Do risk attitudes differ within the group of entrepreneurs?

Joern Block, Philipp Sandner and Frank Spiegel

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The notion of risk and entrepreneurship has been widely discussed in the entrepreneurship literature. Starting a business involves risk and requires a risk-taking attitude. Most studies have com-pared entrepreneurs with non-entrepreneurs such as managers or bankers. So far, little research exists on the risk attitudes of different types of entrepreneurs. This study aims to fill this gap. Our particular focus is on the entrepreneurs’ motivations to start their business. The results show that opportunity entrepreneurs are more willing to take risks than necessity entrepreneurs. In addition, entrepreneurs who are motivated by creativity are more risk-tolerant than other entrepreneurs. The study contributes to the literature about risk attitudes of entrepreneurs and to the literature about necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Self-employment; Risk attitude; Necessity entrepreneurship; Creativity entrepreneurship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J23 L26 M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-09-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cbe, nep-ent, nep-sbm and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:17587

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