The association between personality and entrepreneurial intentions

For nearly 20 years, academic research neglected the role of personality and its relation with entrepreneurship. In fact, the methodology of distinguishing entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs on the premise of psychological attributes was regarded as essentially ineffective by most scholars. The present paper contributes to the reemergence of the big five model in entrepreneurial research. Through implementation of the big five model we will revise the notion concerning the discriminative potential of personality traits on individual entrepreneurial intentions. Ultimately, the present paper aims to help researchers better understand how entrepreneurial intentions are associated with personality. Empirical analysis is conducted by use of a dataset comprised of students. We find evidence that Openness to experience and Conscientiousness are positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions. We do not find significant association for Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism with entrepreneurial intentions.