What makes entrepreneurs tick? An interesting paper: “Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family Background and Motivation”, by Vivek Wadhwa et al., part of the Kauffman Foundation Small Research Projects.
The paper’s abstract:
“Entrepreneurs are among the most celebrated people in our culture. Celebrity entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, often grace the covers of prominent publications. These company founders and innovators fuel economic growth and give the nation its competitive edge.
“However, very little is known today about the backgrounds, life histories, motivations and beliefs of these entrepreneurs. So myths and stereotypes prevail. The commonly held belief is that entrepreneurs are young, lightly-educated, childless unmarried workaholics. They are perceived to come from rich families and graduate from elite colleges.
“But is this true?
“This research answers some of these questions. This is based on a survey of 549 company founders in 12 high-growth industries.
“It finds that most founders came from middle-class or upper-lower-class backgrounds, are well-educated and married with children. The strongest motivation for starting a company was to ‘build wealth.’ Other popular motivators included capitalizing on a business idea; the appeal of a startup culture; a desire to own a company; and a lack of interest in working for someone else.”
Here again is the link at the Social Science Research Network.
Related: Our Business Ethics case studies series: Method, Laetrile, Rent Control, Minimum Wages, Tragedy of the Commons, the Fairness Doctrine.
Thanks for the comments on the need for a “collective,” communal, extended family model in our culture.
The rabid “rugged individualists” and Ayn Rand objectivists would have us all believe that, as individuals, we have no obligations to others except the “do ut des” agreements we make with each other.
We are seeing this battle being played out in the national debate about health insurance. On the one hand, we have the rugged individualists who believe that the right to health insurance has to be earned in a job.
Others, like myself, believe that every one should contribute to the general pot which we should draw from according to our needs and what we can individually afford to pay for in terms of premiums, deductables, and copays.
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John: Thanks for your post. A few quick questions for you.
1. You say “every one should contribute to the general pot which we should draw.” Are you talking voluntary insurance or compulsory taxation? Big moral difference.
2. You mention “the rugged individualists who believe that the right to health insurance has to be earned in a job.” I’ve never met or read anyone who believes this. Can you cite someone prominent who does?
3. You write of “‘rugged individualists’ and Ayn Rand objectivists would have us all believe that, as individuals, we have no obligations to others except the “do ut des” agreements we make with each other.” Does this mean you think we have unchosen obligations to provide for others? And who should enforce those obligations? Forced, unchosen obligations to provide for others — does that sound a little like slavery to you?
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Hi John,
You talk about filling the need for health insurance from the “general pot.” But there are other, more pressing needs, specifically food. After all, you may not need medical care for years, if you are lucky. But you need food every day. Should we also have the government take over food production to make sure we are all well fed?
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