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Person. inrlii,ic1.Difl. Vol. 6, No. 6. pp. 781. -782, 1985 tn Great Britam All rights reserved

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0191-8869185 S3.00+0 00 1985 Pergamon Press Ltd

nAch, Risk-taking

Propensity,

LOCUSof Control and entrepreneurship S. I-J. AHMED

Universi!y of Dacca, Ramna, Dacca, Bangladesh (Received 26 Ocfober 1984) Summary-Seventy-one entrepreneurs and 62 non-entrepreneurs Risk-taking Propensity, as well as nAch. Significant differences the concept of entrepreneurship. were given tests of Locus of Control and were found and led to a clarification of

INTRODUCTION During recent years several attempts have been made in different parts of the world to identify factors that make a man an entrepreneur. This effort for identification of factors has been approached from different angles and theoretical foundations such as economics, social-psychological and anthropological etc. One of the major contributors to these entrepreneurial studies is McClelland (1961) who emphasized specifically one attitudinal factor, i.e. Achievement Motivation or need for achievement which is symbolically known as nAch. McClelland defined the term as a desire to do well to attain an inner feeling of personal accomplishment. McClelland (1961) and others (Schrage, 1965; Lynn, 1969; Singh, 1969; Dart, 1971; Nandy, 1973; Durand, 1975; Roberts, 1972; Kock. 1965; Wainer and Rubin, 1969) found a positive relationship of nAch to entrepreneurial success. But conversely Gilmore (1971) and Magdalena (1977) have reported an insignificant or lack of a relationship of nAch to entrepreneurship. A review of past literature also disclosed some other psychological factors important in determining entrepreneurial success. Among those Risk-taking Propensity and Internal-External (IE) Locus of Control seems to have received much attention in entrepreneurial studies. Generally Risk-taking Propensity in psychological terms can be defined as dealing with uncertainties and the degree of readiness to bear it. Studies by Mengel (1972). Dart (1971). Meyer, Walker and Litwin (1961), Liles (1974) and Broehl (1978) reported that entrepreneurs take moderate or higher risks as compared to non-entrepreneurs. Internal Locus of Control can be defined, according to Rotter (1966). as ones perception of events being contingent upon ones own characteristics or actions while External Locus of Control is defined as ones feeling of outcome being fully independent of his own actions, i.e. outcome being the result of luck, chance, fate or powerful others. Studies by Stokes (1971). Shapero, Ferrari and Garcia-Bouza (1973), Liles (1974), Magdalena (1977). Borland (1974). Brochaus (1975, 1976) and Pandey and Tewary (1979) have reported a positive relationship of Internal Locus of Control to entrepreneurial entry. This paper reports the findings of a study on the relationship of nAch, Risk-taking Propensity and Internal Locus of Control to entrepreneurship conducted on a group of immigrants from Bangladesh in the U.K. Entrepreneurship is defined for the purpose of this study as a person who starts a business of his own. It was hypothesized that persons starting their own business would tend to have: higher nAch; higher Risk-taking Propensity; and higher Internal Locus of Control than those who have not started a business of their own.

METHOD Subjects Seventy-one

entrepreneurs

and 62 non-entrepreneurs

of the Bangladeshi

immigrant

community

were the Ss of this study.

Design The sample was selected on a random basis from Bangladeshi immigrants living in the greater view the type of business they do. Non-entrepreneurs were also matched with the entrepreneurs period of their arriving into the U.K.

London area keeping in on the basis of age and

In order to measure nAch Lynns (1969) Achievement Motivation Questionnaire was used. Internal-External Control was measured by a short version of Rotters (1966) IE scale devised by Magdalena (1977) and Propensity was measured by a Risk-taking Propensity Scale developed by Magdalena (1977). RESULTS

Locus of Risk-taking

A pilot study was conducted in order to pretest the questionnaire. Interviews were conducted through personal and face-to-face meetings and the responses of the completed questionnaire were obtained. Two-tailed tests of significance under the central limit theorem were applied to see the significance of difference between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs on psychological tests designed to measure the variables. The results are given in Table I.

DISCUSSION
The significant differences between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs on nAch, Internal Locus of Control and Risk-taking Propensity suggest that these variables are positively related to entrepreneurship and confirm the earlier findings of McClelland (1961). Lynn (1969) and others. The positive correlations between nAch and Risk-taking Propensity and Internal Locus of Control may indicate a broader factor underlying motivation for entrepreneurship. 781

782

NOTES AND

SHORTER

COMMUNICATIONS

Table

I.

Showing

the significance of entrepreneurs Entrepreneurs _ (N = 70)

difference between on mean scores

entrepreneurs

and

non-

Non-entrepreneurs (N = 61)

Levels

of

significance 0A Level of

Variable Ach Risk-taking Propensity Internal Locus Control The product-moment shown in Table of

Mea 5.6619 I .0249

SD 0.9706 0.2719

Mea 4.4354 0.8566

SD I.5216 0.2821

Probabilitv

P <O.l P <O.l

1.7842

0.2962

I .4324

0.3498

P <O.l
are

correlations 2.

between

the variables

for the entrepreneurs

Table

2 Internal Risk-taking Locus Control of

Variables nAch Risk-takine Internal Control ProDensitv LOCUS of

nAch I .oo 0.23 0.23*

ProDensitv

1.00 0.05 1.00

l P < 0.05.

REFERENCES

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