Title: Graduate versus non-graduate entrepreneurs in urban Malaysia: some insights into entrepreneurial personality, company and family background differences

Authors: Md Nor Othman, Ezlika Ghazali, Yeoh Sung Sung

Addresses: Department of Marketing and Information Systems, Faculty of Business & Accountancy, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ' Department of Marketing and Information Systems, Faculty of Business & Accountancy, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ' Department of Marketing and Information Systems, Faculty of Business & Accountancy, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract: The study attempts to explore the relationship of the level of education (graduate and non-graduate) with personality, family background and company background of entrepreneurs in urban Malaysia. Three demographic variables and one business characteristics variable were found to be significantly different between graduate and non-graduate entrepreneurs. Overall, in terms of entrepreneurial personality characteristics, both graduate and non-graduate entrepreneurs scored high with respect to the Pursuit of Excellence; moderately high on Work Ethics; moderate on Dominance, Mastery and Internal Attributing and moderately low on Powerful Others and Chance Attributing dimensions. The Chance Attributing dimension was found to be statistically significant in differentiating the two groups, whereas |pursuit of excellence| and |dominance| dimensions were marginally significant. The implications of the study are also discussed along with some recommendations.

Keywords: attitude; business characteristics; demographics; education level; graduate entrepreneurs; non-graduate entrepreneurs; entrepreneurs profile; urban Malaysia; personality; entrepreneurship; company background; family background.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2006.011951

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2006 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.57 - 76

Published online: 04 Jan 2007 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article