Screening Enterprising Personality in Youth: An Empirical Model

• Published in: The Spanish journal of psychology 2014-01, Vol.17, p.E60-E60, Article E60
• Main Authors: Suárez-Álvarez, Javier, Pedrosa, Ignacio, García-Cueto, Eduardo, Muñiz, José
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Achievement motivation; Adolescent; Autonomy; Developmental, Differential and Personality Psychology; Education; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Internal-External Control; Locus of control; Male; Models, Psychological; Motivation; Optimism; Personal Autonomy; Personality; Personality Assessment; Personality Tests; Personality traits; Psychology; Psychometrics; Quantitative psychology; Reproducibility of Results; Risk assessment; Risk taking; Secondary education; Self Efficacy; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Success; Tolerance
• ISSN: 1138-7416; 1988-2904
• DOI: 10.1017/sjp.2014.61

Entrepreneurial attitudes of individuals are determined by different variables, some of them related to the cognitive and personality characteristics of the person, and others focused on contextual aspects. The aim of this study is to review the essential dimensions of enterprising personality and develop a test that will permit their thorough assessment. Nine dimensions were identified: achievement motivation, risk taking, innovativeness, autonomy, internal locus of control, external locus of control, stress tolerance, self-efficacy and optimism. For the assessment of these dimensions, 161 items were developed which were applied to a sample of 416 students, 54% male and 46% female (M = 17.89 years old, SD = 3.26). After conducting several qualitative and quantitative analyses, the final test was composed of 127 items with acceptable psychometric properties. Alpha coefficients for the subscales ranged from .81 to .98. The validity evidence relative to the content was provided by experts (V = .71, 95% CI = .56 - .85). Construct validity was assessed using different factorial analyses, obtaining a dimensional structure in accordance with the proposed model of nine interdependent dimensions as well as a global factor that groups these nine dimensions (explained variance = 49.07%; χ2/df = 1.78; GFI= .97; SRMR = .07). Nine out of the 127 items showed Differential Item Functioning as a function of gender (p < .01, R 2 >.035). The results obtained are discussed and future lines of research analyzed.