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Personality Traits and the Likelihood of Self-Employment: A Journey into the Crafts’ Way of Doing Business

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Given the renewed scholarly interest in the crafts, this paper explores the nuances of crafts entrepreneurship through a personality-based approach. Our findings validate prior research on the general influence of broad and narrow personality traits on self-employment. However, our analysis also suggests that certain effects differ between crafts and non-crafts, most notably the role of the Big Five trait of conscientiousness – suggesting that there is something ‘unique’ about the crafts’ way of doing business that goes beyond firm size. In this way, we provide evidence that personality may affect self-employment differently depending on the sector or field of entrepreneurship.

Source: German Economic Review

DOI: 10.1515/ger-2024-0033

Authors: Petrik Runst, Jörg Thomä

Institutions: Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Institute for Small Business Economics, University of Göttingen

Language: English

Topic: Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences

Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: