title: Personality correlates of self-employed small business owners' success.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Drawing on prior occupational choice research on entrepreneurs and self-employed business owners, we examined personality predictors of their occupational business success and work satisfaction. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURES: A sample of 147 small business owners completed a web-based assessment of 14 work-related personality traits--adaptability, autonomy, competitiveness, dependability, emotional resilience, goal-setting, optimism, persistence, risk tolerance, self-promotion, networking, and tolerance for financial insecurity, work-based locus of control, and work drive--and three self-reported indices of business success--revenue growth, profit growth, and income growth--as well as multiple facets of individual satisfaction. Criterion variables included composite business success and overall satisfaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten traits correlated with business success. The top four personality predictors of success--goal-setting, social networking, emotional resilience, and work drive--together accounted for 16% of the variance. Similarly, 12 of 14 personality traits were positively related to overall satisfaction. The top three personality predictors of satisfaction--optimism, work-based locus of control, and work drive--accounted for 29% of the variability in satisfaction. An expectancy analysis revealed that the percent of participants who reported at least a 20% increase in sales and profits the preceding year was 26% versus 54% for individual scoring in the lower and upper third of a personality composite measure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results carry implications for future research, and have direct, practical applications for prospective and current entrepreneurs and self-employed owners of small businesses.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Arlington, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Owens
authors.forename: Jeral R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kirwan
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lounsbury
authors.forename: Jacob J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Lucy W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Gibson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology*; D016520:Entrepreneurship / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D020377:Self Efficacy; D060756:Social Networking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires