INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH AND REVIEW

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH AND REVIEW BIG FIVE INVENTORY (BFI) OF PERSONALITY TRAITS OF ENTREPRENEURS S.Subramanian* 1, Dr.V.Gopalakrishnan 2, Dr.I.Prem Rose Thayammal 3 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, CSI Jayaraj Annapakiam College, Nallur, Tirunelveli District, Tamilnadu, India. 2 Principal, Aditanar College of Arts and Science, Tiruchendur, Tamil Nadu, India. 3 Assistant Professor & Head, Department of Commerce (CS), CSI Jayaraj Annapakiam College, Nallur, Tirunelveli District,Tamilnadu, India. ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to analyze the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits of entrepreneurs in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu based on age categories and gender. To achieve the purpose of the study, 570 entrepreneurs were identified as sample evenly from 19 blocks of the district. Since the population of the study was stratified as men and women, the proportionate stratified random sampling method was used as sampling technique for the study. Survey based questionnaire design was followed as research design in the study. The interview schedule was prepared to collect the information required for the study and it focused on Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism under the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits. For the inferences the researchers used the One Way ANOVA test to analyze the significant difference among the age categories of entrepreneurs and for finding out the significant difference between genders of entrepreneurs, the researchers used Paired Samples Statistics. The analysis was carried with the help of using popular statistical package SPSS 16. The results of the study indicate that there was a significant difference in Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism among the age categories of the entrepreneurs. It also reveals that there was a significant difference between the genders in all variables of personality traits of entrepreneurs. This result of the study will be relevant and significant to the entrepreneurs. Key words: Big Five Inventory (BFI), Entrepreneurs, Personality Traits, Tirunelveli District. INTRODUCTION The definition of an entrepreneur has evolved in last three centuries, from someone who bears risk by buying at a low price and selling at a higher price; to the creation of new enterprises of which the entrepreneur is the founder. In India, small firms contribute considerably to economic growth and employ a very large number of people, second only to agriculture [11]. In small firms, entrepreneurs are central for performance of their business and are usually crucial decision makers for developing their business. The personality of entrepreneurs may be crucial for their Business-related decisions. Entrepreneurship is based on personality of the entrepreneur. Because of the centrality of the person entrepreneur to *Corresponding Author 913

2 entrepreneurship, different personal characteristics of an entrepreneur have been investigated in past research. Personality means characteristics and appearance of a person-pattern of thought, feeling, behaviour and communication ability. Everyone is influenced by an attractive personality. And without influencing others one can t get success in today s competitive world. Therefore the importance of personality development has risen very much. It is an age of competition and economic revolution. Although opportunities of progress are everywhere one will have to work very hard to climb the stairs of a brilliant career. The person having a good personality in his business can move through the difficulties with more confidence in his enterprise [9]. Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality The Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality is a descriptive representation (typology) of the five major dispositional dimensions that encompass human personality. It has been used extensively in industrial psychology as a basis to measure job-related attitudes, personorganization fit, and other human resource inquiries. The personality factors comprising the Big Five are (1) Openness to Experience, which is the propensity to be inquisitive, creative, nonconforming and independent, (2) Conscientiousness, comprised of two major sub factors, achievement and dependability, (3) Extraversion, which represents the inclination to be sociable, assertive, dynamic, and directive, (4) Agreeableness, representing the tendency to be friendly, cheerful, accommodating, and supportive, and (5) Neuroticism, (also called Emotional Stability) which is the tendency to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and experience disparaging effects such as fear, anxiety, and rashness [5]. In addition to predominantly researched traits (for example, need for achievement, internal locus of control, risk taking propensity, need for independence) and other approaches to personality (for example, entrepreneurial self-efficacy), the big five factors of personality trait approach can be considered a promising research area for linking personality characteristics and entrepreneurship activities [2,3,and 4]. In view of the above impressions, the researchers decided to take this study to analyze the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main objective of this research paper is to analyze the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu. To achieve the main objective of the study, the following specific objectives were framed. 1. To analyze the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs based on age categories. 2. To analyze the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs based on Gender. HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY Following null and alternative hypotheses are formulated for the study. Hypothesis - 1 H 0 : There may be an insignificant difference among the age categories of entrepreneurs in Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits H 1 : There may be a significant difference among the age categories of entrepreneurs in Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits Copyright 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 914

3 Hypothesis - 2 H 0 : There may be an insignificant difference between the genders of entrepreneurs in Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits H 1 : There may be a significant difference between the genders of entrepreneurs in Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The data for the research was collected from the entrepreneurs of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, India. A total of 570 entrepreneurs (men = 285 and women = 285) evenly from 19 blocks of the district were selected as sample for this study. Since the population of the study was stratified as men and women, the proportionate stratified random sampling method was used as sampling technique for the study. Survey based questionnaire design was carried out as research design. Well structured and pretested interview schedule was used for collecting the data by personal interview method. The interview schedule was prepared by a five-point Likert scale to collect the information required for the study after an in-depth review of the previous studies related to the present study, discussions with the officials of the District Industries Centre (DIC) and experienced entrepreneurs. The interview schedule focuses on Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism under the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits. Each variable consists of four questionnaires to measure it. Each questionnaire item was scored on a five-point Likert scale (5 = Always; 4 = Usually; 3 = Sometimes; 2 = Never; and 1 = No Idea). For the inferences the researchers used the One Way ANOVA test to analyze the significant difference among the age categories of entrepreneurs and for finding out the significant difference between genders of entrepreneurs, the researchers used Paired Samples Statistics. The analysis was carried with the help of using popular statistical package SPSS 16. ANALYSIS Reliability is determined by Cronbach s coefficient alpha (α), a popular method for measuring reliability [7]; [8] suggests that for any research at its early stage, a reliability score or alpha that is 0.60 or above is sufficient. As shown in Table 1, the reliability scores of the determinant was found to exceed the threshold; the measure demonstrated good levels of reliability (greater than 0.916) for further analysis. Table 1: Reliability Statistics Determinants Number of Items Reliability for this Sample Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits Personality Traits on Age Categories In the study, the age of the entrepreneurs was categorized such as 30 and below, 31 40, 41 50, and Above 60 for the purpose of analyzing. The data on Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits of entrepreneurs based on the age categories was collected for analyzing. The details of the frequency and means of Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism on various age categories are presented in Copyright 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 915

4 Table 2. The One-way ANOVA was used to find out the significant difference on personality traits of entrepreneurs among the age categories. The details of the ANOVA result of personality traits of the entrepreneurs on age categories are presented in Table 3. In addition, the age category which one is dominated in the personality traits was found out by means of Table 2. Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for Personality Traits on Age Categories Means Age Frequency Openness to Experience Conscientious ness Extraversion Agreeablen ess Neuroti cism 30 and Below Above (Source: Primary Data) Table 3: ANOVA for BFI of Personality Traits on Age Categories of Entrepreneurs Personality Source of Traits Variance Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups Openness to Within Groups Experience Total ** Between Groups Conscientiousness Within Groups ** Total Between Groups Extraversion Within Groups Total Between Groups Agreeableness Within Groups Total Between Groups Neuroticism Within Groups ** Total (Source: Primary Data) **Significant at.05 level of confidence Table 3 clearly reveals that the personality traits of Openness to Experience (F = , p < 0.05), Conscientiousness (F = 9.787, p < 0.05) and Neuroticism (F = , p < 0.05) are statistically significant difference among the age categories of 30 and below, 31 40, 41 50, and Above 60. In the connection, the Table 2 indicates that the age Copyright 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 916

5 category entrepreneurs exposed more personality attitude of Openness to Experience than others, the entrepreneurs who are above 60 have more Conscientiousness than others and the age category of 30 and below are more Neuroticism than others. According to the result, the study concluded that the null hypothesis (H 0 ) is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H 1 ) is accepted in Hypothesis 1 with regard to the Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism. Table 3 also shows that the personality traits of Extraversion (F = 2.002, p > 0.05) and Agreeableness (F = 0.315, p > 0.05) are statistically insignificant difference among the age categories of 30 and below, 31 40, 41 50, and Above 60. The null hypothesis (H 0 ) is accepted and the alternative hypothesis (H 1 ) is rejected in Hypothesis 1 with regard to the Extraversion and Agreeableness. Gender Difference on Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs Paired Samples Statistics procedure was used here to find out the gender difference on personality traits of entrepreneurs. The resulted Paired Samples Statistics on the variables based on male and female are illustrated in Table 4. Table 4: Paired Samples Statistics for Personality Traits Personality Traits Openness to Experience Conscientiousn ess Extraversion Gender Mean Std. Deviation Male Female Male Female Male Female Agreeableness Male Neuroticism Female Male Female Mean Difference (Source: Primary Data) **Significant at.05 level of confidence df t Sig ** ** ** ** ** Since P value are less than 0.05 in Table 4, the null hypothesis (H 0 ) of the Hypothesis 2 is succeeded to reject at 5 % level of significance with regard to the Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism of the Entrepreneurs. At the 0.05 level of significance, there exists enough evidence to conclude that there is a significant difference between male and female entrepreneurs regarding the Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Hence, the alternative hypothesis (H 1 ) of the Hypothesis 2 is accepted. And also the table 4 obviously exposes that the male entrepreneurs (m = ) express their attitude of Openness to Experience more Copyright 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 917

6 than female entrepreneurs (m = ), the female entrepreneurs (m = ) express their attitude of Conscientiousness more than male entrepreneurs (m = ), the male entrepreneurs (m = ) express their attitude of Extraversion more than female entrepreneurs (m = ), the female entrepreneurs (m = ) express their attitude of Agreeableness more than male entrepreneurs (m = ) and the male entrepreneurs (m = ) express their attitude of Neuroticism more than female entrepreneurs (m = ). DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS In this research work, the researchers have investigated the Big Five Inventory (BFI) of Personality Traits on entrepreneurs based on age categories and genders. The result of the study shows that the personality traits of Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism have significant difference among the age categories of 30 and below, 31 40, 41 50, and Above 60. This finding is supported by the previous study [6]. And also it reveals that the entrepreneurs who are the age of 51 years to 60 years have more Openness to Experience such as the character of inquisitive, creative, nonconforming and independent than other age categories of entrepreneurs. Regarding the personality traits of Conscientiousness, above 60 years aged entrepreneurs have more dominated in this attitude than others and they are achievement oriented hard workers, efficient and dutiful in their business. There was no significant difference among the age categories of the entrepreneurs on the personality traits of Extraversion and Agreeableness. All age categories of entrepreneurs have almost same degree of attitude in Extraversion and Agreeableness. Interestingly it shows that the middle aged (41 50) entrepreneurs have exposed the attitude of Neuroticism more than others. The study confirmed that the middle aged entrepreneurs are emotionally stable individuals. They are characterized as self-confident, relaxed, and able to tolerate stress situations. They can manage performance pressure, remain optimistic and maintain relationships toward others. The study also found out that there was a significant difference in personality traits such as Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism between the genders of the entrepreneurs. In addition, the male entrepreneurs dominated in the attitude of Openness to Experience, Extraversion and Neuroticism than female entrepreneurs and interestingly the female entrepreneurs dominated in the attitude of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness than male entrepreneurs. This result is partially supported by the previous studies [1,10]. CONCLUSION Entrepreneurs are important for the future economic growth and development of economies. The researchers have proved the degree of relationship of personality traits with the entrepreneurs through this study. No one can refuse that personality traits are not important to the entrepreneurs for their development of business. Optimum personality traits uses to the entrepreneurs as magic blanket to reach and achieve the goal of success in their business. Not only achieve the goal, it is also used to create the energetic and peaceful atmosphere during the business hours. The government has to initiate the various training program on personality traits for the entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs have also to come forward to Copyright 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 918

7 checkup their personality traits such as regular medical checkup and try to rectify the muddle. This study has established the relationship between personality traits and entrepreneurs on a surface level. This can be used to spur further research into more specific drivers of the personality traits and entrepreneurship outcomes. REFERENCES 1. Envick BR, Langford M. The Big-Five Personality Model: comparing male and female entrepreneurs. Academy of Entrepreneurship Journal 2003; Costa, McCrae. The NEO Personality Inventory Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources Goldberg L. An alternative description of personality: The Big-Five-Factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1990; 59: John OP. The Big Five factor taxonomy: Dimensions of personality in the natural language and questionnaires; in Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research, L. A. Pervin, Ed. New York: Guilford Press Judge T, Cable D. Applicant personality, organizational culture, and organization attraction. Personnel Psychology 1997; 50 (2): Caliendo M, Fossen F, Kritikos A. Personality Characteristics and the Decision to Become and Stay Self-Employed. Discussion Paper, Institute for the Study of Labor, University of Potsdam, Berlin Mukherjee A, Nath P. A Model of Trust in Online Relationship Banking. International Journal of Bank Marketing 2003; 21(1): Nunnally JC. Psychometric Theory. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1978; Prem Rose Thayammal I, Murugan Chettiar K. A Study on Personality Development of Women Entrepreneurs in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu. International Journal of Management Research and Review 2012; 2(4): Nandram SS, Born MP. Behavioral Attributes - A comparison between Nascent Entrepreneurs, Established Entrepreneurs and Managers. NRI Working Paper Series, Nyenrode Business University, INHOLLAND, Acharya V, Rajan A, Schoar A. What Determines Entrepreneurial Success? A Psychometric Study of Rural Entrepreneurs in India Retrieved from on Copyright 2012 Published by IJMRR. All rights reserved 919