures of implicit power and affiliation-intimacy motives, sexual conservatism, social desirability, and sexual behavior. For men, high power motivation was positively associated with the number of sexual partners and the frequency of sex. There was an interaction between sexual conservatism and power motivation in women. For women low in sexual conservatism, high power motivation was positively associated with the number of sexual partners and with earlier initiation to intercourse and oral sex. There were few associations between affiliation-intimacy motivation and sexual behaviors; however, women high in this motive reported later initiation to oral sex.     

The index of autonomous functioning: Development of a scale of human autonomy

A growing interest in the functional importance of dispositional autonomy led to the development and validation of the Index of Autonomous Functioning (IAF) across seven studies. The IAF provides a measure of trait autonomy based on three theoretically derived subscales assessing authorship/self-congruence, interest-taking, and low susceptibility to control. Results showed consistency within and across subscales, and appropriate placement within a nomological network of constructs. Diary studies demonstrated IAF relations with higher well-being, greater daily satisfaction of basic psychological needs, and more autonomous engagement in daily activities. Using an experimental approach, the IAF was shown to predict more positive interactions among dyads. The studies provided a systematic development and validation of a measure of autonomy that is brief and reliable.     

Effects of achievement goals on self-regulation of eating attitudes among elite female athletes: An experimental study

Introduction

The influence of achievement goals on eating attitudes has mainly been examined through correlational studies (e.g., [De Bruin et?al., 2009] and [Duda and Kim, 1997]), and none of the studies to date has focused on the self-regulation of eating attitudes in athletes. The present study experimentally tested the effects of achievement goals on both self-reported (Study 1) and behavioral indices (Study 2) of the self-regulation of eating attitudes in female figure skaters.

Method

Elite female figure skaters (Study 1: n = 44; Study 2: n = 54) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions designed to induce specific goal involvement (performance-approach, mastery-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery-avoidance) or a control condition (no goal induction). The participants in Study 1 completed the Self-Regulation of Eating Attitudes in Sport Scale (SREASS, Scoffier, Corrion, Paquet, & Arripe-Longueville, 2010) and those in Study 2 completed a virtual behavioral measure of self-regulation of eating attitudes (VSSR; Scoffier, 2009).

Results

Variance analyses indicated that induced mastery-approach goals and performance-avoidance goals resulted in higher scores for self-regulation of eating attitudes than induced performance-approach goals and mastery-avoidance goals. The relationships were the same at both self-reported and behavioral levels.

Discussion

This experimental study confirms the findings of previous correlational works and shows that achievement goals contribute to the causal processes of self-regulation of eating attitudes. These findings might help to prevent eating disorders in female athletes by providing guidance for the development of adapted motivational strategies.     

Perceived coach-autonomy support, basic need satisfaction and the well- and ill-being of elite youth soccer players: A longitudinal investigation

Objectives

Drawing from the basic needs theory [BNT; Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2002). An overview of self-determination theory. In E. L. Deci, & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 3-33). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press], the major purpose of the present study was to test a hypothesized sequence of temporal relationships between perceptions of coach-autonomy support, basic need satisfaction and indices of well- and ill-being. A subsidiary aim was to ascertain the assumed mediational role of basic need satisfaction in explicating the perceived autonomy support and well-/ill-being relationships over time.

Design

A field-based longitudinal design was employed.

Methods

Participants (N = 54 males) from an elite youth soccer academy in the UK completed a multi-section questionnaire tapping the targeted variables on six occasions across two competitive seasons.

Results

Multi-level regression analyses revealed that perceptions of coach-autonomy support positively predicted within-person changes and between-person mean differences in basic need satisfaction and well-being over time. Satisfaction scores for the needs for competence and relatedness were found to predict within-person changes in subjective vitality. These same needs partially mediated the coach-autonomy support-subjective vitality link over the two seasons.

Conclusions

The findings partially support the tenets of BNT, and are discussed in terms of their practical application to participants involved in an elite youth sport setting.     

Ethnicity as a social context for the development of African-American adolescents

Does anticipated future racial discrimination undermine African-American adolescents' academic motivation and performance? Do face-to-face experiences with racial discrimination at school undermine African-American adolescents' academic functioning? Does African-American ethnic identity buffer these relations? This paper addresses these questions using two waves of data from a longitudinal study of an economically diverse sample of African-American adolescents living near Washington D.C. The data were collected at the beginning of the 7th grade and after the completion of the 8th grade. As expected, the experiences of day-to-day racial discrimination at school from one's teachers and peers predicted declines in grades, academic ability self-concepts, and academic task values. A strong, positive connection to one's ethnic group (our measure of ethnic identity) reduced the magnitude of the association of racial discrimination experiences with declines in both academic self-concepts and school achievement. Most youth responded to anticipated future discrimination with increased academic motivation.