Desirable Features of a Successful Entrepreneur: The Perspective of Family and Non-Family Firms

Beata Agnieszka Żukowska, Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski

Abstract


The traits and skills of a successful entrepreneur may differ between businesses. In family enterprises, where at least two systems – family and business – meet, the desirable characteristics of a good entrepreneur are different from those in non-family businesses. The main goal of this paper was to establish which features of an entrepreneur are considered more favourable in family businesses than in non-family businesses. Our results demonstrate that for family entrepreneurs, features connected with sustaining long-term survival are more vital than for non-family businesses. Moreover, skills which may be useful in developing social capital – for example, negotiation skills and creating business relations – are more important in non-family fims, which is contrary to the assumption provided in the literature review. however, the evaluation of the results gained in this study indicates that in order to sustain their competitive advantages, family fims should not downplay the role of social skills and should become less risk-averse, as risk-taking can sometimes be the only way to ensure survival in the market.


Keywords


family business, entrepreneur, features of an entrepreneur

Full Text:

PDF

References


Anderson, R.C., Reeb, D.M., Founding-family ownership and firm performance: Evidence from the S&P 500,“The Journal of Finance” 2003, vol. 58(3), pp. 1301–1328.

Arregle, J.L., Hitt, M.A., Sirmon, D.G., Very, P., The development of organizational social capital: Attributes of family firms, “Journal of Management Studies” 2007, vol. 44(1), pp. 73–95.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00665.x.

Baron, R.A., Cognitive mechanisms in entrepreneurship: Why and when entrepreneurs think differently than other people, “Journal of Business venturing” 1998, vol. 13(4), pp. 275–294. DOI: 10.1016/S0883-9026(97)00031-1.

Barry, B., The development of organization structure in the family firm, “Journal of General Management” 1975, vol. 3(1), pp. 42–60. DOI: 10.1177/030630707500300105.

Basco, R., Perez Rodriguez, M.J., Studying the family enterprise holistically. Evidence for integrated family and business systems, “Family Business Review” 2009, vol. 82(22), pp. 82–95. DOI: 10.1177/0894486508327824.

Baum, J.R., Locke, E.A., Kirkpatrick, S., A longitudinal study of the relation of vision and vision communication to venture growth in entrepreneurial fims, “Journal of Applied Psychology” 1998, vol. 83, pp. 43–54. DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.83.1.43.

Bhide, A.V., The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Oxford University Press, New York 2000.

Brockhaus, R.H., Sr., Risk-taking propensity of entrepreneurs, “Academy of Management Journal” 1980, vol. 23, pp. 509–520. DOI: 10.5465/255515.

Bull, I., Willard, G.E., Towards a theory of entrepreneurship, “Journal of Business Venturing” 1993, vol. 8(183), p. 195. DOI: 10.1186/1748-5908-8-18.

Busenitz, L.W., Barney, J.B., Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making, “Journal of Business Venturing” 1997, vol. 12, pp. 9–30. DOI: 10.1016/S0883-9026(96)00003-1.

Casson, M., Entrepreneurship and the economic theory of the firm, “Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization” 2005, vol. 58, pp. 327–348. DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2004.05.007.

Chrisman, J.J., Chua, J.h., Sharma, P., Trends and directions in the development of a strategic management theory of the family fim, “Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice” 2005, vol. 29(5), pp. 555–575.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00098.x.

Chua, J.h., Chrisman, J.J., Sharma, P., Defiing the family business by behavior, “Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice” 1999, vol. 23, pp. 19–39. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6520.2006.00131.x.

Deephouse, D.L., Jaskiewicz, P., Do family firms have better reputations than non-family firms? an integration of socioemotional wealth and social identity theories, “Journal of Management Studies” 2013, vol. 50(3), pp. 337–360. DOI: 10.1111/joms.12015.

Dyer, J.W.G., Examining the “family effect” on fim performance, “Family Business Review” 2006, vol. 19(4), pp. 253–273. DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-6248.2006.00074.x.

Joyce, n., Gomathi, S., The inflence of personality traits and demographic factors on social entrepreneurship start up intention, “Journal of Business Ethics” 2010, vol. 95(2), pp. 259–282. DOI: 10.1007/s10551-009-0358-8.

Kellermanns, F.W., Eddleston, K.A., Barnett, T., Pearson, A., An exploratory study of family member characteristics and involvement: Effects on entrepreneurial behavior in the family firm, “Family Business

Review” 2008, vol. 21(1), pp. 1–14. DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-6248.2007.00107.x.

McClelland, D.C., The Achieving Society, van nostrand, Princeton 1961.

Memili, B.E., Chrisman, J.J., Chua, J.H., Transaction costs and outsourcing decisions in small and medium-sized family fims, “Family Business Review” 2011, vol. 24(1), pp. 47–61. DOI: 10.1177/0894486510396706.

Miller, D., Le Breton-Miller, I., Family governance and fim performance: Agency, stewardship, and capabilities, “Familiy Business Review” 2006, vol. 19(1), pp. 73–87. DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-6248.2006.00063.x.

Miller, D., Le Breton-Miller, I., Scholnick, B., Stewardship vs. stagnation: An empirical comparison of small family and non-family businesses, “Journal of Management Studies” 2008, vol. 45(1), pp. 51–78. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2007.00718.x.

Minichilli, A., Brogi, M., Calabrò, A., Weathering the storm: Family ownership, governance, and performance through the financial and economic crisis, “Corporate Governance: An International Review” 2015, vol. 24(6). DOI: 10.1111/corg.12125.

Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R., Chrisman, J.J., Spence, L.J., Toward a theory of stakeholder salience in family firms, “Business Ethics Quarterly” 2011, vol. 21(2), pp. 235–255. DOI: 10.5840/beq201121215.

Mitchell, R.K., Smith, B., Seawright, L.W., Morse, E.A., Cross-cultural cognitions and the venture creation decision, “Academy of Management Journal” 2000, vol. 43, pp. 974–993. DOI: 10.5465/1556422.

Naldi, L., Cennamo, C., Guido, C., Gomez-Mejia, L., Preserving socioemotional wealth in family firms: Asset or liability? The moderating role of business context, “Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice” 2013, vol. 37(6), pp. 1341–1360. DOI: 10.1111/etap.12069.

Sexton, D.L., Wayne Huizenga: Entrepreneur and wealth creator, “Academy of Management Executive” 2001, vol. 1, pp. 40–48.

Sirmon, D.G., Hitt, M.A., Managing resources: Linking unique resources, management, and wealth creation in family fims, “Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice” 2003, vol. 27(4), pp. 339–359.

Smith, J.K., Smith, R.L., Entrepreneurial Finance, Wiley, New York 2000.

Stevenson, H.H., A new paradigm for entrepreneurial management, [in:] J.J. Kao, h.h. Stevenson (eds.), Entrepreneurship: What It Is and How to Teach It, Harvard Business School, Boston 1985, pp. 30–61.

Tranmer, M., Elliot, M., Binary Logistic Regression, The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, 2008. DOI: 10.4135/9781412995627.

Węcławski, J., Cele a strategie finansowania przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych, [in:] Z. Dressler (red.), Finansowe determinanty rozwoju przedsiębiorstw, Wydawnictwo UE, Kraków 2014.

Wernerfelt, B., A resource-based view of the firm, “Strategic Management Journal” 1984, vol. 5(2), pp. 171–180. DOI: 10.1002/smj.4250050207.

Zellweger, T.M., Astrachan, J.H., On the emotional value of owning a fim, “Family Business Review” 2008, vol. 21(4), pp. 347–363. DOI: 10.1177/08944865080210040106.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/h.2018.52.6.141-151
Date of publication: 2019-07-18 10:28:41
Date of submission: 2018-10-12 10:56:07


Statistics


Total abstract view - 1273
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 0

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Beata Agnieszka Żukowska, Ada Domańska, Robert Zajkowski

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.