Policy makers in transitional economies have recognized the importance of self-employment as a mechanism for economic growth. Institutional support, however, lags this recognition. Individuals, therefore, must draw on their personal characteristics to venture into self-employment. We used a variety of individual characteristics to capture an important antecedent of the transition to self-employment using data from 133 mid-career Chinese executives. At the most aggregate level, hierarchical regression showed that views on self-employment are positively related to having a self-employed relative and openness to experience. A more refined analysis indicated that a variety of individual characteristics are related to perceptions of self-employment. Using these findings, we conclude that public policy will create an environment of inter-generational entrepreneurial activity. We argued, moreover, that the continued transition from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to privately owned enterprises will require the identification, training, and development of a new breed of self-employed individual.
Ahlstrom, D., & Bruton, G.D. ( 2002). An institutional perspective on the role of culture in shaping strategic actions by technology-focused entrepreneurial firms in China . Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 26, 53-68.
2.
Ajzen, I. ( 1987). Attitudes, traits, and actions: Dispositional prediction of behavior in social psychology. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 1-63.
3.
Anderson, A., Li, J., Harrison, R., & Robson, P. ( 2003). The increasing role of business in the Chinese economy . Journal of Small Business Management, 41, 310-316.
4.
Ardichvili, A., Cardozo, R., & Ray, S. ( 2003). A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development. Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 105-123.
5.
Bandura, A. ( 1986). The social foundations of thought and actions. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
6.
Baron, R. ( 2002). Psychological perspectives on entrepreneurship: Cognitive and social factors in entrepreneurs’ success. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 15-18.
7.
Bates, T. ( 1995). Self-employment entry across industry groups. Journal of Business Venturing, 10, 143-156.
8.
Becker, G. ( 1964). Human Capital. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
9.
Bird, B. ( 1988). Implementing entrepreneurial ideas: The case for intention . Academy of Management Review, 13, 442-453.
10.
Boyd, N.G., & Vozikis, G.S. ( 1994). The influences of self-efficacy on the development of entrepreneurial intentions and actions. Entrepreneurial Theory and Practice, 18, 63-90.
11.
Brislin, R.W. ( 1986). The wording and translation of research instruments. In W. J. Lonner & J. W. Berry (Eds), Field methods in cross-cultural research and methodology series (pp. 137-164). Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE.
12.
Brockhaus, R., & Horwitz, P. ( 1986). The psychology of the entreneur. In D. Sexton & R. Smilor (Eds), The art and science of entrepreneurship (pp. 25-48). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
13.
Burt, R. ( 1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14.
Butler, J., Brown, B., & Chamornmarn, W. (2003). Informational networks, entrepreneurial action and performance. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 20, 151-165.
15.
Ciavarella, M.A., Bucholtz, A.K., Riordan, C.M., Gatewood, R.D., & Stokes, G.S. ( 2004). The Big Five and venture survival: Is there a linkage ? Journal of Business Venturing, 19, 465-483.
16.
Cooper, A.C., & Dunkelberg, W.C. (1986). Entrepreneurship and paths to business ownership. Strategic Management Journal, 7, 53-68.
17.
Costa, P., & McCrae, R. (1992). Four ways five factors are basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 653-665.
18.
Costa, P., McCrae, R., & Holland, J. ( 1984). Personality and vocational interest in an adult sample . Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 390-400.
19.
Crant, J.M. ( 1996). The proactive personality scale as a predictor of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Small Business Management, 34, 42-50.
20.
Davidsson, P., & Honig, B. ( 2003). The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs . Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 301-331.
21.
Dyer, W.G., Jr., & Handler, W. ( 1994). Entrepreneurship and family business: Exploring the connections . Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 19, 71-83.
22.
Erikson, T. ( 2002). Entrepreneurial capital: The emerging venture’s most important asset and competitive advantage. Journal of Business Venturing, 17, 275-290.
Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. ( 1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
25.
Gartner, W. ( 1988). Who is an entrepreneur? Is the wrong question. American Journal of Small Business, 12, 11-32.
26.
Gartner, W., Bird, B., & Starr, J. ( 1992). Acting as if: Differentiating entrepreneurial from organizational behavior. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 16, 13-31.
27.
Gartner, W.B. ( 1985). A conceptual framework for describing the phenomenon of new venture creation. Academy of Management Review, 10, 696-706.
28.
Goldberg, L. ( 1990). An alternative ‘‘description of personality’’: The Big Five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1216-1229.
29.
Greve, A., & Salaff, J.W. ( 2003). Social networks and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 28, 1-22.
30.
Jang, K., Livesley, W., & Vernon, P. ( 1996). Heritability of the Big Five Personality dimensions and their facets: A twin study. Journal of Personality, 64, 577-591.
31.
Jenkins, M., & Johnson, G. ( 1997). Entrepreneurial intentions and outcomes: A comparative causal mapping study. Journal of Management Studies, 34, 895-920.
32.
Johnson, B.1990. Toward a multidimensional model of entrepreneurship: The case of achievement motivation and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 14(3): 39-54.
33.
Judge, T., & Higgins, C. ( 1999). The Big Five Personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology , 52, 621-654.
34.
Kim, M., & Hunter, J. ( 1993). Relationships among attitudes, intentions, and behavior . Communication Research, 20, 331-364.
35.
Krueger, N. ( 1993). The impact of prior entrepreneurial exposure on perceptions of new venture feasibility and desirability. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 18, 5-21.
36.
Krueger, N., & Dickson, P. ( 1994). How believing in ourselves increases risk-taking: Perceived self-efficacy and opportunity recognition. Decision Sciences , 25, 385-400.
37.
Krueger, N.F. ( 1999). The cognitive infrastructure of opportunity emergence (Working paper). Bozeman, MT: National Council of Independent Scholars.
38.
Le, N., Venkatesh, S., & Nguyen, T. ( 2006). Getting bank financing: A study of Vietnamese private firms. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23, 209-227.
39.
Li, Y., Sun, Y., & Liu, Y. ( 2006). An empirical study of SOEs’ market orientation in transitional China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management , 23, 93-113.
40.
McClelland, David ( 1961). The Achieving Society, Princeton, New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.
41.
McCrae, R., & Costa, P. ( 1997). Personality trait structure as a human universal. American Psychologist, 52, 509-516.
42.
Mount, M., & Barrick, M. ( 1995). The Big Five Personality dimensions: Implications for research and practice in human resources management. In G. R. Ferris (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol. 13, pp. 153-200). Greenwich CT: JAI Press.
43.
Nunnally, J. ( 1978). Psychometric theory. New York, NY : McGraw-Hill.
44.
Peng, Y. ( 2004). Kinship networks and entrepreneurs in China’s transitional economy. The American Journal of Sociology, 109, 1045-1074.
45.
Reynolds, P., Bygrave, W., & Autio, E. ( 2003). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Kansas City, MO: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
46.
Robinson, R., Stimpson, D., Huefner, J., & Hunt, H. ( 1991). An attitude approach to the prediction of entrepreneurship . Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 15, 13-31.
47.
Salgado, J. ( 1997). The five factor model of personality and job performance in theEuropean Community. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 30-43.
48.
Saucier, G. ( 1994). Mini-markers: A brief version of Goldberg’s unipolar Big Five markers. Journal of Personality Assessment, 63, 506-516.
49.
Scherer, R.F., Adams, J.S., Carley, S.S., & Wiebe, F.A. ( 1989). Role model performance effects on development of entrepreneurial career preference. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 13, 53-71.
50.
Shaver, K., & Scott, L. ( 1991). Person, process, choice: The psychology of new venture creation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 16, 23-45.
51.
Singh, G., & DeNoble, A.F. ( 2003a). Early retirees as the next generation of entrepreneurs . Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 27, 207-226.
52.
Singh, G., & DeNoble, A.F. ( 2003b). Views on self-employment and personality: An exploratory study. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 8, 265-281.
53.
Stevenson, H., Roberts, M., & Grousbeck, H. ( 1985). New business ventures and the entrepreneur. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
54.
Theng, L., & Boon, J. ( 1996). An exploratory study of factors affecting the failure of local small and medium enterprises. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 13, 47-61.
55.
Watson, W., Stewart, W., Jr., & BarNir, A. (2003). The effects of human capital, organizational demography, and interpersonal processes on venture partner perceptions of firm profit and growth. Journal of Business Venturing, 18, 145-164.
56.
Zhao, H., & Seibert, S. ( 2006). The Big Five Personality dimensions and entrepreneurial status: A meta-analytical review. Journal of Applied Psychology , 91, 259-271.
57.
Zhao, H., Seibert, S., & Hills, G. ( 2005). The moderating role of self-efficacy in the development of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Applied Psychology , 90, 1265-1272.
