The importance of behavioural and situational characteristics for entrepreneurial success: An international rating study

A judgemental analysis has been executed of the job of entrepreneur in terms of the required behavioural, or 'human', attributes and in terms of the relevance of 'situational' attributes for entrepreneurial success. Ratings were given by 235 consultants and starting entrepreneurs from five European countries. By means of generalizability analysis it was investigated whether ratings generalized across countries: Nationality barely had an influence on the ratings. Next, it was questioned whether the type of judge, i.e. consultants or starting entrepreneurs, made a difference. No difference was found for the situational attributes. However, the behavioural attributes as a whole were judged to be more important by starters than by consultants. In general, it was not so much the type or nationality of the judge, as individual differences between judges that had an effect on the ratings. Overall, consensus was higher among consultants than among starting entrepreneurs, and higher on the importance of the situational than of the behavioural attributes. The three situational agttributes judged as most important were: Number of Clients, Type of Product, and Competition. The three most important behavioural attributes were judged to be Market Orientedness, Perseverance, and Independence (consultants), and Perseverence, Independence, and Financial Control (starters).