Positive and Negative Personality Traits

Entrepreneurial Personality Traits Discerned

Entrepreneurship, and successful entrepreneurship in particular, is far from a perfect science. Success in this field is predicated on a host of different factors, including various aspects of marketing, product, client base, market conditions, and possibly even some luck. Nonetheless, there are a number of different traits of entrepreneurs that one is able to study and which may truly affect the ability of one to succeed in this role. Furthermore, there are certain conditions and other characteristics that could compromise the former, and even instances in which the former is able to compromise the latter. Fortunately, there is a bevy of research which has explored these personality traits and their impact both on entrepreneurs and their particular ventures. A prolonged examination of this research, in addition to a synthesis of findings, readily demonstrates the personality traits of most importance to entrepreneurs are those pertaining to assertion and the sort of characteristics, both implicit and explicit, that assertion involves.

In order to properly explicate this thesis, it is necessary to consider assertive characteristics that are largely bereft of emotion prior to considering those that involve emotion. Quite simply, there are a couple of key personality traits associated with assertion and positive outcomes for entrepreneurship performance which do not involve feelings. Being able to work autonomously and aggressively take risks was determined by Staniewski et al. (2015) as critical in this regard (p. 1942). What is important to realize about these characteristics is that they are traits that people can exhibit regardless of how they actually feel. Entrepreneurs can take risks and work autonomously regardless of any particular emotions. There are other authors that emphasize the value of risk-taking and assertion as part of the traits that help entrepreneurs achieve admirable performance outcomes. The notion of entrepreneurial orientation is explored by Khedhaouria et al. (2014) as one that comprises innovation, risk, taking and pro-activeness (p. 1). These traits are essentially synonyms for assertion in a business environment. According to Zahra and Covin (1995), the confluence of risk taking, innovation, and aggression (which is a synonym for assertion if surely one ever existed) are useful for determining financially viable opportunities for both products and markets (43).

Perhaps the more interesting personality traits that pertain to the success of assertiveness for entrepreneurs in terms of achieving positive performance outcomes are those that actually involve emotion. It is difficult to separate personality from emotion, as the former influences the latter and the latter influences the former. What is most fascinating about the relationship between emotion and personality traits in the context discussed within this document is that the most effective emotions are those which constrain a surfeit of feeling. In this regard, there is a degree of stability associated with emotions which is a key determinant of an entrepreneur's personality for achieving positive outcomes as identified by Staniewski et al. (1941). It is necessary for entrepreneurs to subject their feelings in order to focus on achievement and success in their endeavors. Such a notion is readily corroborated by other traits identified by these authors, which include an ability to resist stress (1941) as well as to control passion (1942). Leveraging this sort of control over one's feelings is vital to focus on the sort of aggressive risk taking that is aligned with the assertive characteristics defined as valuable to entrepreneurs in the foregoing body paragraph. Maintaining an ability to master one's emotions is a requisite for engaging in assertive action, which is the crux of the personality traits for success in entrepreneurship.

The emotional component of the assertive personality traits that correlate to performance outcomes for entrepreneurs, however, is not all positive. There are actually some negative ramifications of the emotions these professionals may experience while helping to achieve pecuniary success. Nevertheless, even these negative consequences are aligned with the thesis in which it is clear that assertiveness helps entrepreneurs to fulfill performance outcomes. This reality is addressed at length in the article by Baron et al. (2012). In fact, the majority of the research in this article corroborates the fact that entrepreneurs are largely tasked with enacting a degree of emotional restraint as one of their characteristics which allows them to utilize assertive qualities to their own advantage. The aforementioned article actually explicates the fact that surpluses of feeling -- in this instance positive feelings associated with happiness, exuberance, etc. -- can actually impede the progress of entrepreneurs in terms of fulfilling performance outcomes (Baron et al., 2010, p. 310). More accurately, this evidence suggests that traits associated with such verve actually produce a negative impact on the attainment of performance outcomes, partially because it is inconducive to the sort of assertive personality traits that engender a positive effect.

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION

A review of literature apropos to the notion of entrepreneurship and personality traits associated with performance outcomes uncovers the reality that the most efficacious qualities are those associated with assertive behavior. These include risk-taking, innovativeness, aggression, and proactiveness. These characteristics are devoid of emotion. Those that do pertain to emotion show a positive effect for qualities that restrain it, control it, and demonstrate mastery over one's emotions. A surplus of excitement or happiness is contradictory to achieving performance outcomes.

References

Baron, R.A., Hmielski, K., Henry, R.A. (2011). Entrepreneurs' dispositional positive affect: The potential benefits -- and potential costs -- of being up. Journal of Business Venturing. 27, 310-324.

Khedhaouria, A., Gurau, C., Torres, O. (2014). Creativity, self-efficacy and small firm performance: the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation. Small Business Economy.

Zahra, S.A., Covin, J.G. (1995). Contextual influences on the corporate entrepreneurship-performance relationship: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Business Venturing. 10, 43-58.

Staniewski, M.W., Janowski, K., Awruk, K. (2015). Entrepreneurial personality dispositions and selected indicators of company functioning. Journal of Business Research. 69, 1939-1943.