Personality traits and firm performance: the mediating effect of competitive advantage

Jeen Wei Ong and Hishamuddin Bin Ismail

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2013, vol. 19, issue 3, 362-378

Abstract: Despites the popularity of personality traits in entrepreneurship study, previous studies have failed to find a conclusive relationship between personality traits and firm performance. This study aims to examine the mediating effect of competitive advantage on the linkage between personality traits and firm performance with the intention to revive the role of personality traits in predicting firms' success. The data is collected through questionnaire and analysed using multi-stage regression analysis. The results show that the firm competitive advantage is the significant mediator to the linkage between personality traits and firm performance and differentiation advantage has stronger mediating effect compared to lower cost. Based on the findings, the SME owner-managers are advised to capitalise on their entrepreneurial personality traits to build differentiation for their firms. The policy makers should assist the SME owner-managers to strengthen their personality traits.

Keywords: resource-based view; RBV; personality traits; competitive advantage; firm performance; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; mediating effect; entrepreneurship. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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