Abstract

Entrepreneurship is the creation of organizations. What differentiates entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs is that entrepreneurs create organizations, while non-entrepreneurs do not. In behavioral approaches to the study of entrepreneurship an entrepreneur is seen as a set of activities involved in organization creation, while in trait approaches an entrepreneur is a set of personality traits and characteristics. This paper argues that trait approaches have been unfruitful and that behavioral approaches will be a more productive perspective for future research in entrepreneurship.

Keywords

EntrepreneurshipPerspective (graphical)TraitSet (abstract data type)Trait theoryBig Five personality traitsPersonalityBusinessMarketingPsychologySocial psychologyComputer scienceArtificial intelligence

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Publication Info

Year
1988
Type
article
Volume
12
Issue
4
Pages
11-32
Citations
3297
Access
Closed

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Cite This

William B. Gartner (1988). “Who Is an Entrepreneur?” Is the Wrong Question. American Journal of Small Business , 12 (4) , 11-32. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225878801200401

Identifiers

DOI
10.1177/104225878801200401