Exploring the Psychological Hardiness of Entrepreneurs

Transcription

1 Exploring the Psychological Hardiness of Entrepreneurs Reginald A. Bruce Robert F. Sinclair University of Louisville Presented at the Babson Entrepreneurship Research Conference, June 5, 2009.

2 Objectives To introduce the concept of psychological hardiness as a relevant construct for better understanding successful entrepreneurs To begin to explore cognitive mechanisms likely to explain the tendency to persist under conditions of uncertainty and the resilience to failure

3 Introduction Illinois Bell Telephone One of the biggest deregulation and divestiture cases in American history Salvatore Maddi and colleagues followed 400 managers for 6 years Two-thirds suffered significant performance, leadership, and health declines... but, that other one-third...

4 Psychological Hardiness A psychological style associated with resilience, good health, and performance under a range of stressful conditions (Bartone, 1999; Hull, Van Treuren, & Virnelli, 1987; Kobasa, Maddi, & Kahn, 1982)

5 Characteristics of Hardiness Hardy individuals exhibit three characteristics Have a high internal locus of control See challenge as an opportunity for growth and development Sense a high degree of commitment to their tasks

6 Previous Research Hardiness and health Depression and blood pressure (Maddi, Kahn, & Maddi, 1998) Subjective well-being (Florian, Mikulincer, & Taubman, 1995; Maddi, 1999) Hardiness in the workplace Learning motivation (Cole, Field, & Harris, 2004) Decreased employee cynicism (Cole, Bruch, & Vogel, 2006) Hardiness and leadership

7 Hardiness and Leadership Successful leadership associated with such personal qualities as fluid intelligence (Fiedler & Garcia, 1987) Psychological hardiness negatively related to concern about personal safety and fear of leadership failure (Ferris, 1998) Psychological hardiness & leadership effectiveness (Kouzes & Posner, 1995) U.S. Army Special Forces (Bartone, et al, 2008) Can we lessons from leadership be transferred to our understanding of entrepreneurship?

8 Postulated Impact of Psychological Hardiness Positively related to positive emotion Positively related to task engagement Positively related to task reengagement after failures Positively related to entrepreneurial success

9 Sample & Data Collection Measurement pilot test 141 undergraduate students in their final year of studies 54 entrepreneurship students 87 non-entrepreneurship students Internet-based survey Randomized order of items within measures for each participant

10 Measurement of Psychological Hardiness Used measure developed by Cole et al., (2004) modified to focus on entrepreneurship Factor analyses revealed similar factor structure as prior study Optimism (α =.82) and Engagement (α =.83) dimensions emerged Consistent with prior research, hardiness created as single scale (α =.87)

11 Psychological Hardiness: Sample Items I find that trying your best really pays off in the end I enjoy the challenge of learning new things I am in control of most things that happen to me I really look forward to most activities

12 Additional Cognitive Measures Opportunity identification (α =.73) Opportunity exploitation (α =.87) Dynamic entity schema (α =.95) Entrepreneurial self-schema (α =.75)

13 Opportunity Identification Open to new possibilities Frequently looking for a better way to do things Sees something when others see nothing Sees opportunity in all areas of life Imaginative

14 Opportunity Exploitation Determined to make something happen Capable of finding a way to get what I want Persistent when it comes to getting something I want Passionate about making new things happen Willing to take a chance to get something I really want

15 Dynamic Entity Schema: Sample Items You can always substantially change how intelligent you are To be honest, you can not really change how intelligent you are (RC) No matter who you are, you can significantly change your intelligence level You can change even your basic intelligence level considerably

16 Entrepreneurial Self-Schema: Sample Items I am not clever enough to start a business (RC) I know that I can handle the stress of owning my own business I am not sure that I would be comfortable with dealing with other business people (RC) I am physically capable of running my own business I would hate all the pressure that comes with owning my own business (RC)

17 Profile of Psychological Hardiness

18 Profile of Psychological Hardiness (cont.) No significant difference across gender or political affiliation Significant difference between entrepreneurship (mean=5.83) and non-entrepreneurship students (mean=5.37) F(1, 135) =14.64**

19 Psychological Hardiness & Cognitive Mechanisms Cognitive Measure Opportunity Identification Opportunity Exploitation Dynamic Entity Schema Entrepreneurial Self-Schema Beta.34**.17*.15*.28** Adj. R 2 F (4, 132) * p<.05 ; ** p< **

20 Discussion and Next Steps Psychological hardiness holds promise for better understanding entrepreneurs Current study has many limitations Data collection underway to address these limitations Both cross-sectional and panel designs If findings are replicated regarding impact of cognitive mechanisms, then educational & training programs can be focused on adjusting (or selecting for) individuals OI, OE, DES, and Entrepreneurial selfschema What factors mitigate the formation of psychological hardiness in entrepreneurs

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