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Explorar la diversidad en el espíritu empresarial

W. Edward
McMullan Thomas P.
Kenworthy

Creatividad y
rendimiento
empresarial
Una teoría científica general
Explorar la diversidad en el espíritu
empresarial

Editores de la serie
Alan L. Carsrud, Universidad de Åbo Akademi,
Finlandia Malin Brännback, Universidad de Åbo
Akademi, Finlandia y Universidad de Estocolmo, Suecia

Más información sobre esta serie en http://www.springer.com/series/13172

W. Edward McMullan - Thomas P. Kenworthy

Creatividad y rendimiento
empresarial
Una teoría científica general
W. Edward McMullan Thomas P. Kenworthy
(jubilado) Universidad de Departamento de Gestión y Marketing
Calgary Escuela de la Universidad de Dayton
Haskayne School of Business de Administración de Empresas
Calgary, AB, Canadá Dayton, OH, USA

ISBN 978-3-319-04725-6 978-3-319-04726-3 (eBook) DOI

10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3
Springer Cham Heidelberg Nueva York Dordrecht Londres

Número de control de la Biblioteca del Congreso: 2014945640

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Esta obra está sujeta a derechos de autor. La editorial se reserva todos los derechos, tanto si se trata de
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La imaginación es más importante que el conocimiento.
(Albert Einstein)

Todos requieren saltos de imaginación, la capacidad de ver las cosas de nuevo que es la marca
del emprendedor.
(David Birch 1987, p. 66)

Los científicos tampoco suelen pretender inventar nuevas teorías, y suelen ser intolerantes
con las inventadas por otros.
(Thomas Kuhn 1962, p. 24)
Agradecimientos

Este libro es realmente el resultado de 40 años de reflexión, estudio, investigación

y enseñanza. Muchas personas e instituciones han contribuido a su formulación.
Este libro tiene su origen en la tesis doctoral de Ed McMulllan sobre la
creatividad, que terminó en 1975 en la Universidad de British Columbia. Por aquel
entonces, Ed estaba obsesionado con la relación entre creatividad, innovación y
espíritu empresarial. Empezó a enseñar emprendimiento en la Universidad de
Calgary en 1976 y diseñó su primer plan de estudios partiendo de la base de que
los emprendedores eran personas creativas. Durante el resto de su carrera impartió
diversos cursos de emprendimiento sobre esta base e incluso impartió algún que
otro curso sobre creatividad. En 1990, Ed completó un libro de texto con un
colega basado en el supuesto de que el espíritu empresarial era una disciplina
creativa. En la década de los 90, también pasó unos 7 años a tiempo parcial
intentando crear una empresa de base tecnológica, aprendiendo de primera mano
algunas de las dificultades que ello conlleva.
Encontró la inspiración para este libro mientras recopilaba bibliografía sobre la
construcción de la teoría para un curso de doctorado que impartía a estudiantes de
empresariales en la Universidad de Calgary. Los inicios de la teoría estaban
contenidos en los aspectos esenciales del capítulo 5. Cuando a continuación revisó
las pruebas en lo esencial del capítulo 6, se dio cuenta de que tenía algo que no
podía dejar escapar. La enseñanza de un curso de doctorado sobre metodología de
la investigación centrada en la filosofía de la ciencia también ayudó a impulsar
este proyecto.
Ed tiene una deuda de gratitud con sus numerosos estudiantes de licenciatura en
empresariales e ingeniería, así como con sus MBA, que fueron lo suficientemente
abiertos como para aceptar una obra inédita de su profesor durante un periodo de
unos 5-7 años. De hecho, fue la fuerte reacción positiva de tantos estudiantes lo
que le llevó a creer que este libro podría utilizarse de forma más general como
libro de texto. Uno de sus estudiantes de MBA, Andrew Miller, se encargó de
perfeccionar un borrador anterior de su obra editando varios capítulos del texto.
Fueron cinco años perdidos en intentos fallidos de publicación cerca del inicio de
su jubilación. Ed también desea señalar que su coautor, Tom Kenworthy, fue su
antiguo estudiante de doctorado, que comenzó a entablar conversaciones con él
sobre el material hace años. Tom actualizó el material durante los cinco años que
faltaban y lo enriqueció con decenas de nuevas fuentes. Tom también podó
desviaciones incompletas y refinó el texto existente.
vii
viii Agradecimientos

También estamos en deuda con el centenar de especialistas en la materia que se

Agradecimientos
ofrecieron a leer el texto. Muchos aportaron a Ed comentarios, críticas y
testimonios. Hasta ahora, en particular, queremos agradecer a Frank Hoy, Candida
Brush, Mike Morris y Dennis Ray su especial consideración. También queremos
dar las gracias a Alan Carsrud por creer lo suficiente en el libro como para
emprender su publicación en Springer.
Ed quiere dar las gracias a Sandeep Singh, su sobrino, por sus comentarios y
asistencia promocional. Por último, los numerosos borradores tienen una gran
deuda con su mujer, Jessy. Ella actuó como caja de resonancia de sus ideas, y a
menudo las sondeó con preguntas penetrantes. Más tarde, le presionó para que
organizara y aclarara el texto, y le hizo numerosas sugerencias para mejorarlo.
Su apreciación del valor del texto fue un apoyo constante.
 1 Introducción1
Some Methodological Background ..................................................................2
Unos Theoretical Background .........................................................................4
Teorías y Testing .............................................................................................5
Chapter by Chapter ..........................................................................................7
Capítulo 2: Experiencia empresarial y Thinking......................................... 8
Chapter 3: Entrepreneurship as Small(er) Business .....................................8
Capítulo 4: El espíritu empresarial como positivista Social Science ...........9
Capítulo 5: La teoría general del empresariado Creativity...........................9
Capítulo 6: Los Core Evidence ..................................................................10
Capítulo 7: Una teoría general y su explicación Power .............................11
Capítulo 8: Entrepreneurial Creativity .......................................................12
Chapter 9: Entrepreneurial Dynamics ........................................................12
Capítulo 10: El desarrollo del Personal Creativity .....................................13
Capítulo 11: Una macroteoría del Entrepreneurial Creativity....................13
Chapter 12: Implications and Conclusions ................................................14

Parte I Comprender los problemas empresariales

2 Experiencia laboral empresarial17

In Summary....................................................................................................24

Parte II Principales paradigmas empresariales

3El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga 27

una mariposa? 3
La teoría de la pequeña empresa del espíritu empresarial 29
.....................................
Herramientas de gestión en un contexto empresarial .................................... 30
Planificación estratégica 31
.................................................................................
Contabilidad ............................................................................................ 32
Estudio de mercado ................................................................................... 32

ix
x Contenido

Marketing Promotion .................................................................................34

Conteni
Human Resource Management ..................................................................35
do Entrepreneurial Returns to Management Education ......................................37
Entrepreneurial Returns to Entrepreneurial Education ..................................39
Sobre las desventajas del pensamiento actual para la práctica
of Entrepreneurship ........................................................................................40
Una contingencia Approach ...........................................................................41
Conclusion .....................................................................................................42
4 La ciencia social positivista del espíritu empresarial43
Propuestas, no Theories .................................................................................44
Emprendedor Strategy ...............................................................................46
Industry Choice ..........................................................................................47
Nueva empresa Organizing ........................................................................47
Acquiring Financial Resources ..................................................................48
Entrepreneurial Psychology .......................................................................49
The Sociology of Entrepreneurship ...........................................................50
Puntos fuertes de Shane's General Theory .....................................................50
Limitaciones potenciales de Shane’s Propositions .........................................51
Sobre los problemas del uso del conocimiento científico en Education ........52
Conclusion .....................................................................................................53

Parte III Una teoría científica general sobre la creatividad empresarial

5 Modernizando a Schumpeter: Hacia un nuevo general

Teoría de la iniciativa empresarial57
Desarrollar una iniciativa empresarial Theory ...............................................58
Iniciativa empresarial and Creativity .............................................................60
Schumpeter, Espíritu de empresa and Creativity ...........................................61
Creativity .......................................................................................................65
Intelectual Abilities ....................................................................................66
Knowledge .................................................................................................66
Thinking Styles ..........................................................................................66
Personality .................................................................................................67
Motivation..................................................................................................67
Environment...............................................................................................67
Innovation ..................................................................................................69
Desarrollo de negocios and Performance ...................................................69
Conclusion .....................................................................................................72
6 Las pruebas fundamentales73
Pre-venturing .................................................................................................74
Nuevo Venturing78
Nueva empresa82
Nueva empresa82
Contenidosxi

Diferencias de creatividad entre los empresarios

and Small Business Owners .......................................................................83
Crecimiento y Performance .......................................................................85
Some Synopses of Studies Related to Financial Performance ...................85
Creatividad y Innovation............................................................................92
Necesidad de Achievement ........................................................................95
Discussion ..................................................................................................96
Conclusion .................................................................................................98
7 Una teoría general y su poder explicativo99
El poder explicativo de la teoría general
del empresario Creativity .............................................................................102
Personality ...............................................................................................102
Motivation................................................................................................103
Thinking Styles ........................................................................................105
Intelligence...............................................................................................106
Knowledge ...............................................................................................107
Environment.............................................................................................109
Conclusion ...................................................................................................110

Parte IV Teorías auxiliares

8 Creatividad empresarial115
El lado negativo del Creativity.....................................................................116
Cuando la creatividad (no) es Needed .........................................................116
El espíritu empresarial como creatividad aplicada Art/Science ...................117
Creatividad empresarial Intelligence........................................................118
Lo que es común a la creatividad Intellect? .................................................121
Creatividad empresarial Personality ........................................................121
Lo que es común a la creatividad Personality? ............................................124
Creatividad empresarial Motivation .........................................................124
Lo que es común a Creative Motivation? ....................................................126
Pensamiento creativo empresarial Style...................................................126
Lo que es común al pensamiento creativo Styles? .......................................128
Empresario Knowledge ............................................................................128
Lo que es común a Creative Knowledge? ....................................................131
Desarrollo de la medición Instruments ........................................................131
Ver Empresario Creativity Holistically ........................................................132
Confluence ...................................................................................................132
Thresholds....................................................................................................133
Gama de Applicability .................................................................................133
Contingencies...............................................................................................134
The Direction of Causation ..........................................................................134
Conclusion ...................................................................................................135
xii Contenido

Conteni
9 Dinámica empresarial137
The Rationalist Model..................................................................................137
do Límites a Strategic Rationality .....................................................................138
Sobre las limitaciones del modelo de pequeña empresa
of Entrepreneurship ......................................................................................140
Una teoría de la inversión de Entrepreneurial Creativity .............................141
Empresario Vision .......................................................................................142
Empresario Investments ...............................................................................144
Negociación con Adversity ...................................................................... el 144
Empresario Improvisation ............................................................................145
Investigar el espíritu empresarial Process ....................................................146
A Provocative Study ....................................................................................147
Conclusions..................................................................................................148
10 Desarrollar la creatividad empresarial149
Padres and Family ........................................................................................149
Primary and Secondary Education ...............................................................152
Post-Secondary Education ...........................................................................153
Career Choices .............................................................................................153
Conclusion ...................................................................................................154
11 Hacia una macroteoría de la creatividad empresarial155
El empresario del Economic Development ..................................................155
Un macromodelo de Entrepreneurial Creativity ..........................................158
Científico y tecnológico Creativity ..............................................................159
Creatividad desbordante and Entrepreneurship............................................160
Cultura empresarial y Economic Development ...........................................161
Barreras y apoyos a la creatividad Entrepreneurship ...................................161
Education .....................................................................................................162
Conclusion ...................................................................................................163
12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones165
Tres generales Theories ...............................................................................165
Principios generales de la teoría general
de Entrepreneurial Creativity .......................................................................166
Some Points on Methodology ......................................................................168
Implicaciones normativas de la teoría general
de Entrepreneurial Creativity .......................................................................170
Un modelo jerárquico de moral Entrepreneurial Imperatives ......................172
Possible Implications upon Education .........................................................174
Research Implications ..................................................................................176
In Summary..................................................................................................178

Referencias179
Índice203
Sinopsis del libro

El problema esencial del espíritu empresarial es mejorar el rendimiento de los

emprendedores. Las teorías más importantes serán las que más nos permitan
predecir y, en última instancia, influir en el rendimiento empresarial. Este libro
desarrolla una teoría nueva y científicamente más convincente sobre el rendimiento
empresarial, basada en la creatividad empresarial.
La construcción de la teoría se basó en la filosofía de la ciencia. Karl Popper
(1902-1994), que es uno de los filósofos de la ciencia más importantes de la época
moderna, definió la teoría científica como predictiva antes del hecho y no sólo
explicativa después del hecho. 1 Para él, el poder explicativo es la función
secundaria de la teoría científica. Este libro se atreve a conjeturar que la
creatividad empresarial predecirá por sí sola entre el 30 y el 50% de la varianza de
los resultados empresariales, y que será el predictor dominante de los resultados
empresariales.
Antes de presentar la nueva teoría, se intenta comprender cómo se explica
actualmente el rendimiento empresarial en la ciencia del emprendimiento. Se han
identificado dos enfoques científicos principales. En primer lugar, está la visión
que considera el espíritu empresarial simplemente como una extensión de la
disciplina empresarial: el enfoque de la pequeña empresa. Estudiando lo que
funciona en las grandes empresas y adaptándolo a las pequeñas, los investigadores
esperan desarrollar una comprensión convincente del rendimiento empresarial a lo
largo del tiempo. También hay una segunda visión general que espera que la
solución se encuentre juntando empíricamente datos dispares que los estudios
individuales han encontrado relacionados con el rendimiento empresarial en un
momento u otro. El segundo enfoque se examina a través del trabajo de uno de los
principales estudiosos de este campo. Su enfoque consistió en elaborar un
inventario de más de 80 proposiciones diferentes a partir de una plétora de
estudios empíricos.
La disciplina empresarial tiene una larga tradición de esperar que el
rendimiento empresarial esté influenciado por la creatividad, que se remonta a
Joseph Schumpeter y

1
Las teorías que se han elaborado completamente en el campo de la iniciativa empresarial son
sólo raramente predictivas y, por tanto, raramente falsables. Al descartar las teorías que no
predicen, Popper reduce el campo de las teorías que requieren una consideración seria como
parte de la ciencia del campo.
xiii
xiv Sinopsis del libro

antes. Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950), al que se ha llamado el padre del

pensamiento empresarial moderno, definió el espíritu empresarial como creación-
destrucción: crear lo nuevo suplantando o destruyendo lo viejo. Varios aspectos del
modelo de Schumpeter sobre el espíritu empresarial individual fueron modificados
para convertirlo en una teoría científicamente comprobable y actualizarlo a
nuestros tiempos. En particular, el concepto de motivación empresarial de
Schumpeter evolucionó hacia una teoría más general de la creatividad. Robert
Sternberg, que es uno de los principales teóricos modernos de la creatividad,
teorizó que la creatividad abarca ampliamente aspectos de la personalidad, la
motivación, el intelecto, el estilo de pensamiento, los conocimientos pertinentes y
los factores ambientales. La teoría de la creatividad de Sternberg se utilizó para
relacionar los resultados de la creatividad empresarial con los del rendimiento
empresarial. Se recopilaron pruebas para demostrar que la teoría resultante podía
predecir el rendimiento empresarial y explicar una serie de resultados existentes
bajo un único paraguas teórico.
Para vincular científicamente el espíritu empresarial con la creatividad, el libro
persigue una serie de objetivos principales:
1. El libro comienza recordándonos nuestro desafío científico a la luz de los
deprimentes niveles de rendimiento que suelen encontrarse en el mundo real del
empresariado.
2. A continuación, explora los paradigmas dominantes que impulsan la
investigación en el campo de la iniciativa empresarial hoy en día: el primero,
una fe aparentemente demasiado optimista en el poder de las disciplinas
empresariales para proporcionar las respuestas a nuestras preguntas urgentes; el
segundo, un método inductivo de la ciencia con sus fallos concomitantes, que
intenta construir el conocimiento de forma ateórica, un pequeño dato a la vez.
3. En la Parte III, el libro reúne las pruebas existentes para demostrar que es
plausible predecir una variación sustancial de los resultados empresariales
basándose únicamente en la creatividad del empresario principal. El libro
también demuestra que, además del poder de predicción, las definiciones
modernas de creatividad tienen un poder explicativo extraordinario, lo que
explica una amplia gama de hallazgos existentes en el campo de la iniciativa
empresarial.
4. En la Parte IV, el libro profundiza en el concepto de creatividad empresarial
como un tipo específico de creatividad. Explora la racionalidad de vincular la
creatividad con el rendimiento empresarial. Además, se examina la evolución
de la creatividad empresarial en el individuo. Por último, examinamos las
pruebas que vinculan la creatividad con el espíritu empresarial a nivel macro o
social.
En resumen, el libro ofrece una audaz teoría predictiva que vincula la
creatividad empresarial con el rendimiento empresarial. Esta teoría resultante es
una teoría científica general que ofrece un serio desafío a los estudiosos del
emprendimiento que buscan otros medios para entender la causalidad del
rendimiento empresarial.
Capítulo 1
Introducción

Resumen Desde el principio se plantean cuestiones de contenido y de

metodología. Las cuestiones de contenido se explican por sí mismas. La
metodología de la investigación, es decir, la filosofía de la ciencia, desempeña un
papel algo menos evidente. El libro ilustra cómo la funcionalidad de nuestro
conocimiento está determinada por las filosofías de la ciencia que guían nuestro
trabajo. A lo largo del libro se exponen argumentos que vinculan el contenido con
la metodología.

Este libro pretende aportar una nueva y amplia dirección teórica al campo
científico social del espíritu empresarial, centrada en la predicción y explicación
del rendimiento empresarial. Se ofrecen tres perspectivas del campo del espíritu
empresarial, las dos primeras de las cuales podrían considerarse como las
opiniones dominantes o recibidas en la actualidad: (1) el espíritu empresarial como
pequeña empresa, y (2) el espíritu empresarial como inventario selectivo de
resultados empíricos. La primera perspectiva se basa en las disciplinas
empresariales como fuente de fuerza. La segunda perspectiva se basa en hallazgos
empíricos estadísticamente significativos que ayudan a explicar directamente el
rendimiento empresarial. La tercera perspectiva, que constituye la principal
aportación de este libro, vincula el campo del espíritu empresarial con el de la
creatividad. La teoría, la metodología y las pruebas (es decir, la ciencia) que
subyacen a la perspectiva de la pequeña empresa se examinan en el capítulo 3. En
el capítulo 4 se examina parte de la ciencia que subyace al inventario de hallazgos.
El resto del libro se ocupa de la ciencia que hay detrás de la creatividad
empresarial. Al final del libro, se apreciarán los puntos fuertes y débiles de cada
teoría general, así como las razones para asimilar la creatividad empresarial como
una perspectiva principal de la disciplina empresarial.
La teoría general de la creatividad empresarial (GTEC) que aquí se presenta se
apoya en un importante conjunto de pruebas. La apreciación de esta teoría debería
ayudarnos a comprender y explicar mejor los fenómenos empresariales. También
debería permitirnos predecir mejor, y quizás en última instancia controlar,
diferentes aspectos del éxito empresarial. Aunque principalmente predictiva, la
GTEC tiene implicaciones descriptivas, explicativas y normativas. Cabe esperar
que esta teoría permita mejorar la práctica con el tiempo. Sin embargo, lo más
importante es que la nueva teoría es científica en el sentido de que se mantendrá,
caerá o sufrirá modificaciones sobre la base de pruebas adicionales. Como tal, la
GTEC es refutable en un sentido popperiano.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 1

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_1
2 1 Introducción

¿Qué se llevarán los lectores de este libro? Serán más conscientes de que el
espíritu empresarial es una empresa bastante implacable con muchos perdedores y
pocos grandes ganadores financieros. Serán menos propensos a esperar que los
conocimientos de gestión faciliten el crecimiento y el desarrollo de nuevas
empresas. Apreciarán las limitaciones prácticas de las conclusiones implícitamente
teóricas y/o ateóricas. Desarrollarán una apreciación de la relevancia de la teoría
científica. Por último, serán capaces de evaluar críticamente la importancia de la
creatividad individual en la actividad de las nuevas empresas.

Algunos antecedentes metodológicos

Este libro propone una nueva teoría científica general del espíritu empresarial.
Para apreciar lo que significa que una teoría sea científica, este libro se basa en la
filosofía de la ciencia concebida por Karl Popper (1963), posiblemente el filósofo
de la ciencia más importante del siglo XX. Algunos de los conceptos de Popper en
los que se basa este libro son la refutabilidad, la conjetura audaz y la preciencia.
Popper estableció una fuerte distinción entre la teoría refutable, que proporciona
conjeturas o predicciones (teoría predictiva), y la teoría explicativa, que puede
explicar una amplia gama de resultados, pero que básicamente no es refutable.
En Conjeturas y refutaciones (1963), Popper describe las circunstancias de
1919-1920 que le llevaron a concluir que la obra de Newton y Einstein era
científica mientras que la de Marx, Freud y Adler no lo era. Su (p. 45) problema
era explicar: "¿Qué tienen de malo el marxismo, el psicoanálisis y la psicología
individual? ¿Por qué son tan diferentes de las teorías físicas, de la teoría de
Newton y especialmente de la teoría de la relatividad?". (p. 45, cursiva en el
original) observó que sus amigos, "...que eran admiradores de Marx, Freud y
Adler, estaban impresionados por una serie de puntos comunes a estas teorías, y
especialmente por su aparente poder explicativo. Estas teorías parecían capaces de
explicar prácticamente todo lo que ocurría en los campos a los que se referían."
Popper (p. 47) observó además que estas teorías, "...se confirmaban siempre". Con
respecto al poder explicativo, (p. 47) señaló: "Empecé a darme cuenta de que esta
aparente fuerza era en realidad su debilidad". (p. 48, cursiva en el original) razonó
que no era el poder explicativo a posteriori de una teoría lo que la hacía científica,
sino que "...el criterio del estatus científico de una teoría es su falsabilidad, o
refutabilidad, o comprobabilidad..." antes del hecho.
Aun así, Popper no menospreció los trabajos de personas como Marx, Freud y
Adler. Reconocía que sus teorías eran teorías generales que ofrecían un amplio
poder explicativo que también podía evolucionar hacia un poder predictivo. Popper
caracterizó esta combinación de utilidad científica potencial, pero sin poder
predictivo, como precientífica. Según Popper (1963, pp. 37-38, paréntesis en el
original) "Por lo tanto, consideré que si una teoría se considera no científica, o
'metafísica' (como podríamos decir), no por ello se considera sin importancia, o
insignificante, o 'sin sentido', o 'sin sentido'. Pero no puede pretender estar
respaldada por pruebas empíricas en el sentido científico, aunque puede ser
fácilmente, en algún sentido genético, el "resultado de la observación"."
Some Methodological Background 3

Desde la perspectiva de Popper (1935), una ciencia es un sistema de teorías y

pruebas relacionadas dirigidas a resolver los problemas de un campo. La ciencia
del emprendimiento es, por tanto, sus modelos centralizadores o teorías de
causalidad que mejoran la capacidad de predecir y controlar los resultados
deseados de la actividad de las nuevas empresas. Los estudiosos del espíritu
empresarial llevan reuniendo abundantes pruebas desde principios de los años
ochenta. El resultado son cientos de factores aparentemente influyentes, por
ejemplo, la educación, un mercado en crecimiento, un producto protegido, la
disponibilidad de apoyo financiero, etc. La disciplina empresarial informa a los
futuros empresarios de los factores que deben tener en cuenta y de los problemas
que deben evitar. A continuación, corresponde al empresario combinar todos estos
componentes en juicios empresariales. Lamentablemente, hay pocas conjeturas
audaces que indiquen cómo sopesar y organizar los factores.
En este libro se proponen tres perspectivas generales del espíritu empresarial
que tienen un amplio poder explicativo. La primera teoría parte de la base de que
el espíritu empresarial es una disciplina de gestión y que las áreas funcionales de
la gestión se aplican de algún modo. Se trata de una directriz que sugiere que si los
profesionales utilizan una buena terminología empresarial y siguen las prácticas
empresariales generalmente recomendadas, el éxito llegará. La teoría se utiliza
regularmente, a posteriori, para explicar los resultados de las nuevas empresas, lo
que implica que si uno tiene éxito, debe haber utilizado los factores importantes y
si uno fracasa, no lo ha hecho. En última instancia, la teoría carece de poder de
predicción y, por tanto, de potencial de refutación.
La segunda teoría (Shane 2003) es un inventario organizado de los factores que
se asocian al éxito de las nuevas empresas. El intento de clasificar los hallazgos
del campo en aproximadamente 80 proposiciones diferentes es loable. Sin
embargo, la teoría no tiene un núcleo y está sujeta a interminables ajustes ad hoc -
el inventario puede ser fácilmente añadido o sustraído- y, por lo tanto, evade
fácilmente la refutabilidad.
La tercera teoría, una teoría general de la creatividad empresarial (GTEC),
representa el enfoque principal de este libro. La teoría se basa en la proposición
central de que el espíritu empresarial es una disciplina creativa, utilizando ideas
sobre una teoría holística de la creatividad para ampliar la visión schumpeteriana
del espíritu empresarial. La teoría de Schumpeter (1934) puede considerarse como
dos teorías en una: una macro teoría del desarrollo económico y una micro teoría
del espíritu empresarial como creatividad aplicada. La microteoría de la iniciativa
empresarial creativa de Schumpeter se presenta como la relación entre dos simples
factores: la motivación empresarial creativa y las nuevas combinaciones de
negocios. La GTEC designa una relación entre dos variables complejas: (1) la
creatividad empresarial, elaborada por un modelo holístico contemporáneo de
creatividad (Sternberg y Lubart 1991), y (2) los resultados empresariales,
definidos como el grado de creatividad en el resultado y la fase de desarrollo de la
nueva empresa.
Se plantean dos hipótesis centrales para caracterizar la relación entre la
creatividad empresarial y los resultados empresariales. La primera hipótesis es que
la creatividad empresarial es sustancialmente responsable del desarrollo de nuevas
combinaciones de negocios (es decir, innovaciones). La segunda hipótesis es que
la creatividad empresarial es la principal responsable del desarrollo y el
crecimiento de nuevas empresas. El apoyo a cada hipótesis se examina sobre la
base de los resultados existentes. Las pruebas empíricas son todavía limitadas
para afirmar que
4 1 Introducción

el estatus empírico de la primera proposición, que las nuevas innovaciones

empresariales son construcciones creativas. Lo que resulta sorprendente es la
cantidad y la fuerza de las pruebas que apoyan la relación entre la creatividad
empresarial y el desarrollo y el crecimiento de las empresas.
En última instancia, la situación empírica de la GTEC requiere más
investigación. Sin embargo, es creíble argumentar que, sobre la base de las
pruebas existentes, probablemente puedan crearse instrumentos integradores
válidos para predecir de forma fiable hasta el 50% de la variación de los resultados
de las nuevas empresas en el tiempo y el espacio.

Algunos antecedentes teóricos

En 1990, el libro de McMullan y Long, New Venture Development: The

Entrepreneurial Option, se publicó. El libro proponía una teoría de la creatividad
empresarial basada en dos supuestos principales: que los empresarios desarrollan
empresas de crecimiento y que el desarrollo de empresas de crecimiento requiere
creatividad estratégica. La teoría, caracterizada aquí como de naturaleza formal,
puede considerarse un útil peldaño hacia la teoría científica (Popper 1963). Una
teoría formal no puede ser validada directamente, sino que se apoya
indirectamente. Para validar indirectamente una teoría de este tipo, es necesario que
haya muchas similitudes entre las personas y los procesos creativos, por un lado, y
los empresarios y los procesos empresariales, por otro. Por ejemplo, los
emprendedores y las personas creativas podrían tener una confianza inusual. La
validez de un modelo formal de este tipo se demuestra en parte comprobando
empíricamente sus implicaciones.
El presente libro se basa en proposiciones científicamente comprobables y no
en supuestos formales. Trata a los individuos que desarrollan cualquier tipo de
nueva empresa, negocio de crecimiento o de otro tipo, como emprendedores. El
GTEC indica que todos los tipos y niveles de emprendimiento requieren
creatividad; sin embargo, algunas nuevas empresas requieren más creatividad que
otras. Cuanto mayor sea la innovación, el desarrollo y el crecimiento previstos,
mayor será la creatividad empresarial requerida. Además, la creatividad que se
requiere no es sólo la creatividad para las decisiones estratégicas, sino la
creatividad en general para muchas de las decisiones tácticas que toman los
empresarios.
Los supuestos secundarios de la teoría formal de McMullan y Long han
permanecido relativamente intactos y sin ampliar, aunque en lugar de ser
supuestos subyacentes, ahora se tratan como parte del fondo conceptual. En este
sentido, el contenido del primer libro actúa como un complemento del de éste, es
decir, potencialmente útil para algunas ampliaciones y elaboraciones conceptuales,
pero no un requisito para entender la GTEC.
Algunas características de diseño se consideran deseables para una teoría
científica de la creatividad empresarial. Las nuevas empresas se tratan como
vehículos en evolución, medios cambiantes para la creatividad empresarial. Los
empresarios son responsables de diseñar la visión y de atraer y organizar los
recursos necesarios.
Además, un segmento prototípico de emprendedores, a saber, los creadores de
organizaciones, se esfuerzan estratégicamente por desarrollar empresas desde sus
inicios hasta completar
Teorías y Testing 5

empresas autosuficientes. La asunción de riesgos se trata tanto como una

consecuencia como una causa de la acción empresarial, ya que la creatividad
implica riesgo.
Por último, la GTEC integra más explícitamente dos nuevos elementos en su
estructura básica. En primer lugar, se supone que el espíritu empresarial se centra
en el futuro y, como tal, se trata de una incertidumbre inevitable (Cantillon 1755).
En segundo lugar, se supone que el espíritu empresarial tiene que ver con futuros muy
específicos. Por lo tanto, siempre dependerá de un juicio imperfecto (Knight 1921)
y, en consecuencia, nunca se convertirá en una tecnología.

Teorías y pruebas

La idea de que las teorías de las ciencias sociales deben predecir un rango de
varianza de los resultados es relativamente novedosa, y aún no está muy
extendida. Según el destacado metodólogo Paul Meehl, ya es hora de que las
teorías psicológicas no sólo predigan la probabilidad de las relaciones entre las
variables, sino también un rango probable de los efectos de las variables
independientes sobre las variables dependientes (Waller et al. 2006). No sólo
necesitamos saber que las variables están relacionadas (valor p), sino también algo
sobre el tamaño de la relación entre ellas. El tamaño de la relación (tamaño del
efecto) determina en parte si es económico gastar tiempo y dinero en cambiar A
para lograr B.
Incluso si fuera cierto en la realidad que la creatividad empresarial representara
el 50 % de los resultados financieros finales de las empresas, seguiría siendo
difícil demostrar esta realidad empíricamente. Se plantean graves problemas
metodológicos. Incluso pequeñas disminuciones en la fiabilidad de las medidas
pueden tener grandes repercusiones en la comprobación de la realidad subyacente
de las relaciones entre las medidas, y la fiabilidad de las medidas de creatividad
suele ser problemática. Las medidas de creatividad también plantean serias dudas
sobre su validez. Además, las medidas de rendimiento financiero suelen estar mal
relacionadas entre sí. Así mismo, las medidas de creatividad suelen estar poco
relacionadas entre sí. Por lo tanto, sería sorprendente que muchas de las muy
diferentes medidas de creatividad se relacionaran con las muchas y variadas
medidas de rendimiento financiero, especialmente cuando los resultados son
transversales en el tiempo. Para empeorar las cosas, las mediciones estadísticas son
diferentemente sensibles a las métricas (por ejemplo, las escalas), y las métricas
pueden ser bastante arbitrarias. El hecho de que algunas pruebas actuales consigan
generar colectivamente resultados convincentes, como se verá, es la única razón
para creer que la predicción de rangos de varianza funcionará en la práctica.
Cuando los futuros estudios emprendan una revisión del rendimiento de un
número considerable de empresarios, según la teoría, la creatividad empresarial
debería mantenerse como un predictor estadísticamente dominante del rendimiento
empresarial. Es de esperar, por supuesto, que los resultados de algunos estudios no
apoyen la GTEC. Habrá resultados en los que personas con una capacidad creativa
limitada tengan éxito, a través de otras posibles explicaciones causales como la
suerte ciega o incluso la combinación fortuita de influencias causales que
compiten entre sí. Las personas con creatividad empresarial fracasarán a causa de
acontecimientos que escapan a su control o incluso por su mal juicio en momentos
críticos, o porque juzgan mal los acontecimientos futuros. Sin embargo, los nulos o
negativos ocasionales
6 1 Introducción

Los descubrimientos positivos no deberían resultar fatalmente dañinos para las

teorías científicas. Según Popper (1935, p. 66), sólo el rechazo repetido
desbancará a la teoría: "Así, unas pocas afirmaciones básicas que contradigan una
teoría difícilmente nos inducirán a rechazarla como falsada. La tomaremos como
falsada sólo si descubrimos un efecto reproducible que refute la teoría".
Además de poner a prueba directamente el poder predictivo de las
proposiciones centrales de la teoría, tiene sentido poner a prueba indirectamente la
verosimilitud de la teoría revisando las pruebas que se relacionan con las
proposiciones auxiliares que se desprenden de considerar el espíritu empresarial
como una disciplina fundamentalmente creativa. El libro examina en detalle las
similitudes entre los atributos de las personas creativas y las emprendedoras, así
como las similitudes entre los procesos creativos y los emprendedores.
Desde el punto de vista de la filosofía popperiana, una teoría científica debe ser
valorada no sólo por lo que prescribe, sino sobre todo por lo que proscribe. Para
que la GTEC sea corroborada por futuras pruebas, los investigadores deben
intentar refutar sus proposiciones clave. Por lo tanto, como mínimo, la teoría
proscribe los resultados de la investigación en los que la creatividad empresarial y
el rendimiento empresarial no están relacionados, o peor aún, están relacionados
negativamente. La GTEC también proscribe las teorías competidoras que explican
tanta o más varianza de resultados, dado que se propone como teoría dominante
del rendimiento empresarial. Como dato, las teorías de amplio alcance en las
ciencias sociales rara vez, o nunca, explican un alto nivel de varianza de resultados
en los estudios empíricos recopilados para ponerlas a prueba. Lo que se predice
aquí es el resultado de un patrón de resultados inusualmente fuerte hasta la fecha.
Conclusiones sólidas a partir de pruebas débiles, limitadas y parciales de la teoría.
Las teorías no operan en el vacío, sino que están intrínsecamente ligadas a otras
teorías, de necesidad en la red de teorías involucradas, Lakatos (1978) reconoció
que algunas teorías son más críticas que otras. El debate metodológico de nuestro
tiempo ha sido entre Popper y Kuhn, como se representa en el libro de Fuller
(2003), Kuhn vs. Popper: La lucha por el alma de la ciencia. Lakatos trató de
encontrar un punto medio en la discusión. Popper parecía menos conciliador con
los hallazgos negativos que Kuhn, quien a su vez consideraba las pruebas
anómalas (es decir, los hallazgos negativos) como algo natural. Mientras que
Popper parecía decir que una vez que se refutaba una teoría se pasaba a la
siguiente conjetura, Kuhn decía que estas teorías generales o paradigmas no se
derrocaban hasta que aparecía un modelo más nuevo y aparentemente más fuerte,
e incluso entonces, no hasta que la comunidad científica que apoyaba
religiosamente el antiguo paradigma, se extinguía. Lakatos consideraba que la
comprobación del núcleo duro de la teoría principal era más crítica y menos sujeta
a modificaciones. Mientras que era obligatorio que un programa de investigación
científica relacionada mantuviera el núcleo duro de la teoría o ésta fracasaría, las
hipótesis auxiliares estaban sujetas a modificaciones. Todo el programa de
investigación podía ser progresivo o degenerativo, dependiendo de si las pruebas
acumuladas seguían aumentando o disminuyendo el poder predictivo y explicativo
general de la teoría.
El núcleo duro de la GTEC utiliza la creatividad empresarial para predecir
grandes cantidades de variación del rendimiento empresarial. Esta parte central del
programa de investigación ofrece un apoyo general a las hipótesis auxiliares,
proporcionando un texto y una dirección creíbles para una serie de otras teorías e
Capítulo por 7
capítulo
hipótesis relacionadas que exponen de forma más completa una red de ideas
relacionadas, en este caso, las teorías predictivas y explicativas.
8 1 Introducción

poder de la creatividad empresarial dentro de la disciplina del espíritu empresarial.

Mientras que los capítulos 5 y 6 proporcionan la teoría y las pruebas que sustentan
el núcleo duro, los capítulos 8 a 12 proporcionan teorías auxiliares y pruebas
relacionadas que amplían potencialmente la utilidad de la teoría general. El
capítulo 8, por ejemplo, ofrece un desarrollo inicial de una teoría auxiliar
destinada a ayudar en el proceso de medición más precisa de la creatividad
empresarial. El desarrollo ulterior de las medidas de la creatividad empresarial
podría desviarse eventualmente en direcciones diferentes de las sugeridas en el
capítulo, sin dañar necesariamente el núcleo duro. En el capítulo 10 se argumenta
que convertirse en creativo empresarial es un proceso largo, lento y que requiere
mucho tiempo. Si se pudieran desarrollar métodos abreviados para potenciar
materialmente la creatividad empresarial, esta teoría auxiliar podría ser derribada,
paradójicamente, en beneficio potencial de la teoría general.
No se debe esperar que una teoría general, con o sin sus teorías asociadas,
explique y prediga todo sobre un campo. Por supuesto, hay que tener unas
expectativas modestas sobre lo que puede conseguir una teoría general, aunque sea
una herramienta poderosa. Las mejores teorías científicas generales no ofrecen
más que unos cuantos principios rectores para la investigación futura. Por ejemplo,
Keynes centró el campo de la economía en el problema de los ciclos económicos
como algo potencialmente controlable. Darwin ofreció el principio de la selección
natural para entender la evolución de las especies. Tanto Keynes como Darwin
podrían caracterizarse por ofrecer señales para la investigación futura, más que
estados finales para sus respectivos campos. El GTEC ofrece el principio de que la
creatividad está en el centro del campo del espíritu empresarial, afirmando no sólo
que la creatividad desempeñará un papel clave en la predicción del rendimiento de
las nuevas empresas, sino también que las partes interesadas necesitan adquirir
más conocimientos sobre la creatividad para comprender mejor el espíritu
empresarial.
Para que la ciencia empresarial progrese, es necesario avanzar en conjeturas
audaces y refutables, elaborarlas, cuestionarlas seriamente y modificarlas, o
incluso rechazarlas, a lo largo del tiempo. Como teoría científica general, la GTEC
avanza la idea de que la creatividad es la clave para predecir y explicar el
rendimiento empresarial. La investigación existente sugiere que la teoría tiene un
mérito sustancial en su estado actual. Se espera que las pruebas futuras corroboren
aún más su base de pruebas. Las implicaciones de la teoría científica general de la
creatividad empresarial son sustanciales y pueden afectar a la propia definición de
espíritu empresarial. La GTEC concibe el espíritu empresarial como un arte
independiente, creativo y aplicado y/o una ciencia social aplicada, más que como
una subdisciplina del campo de la gestión, tradicionalmente considerado como
técnico. El empresario es el artista creativo; el gestor, un tecnócrata. Por lo tanto,
una de las implicaciones de tener una teoría general del espíritu empresarial,
basada en la creatividad empresarial, es ver este campo no tanto como un
subcampo de la gestión, sino como una disciplina creativa distinta.

Capítulo por capítulo

La parte restante de esta introducción sirve de resumen de los aspectos clave

Capítulo por 9
capítulo
presentados en cada uno de los diez capítulos de este libro.
10 1 Introducción

Capítulo 2: Experiencia y pensamiento empresarial

En este capítulo se plantean diez preguntas sobre la naturaleza y los resultados de

la experiencia empresarial. Las respuestas a las preguntas se basan en pruebas
descriptivas, que conducen a la siguiente caracterización de la experiencia
empresarial.
1. Los índices de participación en la actividad empresarial son sorprendentemente
altos.
2. Los empresarios emplean una cantidad considerable de tiempo en buscar
oportunidades (sobre todo buenas).
3. Incluso a los inversores profesionales les resulta difícil identificar las buenas
oportunidades.
4. La mayoría de las nuevas empresas se ponen en marcha con recursos
financieros limitados.
5. La mayoría de los empresarios no están bien preparados para poner en marcha
sus empresas.
6. Los empresarios inician sus negocios por diversas razones.
7. Los empresarios suelen trabajar muchas horas para desarrollar sus nuevas
empresas.
8. Los niveles típicos de éxito financiero son relativamente poco impresionantes.
9. Los resultados no financieros del espíritu empresarial son notablemente
positivos.
10. Sólo unos pocos empresarios logran la promesa de un éxito financiero notable.
En general, la investigación existente sugiere que el espíritu empresarial se
caracteriza por que muchas personas persiguen relativamente pocas oportunidades
de calidad que son difíciles de identificar ex ante. Estas personas inician una nueva
empresa por diversos motivos, comienzan con un capital limitado, trabajan más de
lo que lo harían como empleados y, por término medio, experimentan unas
recompensas financieras sorprendentemente bajas. La única ventaja evidente es
que los emprendedores suelen sentir un alto nivel de satisfacción.
En resumen, el estilo de vida que experimentan los empresarios tiene mucho
más en común con el de los artistas creativos que con el de los tecnólogos o los
mandos intermedios.

Capítulo 3: La iniciativa empresarial como pequeña(s) empresa(s)

Hoy en día, el campo del espíritu empresarial podría describirse mejor como una
hidra de muchas cabezas. Es en parte disciplina derivada, en parte empresa más
pequeña que grande (STB), en parte racionalidad empresarial convencional, en
parte buenas prácticas y en parte sentido común. El cuerpo principal de la bestia es
el negocio STB a pesar de las aspiraciones de ser algo más impresionante. Los
estudiosos y los profesionales ven predominantemente el espíritu empresarial a
través de esta lente. En las escuelas de negocios, se supone implícitamente que las
disciplinas de gestión contienen la base de conocimientos necesaria para el éxito
empresarial. Cada pequeña empresa, al igual que cada gran empresa, es juzgada
por el grado en que ha desarrollado conocimientos empresariales en áreas
Capítulo por 11
capítulo
funcionales.
Una agenda de investigación empírica, predominantemente positivista,
orientada a la comprensión del espíritu empresarial se guía sustancialmente por las
expectativas sobre la relevancia del marketing, las finanzas, las relaciones
humanas, etc. Se espera que los conocimientos de estas disciplinas básicas de
gestión arrojen luz sobre la práctica exitosa del espíritu empresarial. Este es el
statu quo de la disciplina del espíritu empresarial.
12 1 Introducción

Por supuesto, ni los estudiosos, ni los profesionales o los responsables políticos

pueden permitirse el lujo de ser complacientes con el statu quo debido a los niveles
universalmente altos de fracaso empresarial y las pérdidas financieras
relacionadas. Además, incluso en la supervivencia, sólo una minoría de empresas
lo hace lo suficientemente bien como para que los empresarios justifiquen
racionalmente el riesgo y la inversión que conlleva. Sea cual sea el nivel actual de
conocimientos, el statu quo parece inadecuado en términos generales. En términos
específicos, cabría esperar que las personas formadas en el ámbito empresarial
fueran claramente más eficaces en la creación de empresas que las que tienen una
formación diferente, una proposición que no está bien confirmada por las pruebas.
También cabría esperar que las herramientas derivadas de las disciplinas
funcionales de la empresa proporcionaran una orientación pertinente y rentable en
lo que respecta al desarrollo de nuevas empresas, otra propuesta que no está bien
confirmada por las pruebas existentes.

Capítulo 4: El espíritu empresarial como ciencia social positivista

Este capítulo ilustra los puntos fuertes y las limitaciones de intentar fragmentar el
conocimiento científico a partir de un gran número de estudios que han encontrado
datos aparentemente relacionados con el rendimiento empresarial. La teoría
general de la iniciativa empresarial de Shane (2003) se describe como un intento
de aplicar los conocimientos científicos del campo de la iniciativa empresarial al
problema de explicar e incluso predecir el rendimiento empresarial. Aunque la
teoría tiene una serie de ventajas notables, también tiene fallos en el método
empleado. La teoría de Shane proporciona un criterio para futuras teorías
generales como la que aquí se presenta.

Capítulo 5: La teoría general de la creatividad empresarial

La teoría general de la creatividad empresarial que aquí se desarrolla ha

evolucionado a partir de la teorización de Joseph Schumpeter a principios del siglo
XX. La teoría del desarrollo económico de Schumpeter (1934) se interpreta aquí
como dos teorías en una: en primer lugar, una teoría del desarrollo económico y, en
segundo lugar, una teoría del espíritu empresarial como creatividad aplicada.
Como esta última, la teoría de Schumpeter se modela como una relación entre un
factor causal y un factor de efecto, con un proceso intermedio. Una limitación de
la teoría de Schumpeter es que los factores son unidimensionales y univariantes,
es decir, la referencia a las constantes. Una segunda limitación es que no se basa
en la comprensión científica moderna de la creatividad personal.
En el GTEC, la creatividad empresarial es la principal variable causal. El
concepto de creatividad empresarial se actualiza más allá de la noción
unidimensional de motivación empresarial de Schumpeter, al basarse en una
amplia gama de investigaciones sobre la creatividad (Sternberg 1999; Kauffman y
Sternberg 2010). Además de la motivación empresarial, el concepto
contemporáneo y más holístico de creatividad incluye aspectos creativos de otros
Capítulo por 13
capítulo
cinco recursos de las personas creativas: la capacidad intelectual, el conocimiento,
los estilos de pensamiento, la personalidad y el entorno.
14 1 Introducción

Los resultados empresariales se amplían más allá de las nuevas combinaciones de

Schumpeter y se desarrollan como dos variables complejas: (1) la cantidad de
cambio que contiene una nueva combinación y (2) el nivel de desarrollo del
emprendimiento. Las nuevas combinaciones varían de incidentales a incrementales
o radicales. El nivel de desarrollo de la empresa varía: desde la intención hasta la
puesta en marcha, pasando por el crecimiento y el desarrollo tempranos y el
crecimiento y el desarrollo posteriores.
La racionalidad de una relación entre la creatividad empresarial y los resultados
empresariales se basa conjuntamente en dos explicaciones distintas, pero
interrelacionadas. En primer lugar, los estudiosos de la creatividad parten de la
base de que los resultados creativos son producidos por mentes creativas: cuanto
más creativo es el resultado, más creativo es el pensamiento que lo sustenta. En
segundo lugar, los investigadores de la creatividad sostienen que determinados
tipos de problemas (es decir, los de final abierto, inciertos o ambiguos) son más
adecuados para las mentes creativas: cuanto más abierto es el problema, más
creatividad se requiere. Aunque ambos razonamientos explican una relación entre
la creatividad empresarial y la producción de nuevas combinaciones, sólo la
segunda explicación explica cómo la creatividad da lugar al desarrollo y el
crecimiento de la empresa. La razón por la que el crecimiento y el desarrollo
empresarial exigen creatividad no se deriva del carácter de los resultados, sino de
la naturaleza del proceso de desarrollo empresarial.
Las teorías contemporáneas sobre la creatividad no predicen la cantidad de
varianza de los resultados explicada por la creatividad individual en condiciones de
incertidumbre, ambigüedad y apertura. Aquí se propone que la demanda de
creatividad empresarial aumenta con los crecientes requisitos para superar retos
empresariales más grandes y creativamente más significativos. La creatividad
empresarial tendrá una relevancia decreciente a medida que se vaya dejando de
lado las innovaciones más radicales y las nuevas empresas de mayor crecimiento.
La teoría general de la creatividad empresarial se presenta como una teoría
científica en el sentido popperiano, lo que significa que está sujeta a cambios y
refutaciones. Si es bien recibida por los estudiosos del espíritu empresarial,
debería reorientar al menos una parte de la investigación empresarial. El campo de
la creatividad, en el que se basa la teoría, sugiere una serie de diseños de
investigación diferentes que podrían mejorar los resultados científicos y, en última
instancia, el conocimiento de los fenómenos empresariales.

Capítulo 6: Las pruebas fundamentales

En el GTEC se plantean dos hipótesis centrales que relacionan la creatividad

empresarial y los resultados empresariales. La revisión de la evidencia combina
los resultados de un número significativo de estudios empíricos para probar la
fuerza empírica de las hipótesis centrales.
La creatividad empresarial se presenta como la principal variable causal. La
variable de efecto, los resultados empresariales, se desarrolla en dos dimensiones.
Una dimensión se mide por el grado de desarrollo de la empresa hasta la fecha y la
otra dimensión se mide por el grado de cambio en la nueva combinación
empresarial considerada.
Capítulo por 15
capítulo
Para explorar el valor predictivo de esta teoría general, se recopilaron setenta
estudios empíricos, cada uno de los cuales vinculaba la creatividad empresarial
con los resultados empresariales. Los estudios se organizaron por sus variables de
criterio en dos tipos de resultados: los relacionados con el grado de creatividad en
el concepto empresarial (es decir, la innovación empresarial) y los relacionados
con el nivel de desarrollo empresarial.
Las pruebas que relacionan la creatividad empresarial con el lanzamiento de
empresas innovadoras (es decir, basadas en nuevas combinaciones) fueron
limitadas. Once estudios relacionaron la creatividad empresarial con la innovación.
Las pruebas relacionadas con el nivel de desarrollo empresarial se organizaron de
la siguiente manera: (1) preinversión (16 estudios), (2) puesta en marcha de una
empresa (17 estudios) y (3) crecimiento empresarial y rendimiento financiero (38
estudios). Los diseños de estos estudios eran tales que los investigadores solían
dividir las muestras entre las personas que tenían éxito o no en el camino hacia el
desarrollo.
Los datos disponibles hasta la fecha apoyan cuatro pasos en el proceso de
desarrollo de nuevas empresas:
• Los que no tienen intención de crear empresas son menos
creativos/innovadores que los que sí tienen intención de hacerlo.
• Los que crean empresas son más creativos/innovadores que los que no lo hacen.
• Los que hacen crecer los negocios en las primeras etapas son más
creativos/innovadores que los que no lo hacen.
• En etapas posteriores del desarrollo de la empresa, quienes siguen haciendo crecer
su negocio con mayor rapidez tienden a ser más creativos/innovadores que
quienes lo hacen a un ritmo más lento.

Capítulo 7: Una teoría general y su poder explicativo

Sin teoría, no hay hechos, sólo datos. La teoría proporciona comprensión,

concretamente con una descripción significativa, una explicación, una predicción
y/o un control . Evoluciona a partir de conjeturas y especulaciones, pasando por
una concepción rigurosa y la elaboración de hipótesis y, en última instancia, por
sistemas de suposiciones, principios aceptados y reglas de procedimiento concebidas
para analizar y predecir (Weick 1995).
Una teoría científica debe contener un amplio poder explicativo para ser
considerada una teoría general. Según Popper (2007, p. 189), "Lo importante de la
teoría es su poder explicativo, y si resiste la crítica y las pruebas". La GTEC se
caracteriza como una teoría general por varias razones. La primera razón es que su
contenido y sus afirmaciones son independientes tanto del tiempo como de la
geografía. La segunda razón es que la teoría de la confluencia de la creatividad, en
la que se basa la variable independiente de la GTEC, ayuda a vincular y a explicar
de otro modo un número considerable de hallazgos, que de otro modo no estarían
relacionados, en el campo de la evidencia empresarial. Además, el campo de la
ciencia creativa entra a través del complejo de variables independientes, aportando
nuevas y creíbles hipótesis para futuros estudios.
En este capítulo, la GTEC se compara con una teoría general de las ciencias
sociales muy conocida y probada, la teoría general del delito (Gottfredson y
16 1 Introducción
Hirschi
Capítulo por 17
capítulo
1990). La GTEC, a pesar de sus limitaciones, resulta ser ampliamente comparable
con la Teoría General del Delito. Según Gottfredson y Hirschi (1990), una nueva
teoría debe juzgarse inicialmente en función de los hechos en su campo. Cada una
de las variables de creatividad integradas aporta nuevos conocimientos adicionales
a nuestra comprensión del rendimiento empresarial. Las pruebas relacionadas con
la creatividad empresarial de este modo apoyan en general la GTEC.

Capítulo 8: Creatividad empresarial

La creatividad empresarial se contempla como un tipo diferente de creatividad. No

se espera que las personas con creatividad empresarial tengan más probabilidades
de ser artistas, bailarines o músicos creativos, como tampoco se espera que los
músicos creativos sean microbiólogos, matemáticos o químicos naturalmente
creativos. Como se ha comentado en el capítulo anterior, los científicos sociales
están buscando conocimientos relacionados con los diversos recursos de la
creatividad empresarial. Este capítulo sirve para ofrecer sugerencias sobre la
naturaleza de cada uno de los recursos. Se conjetura que los atributos probables de
la inteligencia empresarial incluyen: la imaginación oportunista, el juicio
empresarial, la capacidad de persuasión, la capacidad de improvisación y la
capacidad de colaboración. Algunos de los atributos probables de la personalidad
empresarial son: la autoeficacia, la perseverancia, la asunción selectiva de riesgos,
la tolerancia a la ambigüedad y la extraversión. Algunos de los atributos de la
motivación empresarial son: el deseo de éxito, la motivación intrínseca, el
desarrollo de un legado y la elección de objetivos alcanzables pero desafiantes. Los
estilos de pensamiento empresarial pueden incluir: orientación a la innovación,
enfoque en el problema, pensamiento contrario, intuición, juicio diferido e
ideación, y pensamiento analógico. Los requisitos de conocimiento empresarial son
probablemente los menos comprendidos. Los candidatos a ser incluidos pueden
incluir: conocimientos de venta; conocimientos de negociación; conocimiento de la
competencia; conocimientos del sector...
y los conocimientos tecnológicos básicos.
Una lista tan amplia de atributos es informativa por varias razones. En primer
lugar, estos atributos proporcionan formas adicionales de entender a los
empresarios de éxito. En segundo lugar, se prevé que los empresarios necesitarán
diferentes variaciones de los mismos atributos que caracterizan a otras personas
creativas. Por ejemplo, el juicio empresarial será muy diferente al juicio musical.
En tercer lugar, la propia existencia de un modelo de creatividad empresarial
proporciona objetivos para el desarrollo empresarial, ya sea en forma de
autodesarrollo o de educación programática.

Capítulo 9: Dinámica empresarial

El proceso empresarial es problemático de describir. Para comprender mejor el

papel de la creatividad en el espíritu empresarial, probablemente sea más útil
(re)presentarlo como un proceso dinámico en lugar de como una sección
18 1 Introducción
transversal de las funciones de gestión (por ejemplo
Capítulo por 19
capítulo
finanzas, contabilidad y marketing). También es útil considerar que el problema
empresarial implica fundamentalmente lo ambiguo, lo incierto, lo poco fiable y lo
incognoscible, todas ellas características del entorno que disminuyen la eficacia de
las tecnologías de gestión.
El objetivo de este capítulo es desarrollar líneas de pensamiento productivas
que hagan avanzar el campo más allá de los marcos intelectuales dominantes de las
finanzas empresariales, el marketing empresarial, etc. Se propone un modelo de
espíritu empresarial como proceso de aglomeración de compromisos tanto con las
ideas como con las personas. Las limitaciones de tiempo y recursos pueden
empujar al empresario a la improvisación, a arreglárselas con lo que tiene a mano,
a la experimentación y a la heurística. En última instancia, la creatividad
empresarial puede considerarse relevante porque los empresarios experimentan
muchos problemas que requieren un pensamiento creativo durante el desarrollo de
las empresas en crecimiento.

Capítulo 10: El desarrollo de la creatividad personal

El desarrollo de la creatividad empresarial, al igual que otras formas de

creatividad, probablemente se considere mejor como un largo proceso de
desarrollo personal. Desde la fatídica adquisición de los padres en adelante, los
acontecimientos y las elecciones pueden empujar a un individuo hacia una carrera
empresarial productiva o alejarlo de ella. Algunas prácticas de crianza desarrollan
aspectos de la creatividad empresarial mejor que otras. Es preferible que el
emprendedor reciba cierta educación en la primera infancia. Ciertos estilos de
enseñanza y prácticas de administración escolar serán mejores para el desarrollo
de la persona en la escuela primaria y secundaria, independientemente del
contenido del curso. La educación postsecundaria y la elección de una carrera
profesional temprana también pueden desarrollar más la competencia empresarial.

Capítulo 11: Una macroteoría de la creatividad empresarial

La teoría del espíritu empresarial de Schumpeter (1934) es una teoría del desarrollo
económico. Desde su formulación original, varios estudiosos han contribuido a la
comprensión colectiva de la importancia de los empresarios para el desarrollo
económico. Mientras que Schumpeter parecía centrarse en las grandes
contribuciones innovadoras de unos pocos, los que han venido después se han dado
cuenta de que las grandes contribuciones suelen estar formadas por muchas
pequeñas innovaciones. Además, el número de empresas innovadoras y de
crecimiento parece ser mucho mayor de lo que preveía Schumpeter, aunque sea
una proporción relativamente pequeña de empresas (~3%) la que representa la
gran mayoría del crecimiento económico.
El macromodelo propuesto aquí es un intento de modificar la noción de
desarrollo económico de Schumpeter para incluir la educación para el desarrollo
creativo, los resultados de la creatividad científica y tecnológica, el grado de cultura
empresarial y el grado de apoyo a la actividad empresarial. Algunos factores,
20 1 Introducción
como la creatividad científica y tecnológica, son los que más influyen en la
creatividad empresarial y el desarrollo económico.
Capítulo por 21
capítulo

Capítulo 12: Implicaciones y conclusiones

El campo científico del espíritu empresarial necesita una teoría y una base de datos
propias para distinguirse de otras ciencias sociales. La teoría general de la
creatividad empresarial se presenta como un paso más en la dirección de esta
distinción. Las implicaciones de la teoría pueden ser de gran alcance. El campo de
la iniciativa empresarial puede llegar a considerarse una forma de arte
fundamentalmente creativa por derecho propio, en lugar de una subdisciplina de la
disciplina empresarial. Un cambio intelectual de tal magnitud podría modificar el
carácter de la investigación, la educación e incluso la práctica del espíritu
empresarial en el futuro. La teoría puede cambiar la forma en que los empresarios
se ven a sí mismos. Puede cambiar la forma en que los capitalistas de riesgo y los
gobiernos buscan y apoyan a los empresarios en las economías desarrolladas y en
desarrollo.
En el caso de la educación, la teoría de la creatividad empresarial puede arrojar
una valiosa luz sobre una serie de cuestiones clave, como quién debe recibir
educación empresarial; quién debe impartir la educación; la naturaleza del
contenido del programa y la metodología de enseñanza; y la naturaleza de los
resultados previstos (Lobler 2006).
 Parte I
Comprender el espíritu empresarial
Problemas
Capítulo 2
Experiencia laboral empresarial

Resumen Este capítulo se ocupa, en primer lugar, de la naturaleza del trabajo

empresarial y de la cognición que puede subyacer a este tipo de trabajo. Al
comprender la naturaleza del trabajo empresarial, se argumenta que podemos
entender mejor a los empresarios, los problemas que viven y la forma en que
piensan sobre ellos.

Popper escribe que todas las ciencias comienzan con problemas. Los problemas
son necesarios para dirigir la teorización. El problema central al que se dirige este
libro es la explicación y predicción de los resultados financieros de las empresas
emprendedoras. Este capítulo sitúa el problema del rendimiento empresarial en un
contexto social y económico de problemas posiblemente relacionados.
Nunca antes se había promovido el espíritu empresarial en tantas economías y a
través de tantos medios de comunicación. Los gobiernos se comprometen
regularmente a apoyar a los emprendedores en ciernes. Las universidades educan a
muchos miles de estudiantes con mentalidad o curiosidad empresarial. Las revistas
celebran la existencia de los empresarios y los programas de televisión ofrecen
una visión de sus vidas. El objetivo de este capítulo es ofrecer una visión general
de la naturaleza y los resultados de la experiencia empresarial. Se plantean diez
preguntas sobre la actividad empresarial y se aportan pruebas científicas para
demostrar el estado de los conocimientos actuales. Las respuestas están diseñadas
para proporcionar a los investigadores, educadores y profesionales en ciernes una
idea del alcance y los límites de nuestros conocimientos.
Pregunta 1: ¿Qué frecuencia tiene el espíritu empresarial? ¿Cómo varía la
frecuencia de un país a otro?
El grado de generalización de la actividad empresarial depende en gran medida del
lugar donde se viva. Los estudios del Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
ofrecen los mejores datos comparativos disponibles sobre la actividad empresarial
mundial. En 2011, la decimotercera encuesta del GEM abarcó aproximadamente el
74 % de la población mundial, responsable del 87 % del producto interior bruto
mundial. Los resultados de la encuesta estimaron que el total de la actividad
emprendedora en fase inicial (TEA) constituía 388 millones de personas (entre 18
y 64 años) en las 54 economías estudiadas.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 17

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_2
18 2 Experiencia laboral empresarial

En las economías impulsadas por factores1 , la TEA estimada osciló entre el 9,1%
(Pakistán) y el
19,3 (Guatemala). En las economías impulsadas por la eficiencia, la TEA estimada
osciló entre
4,6 % (Rusia) a 24 % (China). En las economías impulsadas por la innovación, la
TEA estimada osciló entre el 3,7 % (Eslovenia) y el 12,3 % (Estados Unidos). Las
mujeres constituían aproximadamente el 42 % de todas las personas dedicadas a la
actividad empresarial en fase inicial. Las personas con edades comprendidas entre
los 35 y los 64 años constituían casi el 60% de las personas dedicadas a la
actividad empresarial inicial.
Es difícil saber hasta qué punto ha cambiado la tasa de actividad empresarial de
una economía porque los investigadores del GEM sólo recogen datos desde 1999.
Además, los estudios del GEM no incluyen todas las mismas economías cada año.
Pregunta 2: ¿Cuánto tiempo dedican los empresarios a buscar oportunidades?
¿Las ideas se les ocurren cuando las necesitan o los empresarios están
constantemente en busca de ellas?
Una cuestión clave en la investigación sobre el espíritu empresarial es la
medida en que los potenciales empresarios pueden apreciar la naturaleza y el
alcance de las oportunidades por adelantado. Shane (2003) sugiere que "la
información necesaria para determinar si un esfuerzo concreto para explotar una
oportunidad será rentable no puede conocerse con certeza en el momento en que
se identifica la oportunidad, porque esa información no existe hasta que el
empresario persigue la oportunidad".
Otra forma de enfocar la cuestión es examinar el tiempo necesario para
emprender una nueva empresa. Los resultados de la investigación sugieren que el
tiempo medio para la puesta en marcha es de aproximadamente 1 año (Reynolds y
White 1993; Reynolds y White 1997; Carter et al. 1996). Reynolds y White (1993)
descubrieron que el 20 % de los individuos completaron la gestación en un mes y
el 90 % en tres años. Carter et al. (1996, p. 163) descubrieron que aquellos "...que
no inician un negocio o llegan a la decisión de abandonar los esfuerzos para iniciar
un negocio en el plazo de un año, es probable que permanezcan en un estado de
suspensión constante..."
La cuestión de cómo surgen las ideas empresariales también es complicada de
responder. Hay dos escuelas principales de pensamiento sobre la cuestión: las
ideas de negocio se materi- alizan como resultado de la alerta empresarial (Kirzner
1973) o de la búsqueda metódica (c.f. Caplan 1999). Existen pruebas de que los
empresarios noveles buscan activamente más información sobre las ideas de
negocio que sus homólogos más experimentados, los empresarios en serie y los de
cartera (c.f. Cooper et al. 1995). También hay pruebas de que las mejores ideas se
generan mediante la búsqueda sistemática, un enfoque que aprovecha los
conocimientos y experiencias de un individuo para encontrar ideas de negocio
(Fiet 2002).
Pregunta 3: ¿En qué medida es difícil para los empresarios encontrar una idea
de calidad? ¿Con qué frecuencia las ideas dirigidas a generar buenos rendimientos
financieros justifican con creces el riesgo y la inversión realizados?

1 El
Informe de Competitividad Global del Foro Económico Mundial (FEM) ofrece definiciones de
2 Experiencia laboral empresarial 19
los tipos de economía.
20 2 Experiencia laboral empresarial

La respuesta a la pregunta anterior permite comprender las dificultades asociadas a la

selección de una idea de negocio de calidad. Hay otras investigaciones que hablan
de este problema, pero desde otros ángulos. Bhidé (2000) examinó las empresas
del INC 500 y descubrió que era habitual que los fundadores de las empresas de
más rápido crecimiento en Estados Unidos seleccionaran ideas de negocio que no
eran innovadoras. Muchos de los modelos de negocio eran réplicas de negocios
encontrados localmente. Bhidé (2000) también descubrió que muchos de los
empresarios creían que habían sido afortunados, en retrospectiva, al seleccionar
ideas de negocio en nichos de mercado que tenían poco interés para las empresas
poderosas que buscaban mercados con un potencial de crecimiento evidente.
Otro ángulo que indica el grado de dificultad asociado a la selección de ideas
de negocio de alta calidad es un examen de los antecedentes de los inversores
profesionales, como las empresas de capital riesgo (VCF). Los fondos de capital
riesgo tienen numerosas ventajas sobre el empresario medio a la hora de
seleccionar las mejores ideas de negocio. En primer lugar, se puede decir que son
más objetivos que los empresarios a la hora de examinar las operaciones. En
segundo lugar, invierten mucho tiempo (Fried y Hisrich 1994) y utilizan talento
especializado para examinar muchas oportunidades de negocio. En tercer lugar,
eliminan una considerable incertidumbre al centrarse en empresas que están más
allá de la fase de arranque. Sin embargo, casi el 60 % de las empresas respaldadas
por el capital riesgo no consiguen alcanzar un rendimiento de la inversión de hasta
el 15 % (Dean y Giglierano 1990). Zacharakis y Mayer (2000, p. 324) llegan a una
conclusión similar: "En efecto, la combinación de los datos de varios estudios
sobre el fracaso da como resultado una tasa de fracaso (desde la perspectiva del
capital riesgo) que oscila entre el 35 % y el 55 %".
Pregunta 4: ¿En qué medida la mayoría de las personas están preparadas
financieramente al principio para emprender la empresa que han elegido? ¿Cuánto
dinero tienen o consiguen de sus propios ahorros y activos? ¿Cuánto obtienen de
amigos, familiares y socios comerciales?
Hay varias fuentes de financiación disponibles para los empresarios. La fuente
de fondos más común e inmediata proviene de la familia, los amigos y los ahorros
personales. En general, las cantidades son pequeñas. Los 500 empresarios del INC
de Bhidé (2000, p. 37), "...arrancaron sus empresas con escasos ahorros personales
y préstamos o fondos obtenidos de familiares y amigos; el 26% comenzó con
menos de 5.000 dólares; sólo el 21% consiguió más de 50.000 dólares y sólo dos
consiguieron más de 1.000 euros.
1 millón de dólares". Las conclusiones de Bygrave (2004, p. 58) sobre los
importes de la financiación en la fase inicial también sugieren que la mayoría de
los proyectos empresariales tienen un comienzo humilde desde el punto de vista
financiero: "... el percentil 25 era de 379 dólares; el percentil 75 era de
6.667 dólares; el percentil 90 era de 117.787 dólares".
Los otros tipos de financiación, ángeles y capital riesgo, suelen producirse
después de la puesta en marcha y sólo son relevantes para un pequeño número de
empresas. Según la National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), con sede en
EE.UU., los fondos de capital riesgo se centran en sectores seleccionados que
demuestran innovación y crecimiento, como el software, Internet, los medios de
comunicación y el entretenimiento, la biotecnología y los dispositivos médicos.
Los datos de la NVCA indican que un total de 2.749 empresas recibieron
2 Experiencia laboral empresarial 21
aproximadamente 22.000 millones de dólares en 2010. Aproximadamente el 36%
(1.001) de las empresas recibieron fondos por primera vez. Según Shane (2008), los
inversores de capital ángel con sede en Estados Unidos proporcionan financiación
tanto de deuda como de capital a aproximadamente
22 2 Experiencia laboral empresarial

57.300 empresas al año. El número de empresas financiadas se reduce a 49.800 si

sólo se incluyen en el análisis las inversiones en capital, lo que equivale
aproximadamente al 0,20% de todas las empresas. 2
Pregunta 5: ¿En qué medida está la gente bien preparada para emprender sus
empresas? ¿Saben generalmente todo lo que necesitan saber antes de lanzarse?
¿Con qué frecuencia disponen de los conocimientos sobre el sector y la empresa
que podrían ser más útiles?
Existen al menos dos medios para evaluar el grado de preparación de los
empresarios para emprender nuevas empresas. La primera es examinar los datos
de los resultados de las nuevas empresas (véase la pregunta nº 8). Los datos
indican que las probabilidades de éxito son bajas. Cassar y Craig (2009) afirman
que "la mayoría de las acciones realizadas y de las inversiones efectuadas por los
individuos al intentar iniciar un nuevo negocio son en vano".
Un segundo enfoque para examinar la preparación empresarial es a través de la
lente de las expectativas sobre los resultados de las nuevas empresas. A pesar de
las probabilidades de éxito de las empresas, los empresarios tienden a favorecer
sus posibilidades de éxito. Por ejemplo, Cooper et al. (1988) descubrieron que los
empresarios existentes creían que sus probabilidades de éxito eran mucho más
altas que las probabilidades históricas y las probabilidades de empresas similares.
Recientemente, Cassar (2010) examinó estas percepciones investigando las
expectativas ex ante y las realizaciones ex post de los empresarios nacientes. (p.
822) descubrió que "...hay un exceso de optimismo sustancial en las expectativas
de los emprendedores nacientes, en el sentido de que sobrestiman la probabilidad
de que su actividad naciente dé lugar a una empresa en funcionamiento. Además,
en el caso de las empresas que llegan a funcionar, los individuos sobrestiman las
ventas y el empleo esperados en el futuro".
Pregunta 6: ¿Por qué la gente crea empresas? ¿Cuáles son las razones más
comunes que da la gente?
Las razones para crear una empresa suelen clasificarse en influencias de empuje o
de atracción. Las influencias de empuje se caracterizan por la necesidad, por
ejemplo, la falta de oportunidades de empleo y la necesidad de ingresos
personales. El estudio Global Entrepreneurship Monitor de 2011 indica que la
actividad empresarial impulsada por la necesidad es más fuerte en las economías
impulsadas por factores. Por ejemplo, en países como Guatemala, los individuos
declaran ser empujados a emprender nuevas empresas con la misma frecuencia que
los que declaran ser atraídos por dicha actividad. En las economías impulsadas por
la eficiencia, como Malasia, el porcentaje de encuestados que declaran tener
factores de empuje disminuye un poco. En las economías impulsadas por la
innovación, como Alemania, los factores de atracción tienden a dominar las
razones para la creación de nuevas empresas.
Los factores de atracción son muchos y variados. En 1988, Scheinberg y
MacMillan informaron de los resultados de una investigación sobre 38 factores de
motivación para crear una empresa entre 1.402 propietarios-directivos de 11
países. Los investigadores utilizaron

2 Hay que
tener en cuenta que la mayoría de las nuevas empresas de cada año no adoptan una forma
corporativa, un requisito para la mayoría de la financiación ángel (Shane 2008).
2 Experiencia laboral empresarial 23

El análisis de componentes principales permitió obtener 21 ítems agrupados en

seis componentes no correlacionados: Necesidad de aprobación; Instrumentalidad
percibida de la riqueza; Grado de comunitarismo; Necesidad de desarrollo
personal; Necesidad de independencia; y, Necesidad de evasión. Los resultados
indicaron que la atracción hacia la actividad empresarial no está dominada por
ninguna razón.
Shane et al. (1991) utilizaron el modelo de razones de Scheinberg y MacMillan
(1988) para examinar hasta qué punto el género y la nacionalidad influyen en la
actividad empresarial en el Reino Unido, Nueva Zelanda y Noruega. (p. 441)
descubrieron que "...no hay razones universales que conduzcan a la creación de
nuevas empresas a través de las fronteras de género y nacionales...", salvo la
libertad de trabajo.
Pregunta 7: ¿Qué dificultad tiene el desarrollo de un negocio para la mayoría de la
gente?
Las investigaciones existentes sugieren que la experiencia de desarrollar una
nueva empresa es más satisfactoria que un empleo asalariado, pero mucho más
exigente. Los trabajadores autónomos declaran tener niveles de satisfacción laboral
más altos que los empleados asalariados (Bradley y Roberts 2004; Parasuraman y
Simmers 2001; Prottas y Thompson 2006). Sin embargo, trabajan muchas más
horas y experimentan más estrés y complicaciones de salud. Bradley y Roberts
(2004) constatan que los autónomos suelen trabajar más de 60 horas a la semana.
Jamal (1997) descubrió que los autónomos pasan un 32 % más de tiempo en el
trabajo a la semana que los asalariados en Canadá. Los resultados son bastante
similares para las minorías visibles en Norteamérica (Jamal y Badawi 1995). Los
resultados internacionales también van en la misma dirección (véase Ajayi-Obe y
Parker 2005).
El volumen de trabajo y/o el estrés que conlleva ser el jefe (Eden 1975) parece
cobrarse un precio considerable. Boyd y Gumpert (1983) descubrieron que
aproximadamente el 65% de una muestra de 450 empresarios experimentaba
síntomas de estrés físico una o más veces por semana, independientemente de las
condiciones financieras de sus empresas. Varios estudios más recientes indican
que la salud de los autónomos es peor que la de los asalariados (Lewin-Epstein y
Yuchtman-Yaar 1991; Buttner 1992; Jamal y Badawi 1995; Jamal 1997;
Westerlund et al. 2004)
Pregunta 8: ¿Qué resultados financieros suele experimentar la gente? ¿Qué
proporción de personas fracasa? ¿Qué proporción sobrevive más de 5 años, 10
años, etc.?
La investigación sobre los rendimientos de la actividad empresarial no suele tener
en cuenta las pérdidas sufridas por los que abandonan por cualquier motivo. Es
importante tener en cuenta los datos sobre la interrupción antes de discutir los
resultados de los empresarios que experimentan la supervivencia y el crecimiento.
Según Aldrich (1999), sólo alrededor del 50% de la actividad de investigación y
desarrollo previa a la creación de una empresa resulta en la creación de una nueva
empresa. Esto representa una pérdida de tiempo y, en muchos casos, de dinero. De
las empresas creadas, sólo el 40% sobreviven seis años (Kirchhoff y Phillips 1989;
Kirchhoff 1994). Cabe señalar aquí que hay pruebas sustanciales que indican que
el empleo asalariado es mucho menos turbulento que el empresarial
24 2 Experiencia laboral empresarial

actividad: "...los trabajadores autónomos se enfrentan a un mayor riesgo de

abandono involuntario de su ocupación (Evans y Leighton 1989; Phillips y
Kirchhoff 1989; Taylor 1999)". (Parker et al. 2005, p. C190)
Para los empresarios que vencen las probabilidades, los resultados financieros,
en general, pueden no ser especialmente inspiradores. Hamilton (2000) utiliza
datos de panel de 1984 de la Encuesta de Ingresos y Participación en el Programa
(SIPP) para generar diferencias de ingresos entre el trabajo por cuenta propia y los
ingresos del empleo remunerado. (p. 628-629) concluye lo siguiente basándose en
su análisis:
Muchos empresarios no sólo tienen unos ingresos iniciales más bajos que los empleados
con las mismas características observadas, sino también un menor crecimiento de los
ingresos. Por ejemplo, el valor actual para el emprendedor medio de un negocio que dura
25 años es más de un 25% inferior al valor presencial de un trabajo remunerado de la
misma duración. Y lo que es más sorprendente, la mediana de los ingresos de los
autónomos nunca supera el salario de entrada alternativo disponible en un trabajo
remunerado con una duración de empleo nula. Estos resultados son, en general, robustos a
la medida de los ingresos de los autónomos utilizada. Además, este diferencial de
autoempleo puede ser un límite inferior para la diferencia en la compensación total entre
sectores, ya que los empresarios tienen menos probabilidades de tener un seguro de salud.
Los empleados asalariados tienen más probabilidades de que su empleador pague la
totalidad o parte de su seguro médico. Estas prestaciones no salariales pueden representar
más del 20 por ciento de la remuneración de los empleados asalariados.

Un estudio de réplica realizado por Moskowitz y Vissing-Jorgensen (2002, p.

745) concluye que los empresarios obtienen rendimientos inferiores a los que
invierten en fondos de índice pasivos: "...encontramos que los rendimientos del
capital privado no son más altos que los rendimientos del capital público. Dada la
gran prima de las acciones públicas, es desconcertante que los hogares estén
dispuestos a invertir cantidades sustanciales en una sola empresa privada con una
compensación de riesgo y rendimiento aparentemente mucho peor".
Según Carter (2011), hay dos críticas principales que pueden hacerse a las
conclusiones de Hamilton (2000). La primera crítica es que los ingresos de los
empresarios están infravalorados, posiblemente hasta en un 40% (Cagetti y De
Nardi 2006; Kesselman 1989; Williams 2005). La segunda crítica es que los datos
sobre el gasto y el consumo de los hogares de los trabajadores autónomos están
mal representados porque tienen acceso a bienes relacionados con el negocio, por
ejemplo, coches y ordenadores, a bajo coste o gratis. Los bienes y servicios de
bajo coste o gratuitos aumentan efectivamente la capacidad global de consumo
hasta en un 34 % (Bradbury 1996). Recientemente, Astebro y Chen (2014)
descubrieron "...que los empresarios ganan en promedio un 4 % menos al año que
los empleados. Sin embargo, una vez corregida la infradeclaración de ingresos, la
ganancia financiera media del espíritu empresarial es positiva y grande, superior al
42 %." Según los investigadores, la conclusión depende en gran medida de los
supuestos en los que se basan sus datos. En resumen, los datos sobre los ingresos
típicos de los empresarios medios son contradictorios. Está claro que se necesita
más investigación sobre las contingencias que explican las diferencias reales en
los salarios.
Pregunta 9: ¿Qué resultados no financieros experimentan las personas? ¿Con qué
frecuencia disfrutan las personas de tener sus propios negocios? ¿Con qué
frecuencia la gente se resiente de la experiencia, en retrospectiva?
2 Experiencia laboral empresarial 25
Las investigaciones existentes sobre los beneficios no pecuniarios de la actividad
por cuenta propia sugieren que existen otras recompensas que pueden compensar
lo no extraordinario
26 2 Experiencia laboral empresarial

los rendimientos financieros de la actividad empresarial. El principal factor de

interés es la satisfacción laboral, que puede estar en función de la autonomía y la
flexibilidad. Blanchflower y Oswald (1998, p. 49) examinaron la satisfacción a
través de la lente de la felicidad y concluyeron que el "...hallazgo de que los
autónomos son más felices parece ser robusto". Para descartar la preocupación por
la direccionalidad causal, Blanchflower (2004,
p. 22) emprendió una investigación más profunda y descubrió que, "...la dirección
de la causalidad es clara: el autoempleo hace feliz a la gente, no es la dirección
inversa de la cau- salidad que es la gente feliz la que decide convertirse en
autoempleada". Hundley (2001,
p. 302) también descubrió que los autónomos están más satisfechos con su vida
laboral que los empleados organizados, concluyendo que la autonomía era
responsable de aproximadamente el 60 % de la diferencia de satisfacción laboral.
Hundley también observó que la diferencia en la satisfacción laboral tendía a
desaparecer cuando se comparaba a los empresarios con los directivos y los
profesionales establecidos. (p. 310) especuló con que la insignificante diferencia,
"...puede deberse a que los autónomos de estos grupos tienen una ventaja menor
en cuanto a la autonomía y ninguna ventaja en cuanto al ámbito de utilización de
las habilidades".
Es posible que la satisfacción se obtenga, en parte, estableciendo umbrales de
éxito bajos o realistas que permitan a los autónomos continuar ante un rendimiento
comparativamente bajo (Gimeno et al. 1997). También es concebible que las
puntuaciones de satisfacción estén influidas por el éxito financiero. Chrisman y
McMullan (2000) descubrieron que aproximadamente dos tercios de los
empresarios cuyos negocios proporcionan unos ingresos equivalentes a las
posibilidades de empleo remunerado estaban satisfechos o muy satisfechos. Por el
contrario, sólo un tercio (aproximadamente) de los empresarios cuyos negocios no
habían superado la misma barrera de rendimiento declararon sentirse satisfechos.
Un segundo resultado empresarial que interesa tanto a los investigadores como
a los profesionales es la salud. Varios estudios han investigado el tema, y algunos
han encontrado motivos de preocupación (Buttner 1992; Jamal 1997; Lewin-
Epstein y Yuchtman-Yaar 1991; Parslow et al. 2004; Rau et al. 2008) y otros han
encontrado motivos de tranquilidad (Bradley y Roberts 2004; Kawakami et al.
1996; Korunka et al. 1993; Subramanian et al. 1987; Tetrick et al. 2000). Un
estudio muy reciente de Stephan y Roesler (2010), que utiliza una muestra
representativa a nivel nacional de empresarios y empleados, concluye lo siguiente:
...los empresarios mostraron una mejor salud en varias de las medidas utilizadas.
Mostraron una morbilidad general somática y mental significativamente menor, una
presión arterial más baja, menores tasas de prevalencia de hipertensión y trastornos
somatomorfos, así como un mayor bienestar y unos indicadores de salud conductual más
favorables (menos visitas al médico y días de enfermedad). Para el resto de las medidas
utilizadas no hubo diferencias significativas entre los empresarios y los empleados. Así
pues, nuestros resultados apoyan la idea de que una carrera empresarial puede tener
algunos beneficios para la salud".

Esta última conclusión se opone, por supuesto, a las pruebas presentadas en la

pregunta 7 anterior. Se podría concluir que existe cierta confusión sobre el
impacto sanitario del trabajo por cuenta propia en este momento.
Pregunta 10: ¿Qué proporción de empresarios lo hace excepcionalmente bien? Si
usted fuera una persona normal, ¿qué posibilidades tendría de hacer su fortuna
2 Experiencia laboral empresarial 27
personal con una aventura empresarial?
28 2 Experiencia laboral empresarial

Los altos rendimientos financieros de la actividad empresarial parecen ser

disfrutados por relativamente pocos individuos o superestrellas (Rosen 1981). El
hallazgo de Birch (1979) de que aproximadamente el 3 % de las empresas son de
alto crecimiento fue un primer indicio de las probabilidades de éxito extremo.
Desde entonces, otros estudios han constatado que hay un número selecto de
grandes éxitos. Hamilton (2000, p. 623, corchetes añadidos) descubrió que: "Los
perfiles de EAD (sorteo ajustado a la equidad) y de salarios para el cuantil de 0,75
sugieren que una pequeña fracción de los entre- preneurs obtienen rendimientos
sustanciales, como predice el modelo de la superestrella". Basándose en un
examen de 1.091 invenciones canadienses, Astebro (2003, p. 226) encontró: "La
distribución del rendimiento está sesgada: sólo entre el 7 y el 9 % llega al
mercado. De las 75 invenciones que lo hicieron, seis obtuvieron rendimientos
superiores al 1400 %, el 60 % obtuvo rendimientos negativos y la mediana fue
negativa".

En resumen

Así, en resumen, el trabajo empresarial se describe aquí como algo común en

cuanto a la participación, pero poco común en cuanto al éxito financiero. Por
diversas razones, la gente se lanza sin estar preparada, lo que explica en parte su
baja tasa de éxito. Por lo tanto, el espíritu empresarial se considera un trabajo que
presenta retos hercúleos, como encontrar una oportunidad de negocio de alta
calidad. Es un trabajo que exige tiempo y que no es infrecuente que ofrezca algo a
cambio. Las personas disfrutan del trabajo empresarial, pero normalmente por la
libertad adicional que ofrece, y si esa libertad se encuentra en el empleo, el espíritu
empresarial puede incluso perder su ventaja de estilo de vida.
El emprendimiento es una carrera con gran incertidumbre, mucha ambigüedad
y dudoso control. Los ganadores pueden ganar mucho, pero son una pequeña
minoría. ¿Qué tipo de persona atraerá estas condiciones de trabajo? ¿Qué estilo
cognitivo animaría a la gente a adoptar este tipo de juego? Cuando hablamos de
espíritu empresarial, ¿hablamos de una tecnología o de una forma de arte? Lo que
resulta evidente al observar la práctica normal del espíritu empresarial es que el
profesional medio tiene mucho que ganar con una ciencia eficaz del espíritu
empresarial.
 Parte II
Principales paradigmas
empresariales
Capítulo 3
El espíritu empresarial de las
pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?

Resumen En el capítulo 2 le habrá llamado la atención la magnitud del reto al que

probablemente se enfrentará si quiere estar por encima del 75 % de la población,
aproximadamente, que gana menos en general como empresario de lo que ganaría
en empleos comparables. Si además quiere ganar lo suficiente para cubrir el coste
del capital invertido, tendrá que estar mejor preparado que el siguiente. Para
conseguir esa ventaja, muchos pensarán en obtener una formación empresarial.
Este capítulo le dará una idea de las pequeñas ventajas que le proporcionará una
educación empresarial.

Thomas Kuhn, en su libro La estructura de las revoluciones científicas, escribe

sobre los paradigmas científicos que guían la investigación científica. Su concepto
de paradigma fue objeto de muchas interpretaciones diferentes, incluidas 13
definiciones distintas que él mismo aplicó. A pesar de la ambigüedad del
significado, la idea típica de un paradigma lo contempla como una teoría general y
orientadora que dirige el curso de una ciencia a lo largo del tiempo. Kuhn también
dejó abierto a la interpretación si pretendía que su filosofía fuera una guía para
mejorar la práctica científica o simplemente una descripción del modo en que se
desarrolla la ciencia normal. Los principales paradigmas a los que se refería en su
libro eran las grandes teorías científicas dominantes de las ciencias físicas que han
tenido un importante respaldo empírico y poder predictivo. Dudaba de que las
ciencias sociales tuvieran siquiera una teoría que mereciera tal reconocimiento. Sin
embargo, las ciencias sociales han optado por utilizar el concepto de paradigma de
forma liberal, llamando paradigma a cualquier teoría rectora general, tenga o no
mucho apoyo empírico o capacidad de predicción. Este libro alude vagamente a la
teoría implícita desarrollada en este capítulo como paradigma sólo porque dirige
gran parte de la investigación y el comportamiento. Del mismo modo, el siguiente
capítulo también alude a otro punto de vista general que dirige la investigación en
el campo de la investigación empresarial. El argumento que se plantea aquí es que
estos dos paradigmas dirigen la mayor parte de la ciencia empírica del espíritu
empresarial en este momento. Ambas teorías se examinan y se consideran
deficientes en diferentes aspectos.
El propósito de este capítulo es describir y discutir una teoría implícita del
espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas. Comenzamos con una discusión
sobre la naturaleza y la relevancia de la teoría, la naturaleza de la investigación
sobre el espíritu empresarial y la naturaleza de la teoría implícita. La siguiente
sección revela y describe la teoría de la pequeña empresa sobre el espíritu
empresarial. A continuación, se analiza la investigación empírica sobre el valor de
las herramientas de gestión y la formación en gestión.
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 27
W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_3
28 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
Una teoría, según Campbell (1990, p. 65), es, "...una colección de afirmaciones,
tanto verbales como simbólicas, que identifica qué variables son importantes para
qué rea- sos, específicamente cómo se interrelacionan y por qué, e identifica las
condiciones bajo las cuales deberían estar relacionadas o no". La teoría explícita
es importante por varias razones. Davidsson (2005, p. 33) se refiere a estas
razones:
Por muy intrigante que pueda parecer un resultado empírico aquí y ahora, es el sentido de
la teoría lo que hace que viaje por el espacio y resista la prueba del tiempo. Son las
interrelaciones teóricas las que descubren las implicaciones de los resultados empíricos,
de modo que puedan guiar adecuadamente el comportamiento de los profesionales y el
diseño de los esfuerzos de investigación continuados. En resumen, la teoría es crucial.

La teoría crea significado. La teoría se centra en cuestiones centrales y

pertinentes para un campo. Estimula el uso de estudios de replicación. Motiva la
investigación acumulativa. La teoría también proporciona orientación a los
profesionales, los responsables políticos y los educadores. Según Davidsson (2005,
p. 33), la ausencia de teoría dista mucho de ser ideal: "En ausencia de teoría, la
investigación empírica estará mal diseñada y los resultados tendrán poco
significado".
Los investigadores del espíritu empresarial utilizan con demasiada frecuencia
una teoría para fundamentar sus hipótesis, pero no mencionan explícitamente la
teoría en su trabajo (por ejemplo, Fried y Hisrich, 1988). Los investigadores
también se basan en teorías implícitas. Las teorías implícitas son creencias y
presuposiciones sobre los fenómenos sociales que tienden a residir en las mentes
de los expertos y los legos (Lim et al. 2002; Polaschek y Ward 2002; Sternberg et
al. 1981). Las teorías implícitas no son construidas formalmente por los
académicos para que sean consistentes tanto interna como externamente, sino que
suelen ser ambiguas; inconsistentes en cuanto a la explicación de los fenómenos;
descriptivas de tipos o categorías de fenómenos; y, deductivas en lugar de
inductivas (Furnham 1988). La existencia de teorías implícitas se ha discutido en
las disciplinas de gestión (c.f. Staw 1981; Quinn y Rohrbaugh 1983; Gladstein
1984), así como en la disciplina empresarial (c.f. Riquelme y Watson 2002).
La teoría implícita que aquí se examina se denominará teoría de la pequeña
empresa del espíritu empresarial. Para creer en la teoría, basta con suscribir dos
supuestos subyacentes: (1) los fenómenos empresariales pertenecen al ámbito de la
gestión empresarial; y (2) las diversas áreas de contenido del ámbito de la gestión
son generalmente relevantes para los empresarios y los emprendedores por igual.
La evidencia de que muchos expertos y legos suscriben la teoría de la pequeña
empresa del espíritu empresarial se encuentra en las instituciones postsecundarias,
los centros de asistencia al espíritu empresarial y otros lugares. Los cursos sobre
espíritu empresarial suelen impartirse en las escuelas de administración a los
estudiantes de administración por profesores de administración que tienen una
educación formal muy distintiva en materia de espíritu empresarial. Es razonable
suponer que los estudiantes aprenden que los contenidos de las disciplinas
empresariales, por ejemplo, marketing, contabilidad, estrategia y operaciones,
pueden aplicarse en contextos empresariales (Hindle 2007). En los centros de
asistencia a la iniciativa empresarial, los emprendedores en ciernes suelen contar
con la ayuda de graduados de MBA que han recibido formación en áreas de
contenido de gestión básicas.
La teoría de la pequeña empresa del Entrepreneurship 29

Incluso la agenda de investigación en el campo del espíritu empresarial está

dominada por profesores de escuelas de negocios que se dedican a temas de
escuelas de negocios, a menudo utilizando la terminología de las escuelas de
negocios. Ocasionalmente, un académico alude a la teoría de la pequeña empresa
en un artículo publicado. Por ejemplo, Fiet (2002, p. 2) sostiene que la ciencia de
la iniciativa empresarial no tiene por qué centrarse en la ejecución de las
oportunidades porque ese tema es tratado adecuadamente por las disciplinas de
gestión. Venkataraman no está de acuerdo:
Como prueba de la necesidad de un libro sobre el descubrimiento, nos encontramos con
que la mayoría de los cursos de emprendimiento de nivel universitario consisten en
discusiones sobre cómo los emprendedores deben desempeñar responsabilidades como el
marketing, las finanzas y las operaciones, que por sí mismos son temas indudablemente
legítimos. Desgraciadamente, estas discusiones no describen lo que es distintivo de lo que
hacen los empresarios. (Venkataraman 1997)

Para algunos, la teoría de la pequeña empresa presentada a continuación puede

constituir una simple verdad. Para ellos, es incuestionable. Sin embargo, para
quienes consideran que la teoría científica es provisional y falible, la teoría
empresarial de la pequeña empresa merece un desarrollo explícito y una prueba
rigurosa.
La siguiente sección de este capítulo intenta hacer visible la teoría implícita de
la pequeña empresa. Comienza con una discusión e ilustración de la teoría de la
pequeña empresa sobre el espíritu empresarial. A continuación, se realiza una
revisión de las pruebas científicas para examinar el apoyo a la teoría.

La teoría de la pequeña empresa del espíritu empresarial

La forma más general de la teoría empresarial de la pequeña empresa se describe a

continuación. Sugiere que el éxito de las nuevas empresas está en función de los
conocimientos de gestión. Esta teoría puede estar muy arraigada, aunque
implícitamente, porque el lenguaje y los conceptos de gestión se han generalizado
en muchas culturas. Como se ha mencionado anteriormente, la creencia en la
teoría de la pequeña empresa se basa en dos supuestos: (1) que los fenómenos
empresariales caen bajo el dominio de la gestión; y (2) que las diversas áreas de
contenido del dominio de la gestión son generalmente relevantes para los
empresarios y los emprendedores por igual. El primer supuesto parece una
conclusión lógica. Aunque las empresas emprendedoras son negocios incipientes,
no dejan de ser negocios. Además, si las empresas más grandes requieren
conocimientos de gestión, las empresas más nuevas y pequeñas también requieren
conocimientos de gestión.

(Más) Conocimientos de gestión (Más) Éxito de las nuevas

empresas

La forma general de la teoría corre el riesgo de ser una tautología. Prescribe

que el conocimiento empresarial equivale al éxito empresarial. Los que tienen
éxito tienen conocimientos empresariales; los que no tienen éxito carecen de los
conocimientos empresariales necesarios. Sin embargo, la clave para evitar la
tautología es garantizar que la definición de la posesión de conocimientos se
determine independientemente del éxito empresarial.
30 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
A continuación se amplía la teoría de la pequeña empresa sobre el espíritu
empresarial. Esta segunda representación de la teoría indica que el conocimiento
de cada una de las distintas disciplinas de gestión influye en los resultados de las
nuevas empresas. Esta vez, el entorno operativo también se incluye en el modelo.
La forma explícita de la teoría no pretende captar todas las variaciones de la teoría
implícita. Además, no indica la importancia relativa y las cantidades necesarias de
cada tipo de conocimiento de gestión, ni los efectos de umbral que influyen en los
resultados de las nuevas empresas.
Conocimientos de planificación
estratégica
Conocimientos de Contabilidad

Conocimientos de investigación de (Más) Éxito de las nuevas

mercados de promoción de
Conocimientos empresas
marketing

Conocimientos de gestión de recursos

humanos

Conocimiento del entorno operativo

Las preguntas sobre, por ejemplo, la influencia de la contabilidad y el

marketing parecen válidas, ya que son aspectos fundamentales del conocimiento
de la gestión. Por supuesto, lo que parece de sentido común no siempre resulta
relevante. En la siguiente sección se examina hasta qué punto las investigaciones
empíricas aportan información y apoyo a la teoría de la pequeña empresa sobre el
espíritu empresarial.

Herramientas de gestión en un contexto empresarial

La formación y el asesoramiento en materia de gestión para las PYME se basan en gran

medida en las prescripciones de los libros de texto que exigen la adopción de
procedimientos de gestión formales más adecuados para las grandes empresas. (Kotey y
Slade 2005, p. 16)

La tesis de la pequeña empresa puede sugerir que las grandes empresas son más
capaces de utilizar herramientas, técnicas y prácticas de gestión formales que sus
homólogas más pequeñas. La razón es que las grandes organizaciones disponen de
muchos más tipos de capital facilitador que las nuevas y pequeñas empresas. Esta
sección revisa la investigación centrada en el uso de las herramientas, técnicas y
prácticas de gestión de las grandes empresas en los nuevos emprendimientos. Se
centra en cinco disciplinas: planificación estratégica, contabilidad, estudios de
mercado, marketing y promoción, y gestión de recursos humanos.
El análisis que se realiza a continuación demuestra que existen una serie de
problemas en la transla- ción de los procedimientos de gestión a las nuevas
Herramientas de gestión en un contexto 31
empresarial
empresas. El primer problema es que muy pocos
32 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
Los estudios se centran en las nuevas empresas, y prefieren centrarse en las
pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYME), que pueden llegar a tener 500 empleados.
El segundo problema es que relativamente pocos estudios se centran en la
investigación del rendimiento de las empresas. El tercer problema es que existen
pocos estudios de replicación.

Planificación estratégica

En la gestión, la cumbre de la dirección de la organización es la planificación

estratégica. La planificación estratégica suele abarcar un período de 3 a 5 años.
Conduce al desarrollo y la comunicación de la visión, las metas y los objetivos de
la organización. Su equivalente en el ámbito empresarial es la planificación de
nuevas empresas. La planificación empresarial se centra en el lanzamiento de una
nueva empresa. Suele incluir la investigación y el análisis del potencial de un
producto y/o servicio en uno o más mercados objetivo. No existe un historial de
operaciones ni una base de clientes.
Una estimación (Gumpert 2002) sugiere que se escriben aproximadamente diez
millones de planes de negocio al año en todo el mundo. Esto no es especialmente
sorprendente, dado el énfasis contemporáneo en la planificación empresarial
(Karlsson y Honig 2009, p. 27): "Un supuesto central integrado en la mayoría de
los libros de educación empresarial es que los planes de negocio son necesarios
para la puesta en marcha con éxito de las empresas. En el campo del
emprendimiento prácticamente abundan los libros que promueven los planes de
negocio". También hay muchos otros puntos de venta y profesionales que
refuerzan el valor de la planificación empresarial, por ejemplo, los concursos de
planes de negocio, los sitios web, los profesores de secundaria y los consultores de
gestión.
La medida en que la planificación formal de la empresa da sus frutos es objeto
de investigación permanente en el campo del espíritu empresarial. Schwenk y
Schrader (1993) demostraron en su revisión de 23 estudios empíricos sobre la
planificación empresarial que sólo existe una pequeña relación positiva entre la
planificación y el éxito empresarial. Las revisiones posteriores (c.f.
Castrogiovanni 1996; Ford et al. 2003; Delmar y Shane 2004) indican que la
relación planificación-rendimiento debe considerarse con cierto escepticismo.
Lange et al. (2007) encuentran una falta de pruebas persuasivas para concluir
que la planificación empresarial previa a la creación de la empresa produce un
rendimiento superior. La investigación empírica actual refuerza esta conclusión.
En un estudio de 623 emprendedores nacientes durante un periodo de 6 años,
Honig y Samuelsson (2012, p. 365) descubrieron que "...ni la planificación formal
ni los cambios en el plan de negocio aumentaron el rendimiento de la empresa
durante el periodo de estudio de seis años". Binckmann et al. (2011) descubrieron
que la planificación financiera tiene poco valor durante la fase inicial de una nueva
empresa. Por último, un meta-análisis reciente (Brinckmann et al. 2010) indica
que, para las nuevas empresas, la planificación empresarial ofrece al menos cierto
valor (tamaño medio del efecto = 0,13; p = 0,002).
Los resultados contradictorios plantean muchas preguntas. Una posible
explicación de los resultados inconsistentes es que algunos individuos se
Herramientas de gestión en un contexto 33
empresarial
benefician de la planificación mientras que otros no. Escher et al. (2002, p. 305)
descubrieron que la planificación tenía el mayor efecto cuando el planificador
tenía un coeficiente intelectual más bajo: "Para los propietarios de una capacidad
cognitiva alta, no importaba
34 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
mucho si lo planearon o no". También puede ser que la planificación empresarial
explique una cantidad muy pequeña de la variación de los resultados de la empresa
si hay otros factores más importantes. Algunos datos (Karlsson y Honig 2009, p.
27) sugieren que los emprendedores pueden no tomarse muy en serio sus planes:
"Los emprendedores que escribieron planes de negocio nunca actualizaron o rara
vez se refirieron a sus planes después de escribirlos". Otras pruebas indican que los
empresarios nacientes escriben planes de negocio debido a las expectativas y
presiones institucionales (Honig y Karlsson 2004).

Contabilidad

Entre otras cosas, la contabilidad se utiliza para evaluar la salud financiera de una
empresa. Se basa en la recopilación cuidadosa y deliberada de datos que, en última
instancia, se utilizan para generar estados de ingresos y flujos de caja y balances.
Los gestores disponen de una serie de ratios para comparar y contrastar las
circunstancias actuales con las pasadas. No es difícil imaginar cómo las grandes
organizaciones pueden beneficiarse enormemente del uso regular de la
contabilidad. Es un poco más difícil imaginar cómo pueden beneficiarse las
empresas pequeñas y de rápido crecimiento.
Cada vez hay más investigaciones sobre el tipo de sistemas contables que se
utilizan en las nuevas empresas (véase Cassar 2009). Maes et al. (2005, p. 217)
descubrieron que los conocimientos de contabilidad financiera y de costes de 218
pequeñas empresas de construcción belgas tenían, "...un impacto significativo
directo en los resultados financieros." Brinckmann et al. (2011) examinaron
nuevas empresas en una variedad de industrias y encontraron que la competencia
de control financiero aumenta el crecimiento de las ventas, pero no el crecimiento
del empleo. Chrisman et al. (2012) examinaron los efectos de los cursos y el
asesoramiento en 256 empresarios que utilizaron servicios a través del Centro de
Desarrollo de Pequeñas Empresas de Pensilvania. No encontraron ninguna relación
entre los cursos realizados en finanzas y contabilidad y el crecimiento de la
empresa.
Otra investigación que merece la pena mencionar aquí es la de Granlund y
Taipaleenmaki (2005), que investigan el grado de implantación de los sistemas de
control de gestión/contabilidad en las nuevas empresas financiadas con capital
riesgo. Los autores (p. 49) descubrieron que las empresas no utilizaban sistemas
contables debido a las limitaciones de tiempo y a las acciones y actitudes de los
capitalistas de riesgo: "Fue sorprendente descubrir la poca atención que se
prestaba a la medición del rendimiento, a la planificación estratégica y, en algunos
casos, incluso al análisis financiero interno". Las pruebas de la utilidad de los
conocimientos financieros y contables son actualmente contradictorias. Es difícil
saber en qué circunstancias deben emplearse los procedimientos contables
formales.

Estudio de mercado
Herramientas de gestión en un contexto 35
empresarial
El campo científico del marketing comenzó a principios del siglo XX. Se ha
centrado, en su mayor parte, en las acciones de las grandes organizaciones. Es
discutible hasta qué punto la investigación y las prescripciones correspondientes
son útiles para los empresarios.
36 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
Hills et al. (2008, p. 100) argumentan en contra de la utilidad de un enfoque de
marketing convencional para los empresarios: "La idea de que las empresas que
operan en un contexto empresarial no están bien servidas por las teorías, procesos
y herramientas del marketing 'convencional' es generalizada y ha sido una
motivación central que subyace al movimiento de la interfaz de marketing y
emprendimiento" (Morris et al. 2002; Hills y LaForge 1992). Para entender por
qué los empresarios no encuentran valor en la literatura de marketing
convencional, examinamos la investigación en el ámbito del marketing desde el
punto de vista de la investigación/estudio del entorno y de la promoción.
No es raro que los libros de texto de marketing prescriban las mismas
herramientas y prácticas de investigación de mercado tanto para las grandes como
para las pequeñas empresas. Las investigaciones existentes sugieren que los
empresarios con recursos limitados no perciben el valor de los planes de
marketing y el uso de profesionales del marketing (Hills y Narayana 1989). Rara
vez realizan estudios de mercado formales (Robinson y Pearce 1984; Meziou
1991), aunque confían en sus capacidades de investigación (Callahan y Cassar
1995). Prefieren los métodos informales y las fuentes personales para recopilar
información sobre el mercado (c.f. Brush 1992; Hills 1995; Hills y Shrader 1998;
Smeltzer at al. 1988; Schafer 1991; Brush y Peters 1992), pero no confían en la
información recopilada para planificar a largo plazo (Callahan y Cassar 1995).
La investigación dirigida a la relación entre la investigación de
mercado/escaneo del entorno y el rendimiento de las nuevas empresas es escasa y
está lejos de ser decisiva en este momento. Los resultados de los primeros estudios
no fueron concluyentes (Dollinger 1985; Brush 1992). Peters y Brush (1996, p. 87)
descubrieron que "las diferencias en la exploración según el tipo de empresa
mostraban que los fabricantes utilizaban una mayor variedad de servicios en la
recogida de información sobre el mercado. Esto no parece tener ningún efecto
importante en el crecimiento de las empresas de servicios, mientras que sí
desempeñó un papel significativo en la influencia del crecimiento de los
fabricantes." Keh et al. (2007, p. 607), "...no encontraron pruebas que apoyaran la
hipótesis de que la adquisición de información está relacionada positivamente con
el rendimiento de la empresa..." La muestra del investigador incluía empresas con
menos de 100 empleados.
Song et al. (2010, p. 565) descubrieron que "...el rendimiento de las nuevas
empresas es una función creciente del uso de procesos formales para utilizar la
información de mercado, y el impacto es de nuevo más fuerte en los mercados
establecidos". También descubrimos que, en los mercados emergentes, el uso de
procesos formales para recopilar información de mercado tiene una relación
directa, positiva y significativa con el rendimiento de las nuevas empresas.
También encontramos dos resultados sorprendentes. En contra de nuestras
hipótesis, nuestros resultados sugieren que los procesos formales son más valiosos
en los mercados establecidos. También encontramos una relación negativa entre el
nivel de interacción con el cliente y el nivel de procesos formales para la
utilización de la información". La muestra consistió en empresas respaldadas por
capital riesgo y miembros de la lista Inc 500.
Parry y Song (2010, p. 1112) descubrieron que los procesos formales de
recopilación y uso de la información de mercado tienen un impacto positivo en el
rendimiento de las empresas. Sus empresas de la muestra tenían entre 11 y 753
empleados. Kawakami et al. (2012, p. 275) descubrieron que "...el uso de un
Herramientas de gestión en un contexto 37
empresarial
proceso formalizado de utilización de la información de mercado tiene un efecto
positivo en el rendimiento de las nuevas empresas, independientemente del país".
Su muestra incluía empresas con menos de 300 empleados.
38 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
En la actualidad, los investigadores siguen tratando de establecer si la
investigación de marketing tiene un impacto positivo constante en el rendimiento
de las nuevas empresas y, en caso afirmativo, en qué tipo de empresas y en qué
circunstancias. Habrá que seguir investigando para determinar las contingencias
que favorecen los diferentes tipos y cantidades de gastos en investigación de
marketing, así como la magnitud del rendimiento de esas inversiones de tiempo y
dinero.

Marketing Promotion

Hisrich (1992) criticized those who run new ventures and SMEs for having a poor
appreciation of marketing. In response, Coviello et al. (2000, p. 525) suggest that,
“Such criticisms inevitably use traditional views of marketing as their reference
point; views developed in the 1950s and 1960s are based on the practices of large
organizations.” In the past 20 years, there has been a great deal of discussion about
the nature and extent of new venture and SME marketing practices (c.f. Carson et al.
1995; Carson 1985; Hills 1987; Hills et al. 1983; Morris et al. 2002). Carson and
Gilmore (2000, p. 1) suggest that new ventures and SMEs, “…will progress from
existing in a relatively uncontrollable marketing circumstance to one where each
aspect of marketing it performs is relatively controlled.”
Relatively uncontrollable marketing circumstances are driven by a series of fac-
tors that new ventures and SMEs share. According to Coviello et al. (2006, p. 41)
new ventures and SMEs:
…are more likely to experience constraints in market power, capital, and managerial
resources and are driven by the hands-on involvement of the owner/manager (Carrier 1994;
Haugh and McKee 2004; McCartan-Quinn and Carson 2003). In these firms, cash flow for
survival is a management priority (Haugh and McKee 2004), and fixed costs usually absorb
a higher level of sales revenue leaving proportionately less for marketing expenditures
(Stokes 1994). As discussed by Dowling (2002), small firms also suffer from “double jeop-
ardy” in that although they have the ability to get closer to customers in a smaller market,
they have fewer buyers who may buy the brand less frequently. Finally, in comparison with
larger firms, smaller firms exhibit more informal planning; planning that is restricted in
scope and activity (McCartan-Quinn and Carson 2003) and with a short-term orientation.
(Brush 1992; Carrier 1994)

Research efforts that examine new venture and SME marketing are relatively
new. Coviello et al. (2000) examined the relevance of the traditional marketing para-
digm to smaller firms. To their surprise, they (p. 524) found, “…evidence that the
types of marketing practiced by smaller and larger firms are not, in fact, fundamen-
tally different.” The linkage between marketing practices and new venture/SME
performance is a relatively unexamined area. Coviello et al. (2006) examined the
marketing practices of tourism accommodation SME organizations. In their sample,
63 % of the firms had less than 10 employees and 83 % of the firms had less than 50
employees. The researchers (p. 38) found that, “…success requires an emphasis on
both transaction marketing and interaction-based relationship marketing to acquire
Herramientas de gestión en un contexto 39
empresarial
customers and achieve sales growth. More contemporary practices such as database
marketing, e-marketing, and network marketing are in evidence, but they are not
found to influence performance. Furthermore, it is success with customer acquisi-
tion rather than customer retention that leads to profitability for these firms.”
Eid and El-Gohary (2013) investigated the e-marketing practices of a breadth of
SME types. In their sample, approximately 56 % of the firms had between 10 and
19 employees and approximately 81 % of the firms had 39 or less employees. The
researchers (p. 31) found that, “the use of EM tools has a positive influence on SBEs
pre-sales activities, after-sales activities, marketing performance and marketing
effectiveness.”
It is difficult to know what conclusions should be drawn from this research at this
time. Researchers need to explore the nature of promotion required under different
business circumstances.

Human Resource Management

Many scholars have argued that human resource (HR) practices in entrepreneurial
firms are, or should be, different than HR practices in large firms. For example,
Klaas and Klimchak (2006, p. 248) state: “The normative literature on high perfor-
mance organizations is premised on the idea that, left to their own devices, large,
stable and complex organizations will experience problems that stem from rigidity
and the lack of information flow…Entrepreneurial firms are likely to be susceptible
to a very different set of problems.”
To date, HR research has focused predominantly on large firms. Based on a
review of HR research, Cardon and Stevens (2004, p. 320) concluded: “So too
should our scholarship concerning human issues in entrepreneurial ventures include
a more careful and comprehensive understanding of the evolving and dynamic
nature of HR management in small and emerging enterprises. In short, our respon-
sibility as scholars is to design carefully thought-out integrative studies that explore
what we do not yet know about managing non-founder employees in entrepreneur-
ial ventures.” A number of researchers have responded to calls for greater focus on
new venture and SME HR issues. The studies described below provide an illustra-
tion of the status of knowledge. Very few of the studies focus on (1) new ventures
and (2) the HR practice – firm performance linkage.
Barber et al. (1999) examined the recruiting practices of 119 small employers
(<500 employees) and 184 large employers (>1,000 employees). They found that
large firms tend to have more formal and bureaucratic practices than small firms.
Kotey and Slade (2005) investigated the adoption of formal human resource man-
agement (HRM) practices by Australian firms with no more than 200 employees.
The researchers (p. 16) found, “a move toward division of labor, hierarchical struc-
tures, increased documentation, and more administrative processes as the number of
employees increase.”
40 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
Zheng et al. (2006) examined the performance effects of HRM practices of
Chinese firms with between 20 and 500 employees. The results (p. 1798) indicated
that, “…SMEs should place greater emphasis on staff commitment than on staff
competency to improve the likelihood of achieving better firm performance.”
Urbano and Yordanova (2008) examined 164 SMEs from the tourism sector in
Catalonia. The average firm had 69 employees and a 20-year operating history. The
findings were that HRM practices are more likely to be adopted when an HR depart-
ment exists within the firm and particularly, when the HR manager has similar prior
experience. In addition, the researchers found SMEs cooperating with other organi-
zations to be more likely to implement HRM practices.
De Grip and Sieben (2009) investigated whether HR systems in 549 Dutch phar-
macies could be associated with both higher performance and higher wages. The
authors (p. 1914) found that, “…more advanced HR systems do not have any effect
on firms’ productivity,” and conjecture that in small firms, “…formal HR practices
are less important than personal relations between the employer and his or her
employees.” Tocher and Rutherford (2009) examined perceived acute HRM prob-
lems in 1,693 firms that had no more than 500 employees. The study (p. 455)
reported the following findings: “SME owners and managers who were running
higher-performing firms were less likely to perceive acute HRM problems.
Conversely, SME owners and managers who were more experienced, who were
more educated, and who were running larger SMEs were more likely to perceive
acute HRM problems. Finally, gender, owner age, firm age, and firm growth showed
no significant relationship with likelihood of SME owners and managers perceiving
acute HRM problems.”
Zibarras and Woods (2010) examined employee selection practices across a
range of firm sizes. They (p. 507) “found that SMEs do report using unstructured
methods, but proportions are no different to larger organizations.” Messersmith and
Guthrie (2010) examined the role of HRM in 119 young firms (less than 10 years
old). The researchers (p. 115) found that firms that combined high-performance
work systems or partnership philosophy with entrepreneurial orientation (EO)
achieved substantially higher levels of growth than those firms that did not.
Storey et al. (2010) examined self-reported job quality across small and large
firms. They (p. 305) found: “employee reports of job quality are highest in small
firms and decrease as firm size increases.” Teo et al. (2011) investigated the strategic
management of frontline employees of 104 Australian manufacturing firms with
less than 200 employees. The researchers found that the presence of a human
capital-enhancing HRM system had direct and indirect impacts on manufacturing
performance outcomes. Further, the performance of frontline employees mediated
the impact of such systems on the performance outcomes.
Klaas et al. (2012) examined the impact of high-performance work systems on
294 US-based firms with no more than 500 employees. They (p. 487) found that,
“…leader perceptions of HR effectiveness are positively related to the use of
HPWSs and that this relationship is moderated both by the communication patterns
between the small-business leader and the HR consultant assigned to the firm and
the small-business leader’s HR knowledge.” Patel and Conklin (2012) examined
Entrepreneurial
Herramientas deReturns
gestión to
enManagement
un contexto Education37 41
empresarial
how firms (n = 145) with less than 100 employees might realize mutually reinforcing
effects of group culture on high performance work systems to improve employee
retention and increase perceived labor productivity. They (p. 205) found that: “…
employee retention does not mediate the effects of HPWS on perceived labor
productivity, but that mediation becomes significant and increases with greater
levels of group culture.”
Verreynne et al. (2011) investigated the interaction of human resources and capa-
bilities with firm performance in 50 Australian firms with less than 100 employees.
The researchers (p. 405) found that, “…higher performing firms had better rated
employment systems, with a cluster of human resource practices which included
greater informality, employee engagement and participation.” Messersmith and
Wales (2011) examined the effects of HPWSs and partnership philosophy on the
relationship between EO and sales growth in 119 young firms (less than 10 years
old). The results (p. 115) indicate, “…a non-significant relationship between EO
and firm growth. However, firms combining HPWS or partnership philosophy with
EO realized significantly higher levels of growth.” Chadwick et al. (2013) investi-
gated the boundary conditions of the relationship between firm-level high-investment
HR systems and objective labor productivity in 96 Canadian firms with less than
100 employees. They (p. 311) found that, “…the extent and nature of the influence
of high-investment human resource systems on objective small-firm labor produc-
tivity is contingent on internal (differentiation strategy and firm capital intensity)
and external boundary conditions (industry dynamism and industry growth).”
At the current time, it is difficult to establish what human resource management
practices should be implemented to increase new venture performance. To date,
most of the research focuses on existing companies with sizable numbers of employ-
ees rather than new ventures. Further, very little research investigates the human
resource practice – new venture performance link. Because there is little in the way
of testing predictive theories, the myriad of possible contingencies will need to be
studied piecemeal before practical evidence can be expected.

Entrepreneurial Returns to Management Education

Management education has been criticized by a number of key scholars. Pfeffer and
Fong (2002, p. 79–80) note:
…Porter and McKibbin (1988, 64–65) noted that business school curricula were seen as too
focused on analytics, with insufficient emphasis on problem finding as contrasted with
problem solving and implementation (Leavitt, 1986), and as insufficiently integrative
across the various functional areas. More than a decade later, these criticisms remain rele-
vant. The themes - an overemphasis on analysis at the expense of both integration and
developing wisdom as well as leadership and interpersonal skills, or teaching the wrong
things in the wrong ways (and perhaps to the wrong people, or at least at the wrong time in
their careers) - have been picked up and expanded upon by others, including Henry
Mintzberg, who may have emerged as the most articulate critic of business school curricula
(e.g., Mintzberg, 1996; Mintzberg & Gosling, 2002; Mintzberg & Lampel, 2001), and
38 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
Harold Leavitt (1989). Leavitt asserted that “we have built a weird, almost unimaginable
design for MBA-level education” that distorts those subjected to it into “critters with lop-
sided brains, icy hearts, and shrunken souls”. (1989, p. 39)

Pfeffer and Fong (2002, p. 80) review the returns to management education for
management students and find:
When we examine the actual effects of business schools on the two outcomes of most
relevance and importance, the careers of their graduates and the knowledge they produce,
the picture is reasonably bleak. There is little evidence that mastery of the knowledge
acquired in business schools enhances people's careers, or that even attaining the MBA
credential itself has much effect on graduates' salaries or career attainment.

Despite the criticism of business education there is probably much greater reason
to believe in its merits for middle managers than it is for would-be entrepreneurs.
For one thing at least, it helps people get better higher-paying jobs in the middle
management structures of medium and large–scale organizations.
The extent to which management education provides value to entrepreneurs has
also been questioned by a number of scholars. Chia (1996, p. 410) indicates a failure
of management education to encourage an entrepreneurial imagination.
Business schools…unwittingly propagate a thought style and a mental attitude that pays far
too much regard to conventional academic priorities of analytical rigor at the expense of a
loss of imagination and resourcefulness in dealing with practical concerns.

Kirby (2004, p. 510) indicates that traditional management education stifles

entrepreneurs, “…rather than developing the requisite attributes and skills.” The
empirical research focused on the new venture returns to business school education
is sparse. Further, the findings do not provide clear guidance to budding entrepre-
neurs considering an investment in a business school education prior to pursuing a
new venture. Each of the extant studies is discussed below.
Cooper and Gimeno-Gascon (1992) examined the influence of type of university
degree on new firm growth. The researchers found that business and engineering
degrees had a stronger effect on venture growth. They also noticed a threshold for
business school courses that once crossed, indicated a reduction in firm growth.
Sapienza and Grimm (1997) examined the backgrounds of founders of US-based
short line railways. They (p. 18) found that the, “…highest performance was
achieved for those founders who had around 10 to 11 business courses but was sig-
nificantly worse for those who had very few or very many.”
Almus and Nerlinger (1999) investigated the education backgrounds of West
German entrepreneurs. They (p. 148) found that an MBA education only had posi-
tive and significant effects on the growth of non-innovative firms. Davidsson and
Honig (2003) examined the educations of 623 Swedish business founders. The
researchers found that the number of business classes taken distinguished between
the nascent entrepreneurs and a control group. However, the number of business
classes taken by nascent entrepreneurs was not related to sales made in the first 18
months nor the profitability of the firms during the time frame. Honig and Karlsson
(2004) found no relationship between business school education and new venture
performance.
Entrepreneurial
Herramientas deReturns
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enEntrepreneurial
un contexto Education39 39
empresarial
Chrisman et al. (2012) surveyed the counseled clients of the US Small Business
Development Center Program and found that the number of courses in the various
functional areas of business had limited or no impact on the growth of these same
firms. The researchers also tested, and failed to replicate, the curvilinear finding
between numbers of courses taken and subsequent venture performance reported by
Sapienza and Grimm (1997).
In summary at the current time, obtaining a business education would appear to
be dubious preparation for entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurial Returns to Entrepreneurial Education

Arguably, current thinking is dominated by an understanding of entrepreneurship as

a business activity to be conducted by people with business knowledge. If current
thinking on entrepreneurship is an effective guide to education, then those who are
educated in entrepreneurship would be advantaged over others.
According to Kuratko (2005), the real emergence of entrepreneurship education
occurred in the 1980s. A number of scholars have examined its effectiveness. Each
study will be briefly described below, followed by a discussion of a recent meta-
analysis. Clark et al. (1984) investigated the results of exposure to a single entrepre-
neurship course. Out of 1,265 survey respondents, 129 had started a company.
Approximately, 82 % of the start-ups produced under $100,000 in gross annual
sales. Only three companies generated more than $1 million in gross annual sales.
McMullan and Gillin (1998) examined on the outcomes of 159 students of an
Australian modified MBA program focused on entrepreneurship and to some extent
on entrepreneurial creativity. The researchers found 47 new ventures, 22 of which
were in-company starts. The 25 new independent ventures produced approximately
$8 million in combined annual revenue at the time of the review.
Fletcher (1999) investigated the outcomes of 64 graduates of a masters-level
entrepreneurship program in Stirling, Scotland. Of the 53 respondents that started
businesses, 8 reported annual revenues between £100,000 and £500,000. Only one
respondent reported annual revenue in excess of over £1 million.
Charney and Libecap (2000) examined the outcomes of a 1-year undergraduate
entrepreneurship program in Arizona. They (p. 23) found that, “Firms owned by
entrepreneurship graduates have an average employment of 199.9, sales of $50
million, and assets of $4.0 million.” The researchers noted the presence of outliers
that substantially skewed the results of the analysis upwards but failed to produce
data on median level performance.
Menzies and Paradi (2003) compared new venture outcomes of Canadian engi-
neering students who had been exposed to entrepreneurship courses (n = 177) with
those who had not (n = 110). More than one-third of those who started ventures
claimed annual revenues over $500,000. The group of students with entrepreneur-
ship coursework had more ventures with annual revenues in excess of $1 million.
40 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?
Rosa (2003) further evaluated the masters-level entrepreneurship program in
Stirling, Scotland. He (p. 435) concluded that although entrepreneurship course-
work appears to improve new venture performance, “…the improvement is rela-
tively small, and well short of the expectations of Government that the graduates
from the university sector should be producing a steady stream of high quality
wealth-creating businesses.”
A recent meta-analysis provides insight into the extent to which entrepreneurship
coursework might provide a performance boost to new venture-minded post-
secondary students. Martin et al. (2013) found a weak relationship (r = .166) between
entrepreneurship education and new venture performance. The results may be even
less encouraging if self-selection bias is found to account for a substantial portion
of new venture successes.
Entrepreneurship education may not yet be sufficiently refined to provide much
value to students wishing to pursue new ventures. There is evidence of a wide vari-
ety of entrepreneurship content across universities (Fiet 2002). There is also evi-
dence that the entrepreneurship curriculum may not teach needed skills or content
(Edelman et al. 2008).
On average, it would appear that current thinking has generated a relatively
modest return to the education upon which it is based. The most important reason
for teaching entrepreneurship is to improve practice. It is questionable that the
mainstream of entrepreneurship education is helping entrepreneurs perform much
better than they otherwise would perform without it, although some programs are
beginning to show some promise.

On the Disadvantages of Current Thinking to the Practice

of Entrepreneurship

Some say that experience, and not education, is the best teacher. Current thinking
would be more convincing if people were at least able to learn from experience.
If our intellectual models are basically sound, then we should be able to reduce our
entrepreneurial experience into useful learning.
Bates (1990) examined a large sample of small US businesses and found that
managerial experience did not influence small firm survival. Stuart and Abetti
(1990) investigated 150 new US technology-based firms and found a factor that
included entrepreneurial experience and the previous management level (p < 0.01)
to positively influence firm performance. Brüderl et al. (1992) surveyed 1,849
founders of German new ventures and found that industry-specific experience
reduces new venture fatality (p < 0.05), but prior self-employment experience had
no impact. Using the same database, Brüderl and Preisendörfer (2000) observe that
prior managerial experience has a positive influence (p < 0.05) in fast growing firms.
Prior self-employment experience does not have an impact. Westhead and Cowling
A ContingencydeApproach41
Herramientas gestión en un contexto 41
empresarial
(1995) examined 227 UK-based technology firms and found that prior managerial
experience had no influence on firm performance.
Gimeno et al. (1997) surveyed 1,547 US-based entrepreneurs and found that
prior managerial (p < 0.10) and entrepreneurial experiences (p < 0.10) positively
influence new venture economic performances, but did not influence survival.
Chrisman and McMullan (2004) surveyed 159 US-based clients of Small Business
Development Centers and found that previous entrepreneurship experience had no
influence on new venture growth. Colombo and Grilli (2005) examined 506 new
technology based firms in Italy and found that prior entrepreneurship experience
influences growth (p < 0.05). Prior management experience was not found to have a
statistically significant impact on growth. West and Noel (2009) investigated 83
US-based new firms and found that previous founder start-up experience had no
impact on new venture performance. Further, they did not find a relationship
between the relatedness of industry knowledge gained through previous experiences
of the new venture CEO and venture performance.
Particularly when we take into consideration the weak p values in the positive
findings, experience appears to be an indifferent teacher of entrepreneurial prowess.

A Contingency Approach

Hopefully, the field may be able to develop the small business theory of entrepre-
neurship into contingency theory that predicts which types and amounts of manage-
ment knowledge will support entrepreneurs in various contexts. Gadenne’s (1998)
search for common management practices in small firms across a number of indus-
tries provides some support for this contention. He (p. 48) found that:
…different management practices or strategies are associated with small firm performance
across major industry types…In the retail industry it would appear that performance is posi-
tively related to a value for money factor (which includes the pricing of products lower than
competitors, emphasizing cost reduction and high sales turnover, and checking quality of
products); and negatively related to a financial leverage factor (including high usage of
outside borrowed funds, and searching for cheaper sources of finance). In the service indus-
try, performance appears to be positively related to an employee relations factor (related to
involvement of employees in decision-making, emphasis on a reward/discipline system and
staff training, and assessment of employees' job satisfaction and performance); and nega-
tively related to both financial leverage and high investment in working capital. In the man-
ufacturing industry, performance would appear to be positively related to a competitor
advantage factor (relating to pricing products lower than competitors and acquiring knowl-
edge of competitors' activities); and negatively related to financial leverage; yet positively
associated with reliance on professional financial advice.

Along these (contingency theory) lines, it may be useful to investigate new ven-
ture outcomes that combine venture-specific knowledge with management knowl-
edge. For example, an individual contemplating launching a restaurant might be
best served by completing a culinary education with some management program-
ming on the side.
42 3 El espíritu empresarial de las pequeñas empresas: ¿Es una oruga
una mariposa?

Conclusion

The main purpose of this chapter is to argue that a general theoretical and conceptual
model underlies much of entrepreneurship research, entrepreneurship teaching and
entrepreneurship practice in today’s world. It is argued, in part because entrepre-
neurship has been monopolized by the business discipline, that the small business
model of entrepreneurship is in effect an implicit general theory dominating and
directing the field of entrepreneurship. It is argued that the small business theory is
often treated as self-evident and that it sometimes even takes the form of a simple
tautology. However, when the evidence is gathered, there is little to demonstrate the
power of the small business approach to entrepreneurship. If anything, one is prob-
ably left wondering why business knowledge cannot as yet be shown to be more
practical. Furthermore, education in business seems to be of limited usefulness to
entrepreneurs. Finally, one would expect at a minimum that culturally implicit mod-
els of entrepreneurship as small business would be useful to guide learning from
experience. Again, the evidence fails to support the small business model. Eventually
however, one may hope that contingency theories are developed around the func-
tional areas of business to enable better understanding of when to use what business
tools. In any case, some sort of practical, predictive theorizing is unavoidable if we
are to avoid endless trial and error data collection. While the small business para-
digm provides some direction to researchers it is still fundamentally trying to
replace theorizing with semi-random evidence gathering. It remains a positivistic
approach to the science of entrepreneurship.
Herramientas de gestión en un contexto 43
empresarial

Chapter 4
The Positivistic Social Science
of Entrepreneurship

Abstract We may want to question the general usefulness of business tools and
teaching for enhancing entrepreneurial performance, but what about the rest of entre-
preneurial science – what does it have to offer? Entrepreneurship as a positivistic
social science has been advancing our knowledge base, one piece at a time, on how
to more successfully develop businesses. How difficult is it to tap this knowledge?

In the general absence of strong predictive theory, entrepreneurship scholars were

not ill-advised to pursue a philosophy of positivism - searching instead for fact-like
findings. Many of these fact-like findings may appear as bricks in a brickyard.
MacMillan and Katz (1882, p. 7) advocated that the time was right for emergent
theory to make sense of this brickyard of entrepreneurial findings:
We have hundreds of pieces of entrepreneurship research of potential theoretical signifi-
cance. In practice, these theory pieces stand on their own merits, isolated from other pieces
of theory and from other disciplines. What is needed is for researchers to begin to forge
intellectual alliances with compatible theory pieces outside their own narrow interests, so
that more comprehensive and more realistic theories of entrepreneurship can emerge. Only
when isolated theoretical pieces can be fitted into competing theory sets will we be able to
make strides toward the identification of superior ways of understanding the complex pro-
cess of entrepreneurship.

A very different general theoretic approach to understanding entrepreneurial per-

formance is to build knowledge up piecemeal from the science’s empirical fact-
base. The small business approach to a general theory begins with the top-down
assumption that an entrepreneurial venture is, in fact, a small business, and as such,
subject to relatively the same logic as any other business. The search is then under-
taken to demonstrate the scientific functionality of various business techniques for
entrepreneurial ventures in varying contexts. Whatever has worked with large busi-
nesses is expected to be approximated in smaller enterprises. In contrast the social
science empiricist attempts to build from the findings upward. Whatever has been
found to be related to the performance of entrepreneurial firms can be brought
together into a composite, and one such composite, Shane (2003) has labelled a
general theory, presumably because it potentially constitutes another distinct holis-
tic strategy for understanding the discipline of entrepreneurship. Arguably, Shane

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 43

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_4
44 4 La ciencia social positivista del espíritu empresarial

takes a positivistic methodology of science as far as it will go at the current time

towards a practical solution to the problem of entrepreneurial performance. The
limits of Shane’s theory are likely the limits of positivism itself.

Propositions, Not Theories

Theories that are used by entrepreneurial science tend to be used for the general
guidance of researchers. New fields like entrepreneurship typically lack much the-
ory of their own and therefore have to borrow ideas from other fields. As a field
matures, its researchers draw from both endogenous theory and exogenous theory
alike. Recently, Kenworthy and McMullan (2012) reviewed a comprehensive list of
empirical studies over the life of a number of top entrepreneurship journals includ-
ing: the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, and
the Journal of Small Business Management. According to the findings, 95 % of the
theories claimed by researchers to be guiding their studies was found to have origi-
nated in another academic discipline. The dominant suppliers of 140 theories used
to guide a sample of recent empirical studies were from the fields of: strategic man-
agement, psychology, sociology and economics. Although a few theories were ref-
erenced more frequently, most theories were used only once across the timeframe of
the sample. In the 1980s it was rare for a researcher to mention a guiding theory. By
2012, almost half of these researchers were citing theories behind their chosen
hypotheses.
Overwhelmingly, in the empirical studies where theories are referenced, the the-
ories are used only to justify the formulation of hypotheses. It is not as if the hypoth-
eses are uniquely derived from the theories, but rather that they are merely consistent
with cited theories, if that. The so-called testing is certainly not critical testing in a
Popperian sense. Hypotheses are tested but the results are not formally used to eval-
uate the practicality of the theory within an entrepreneurial context. The researchers
may assume that the testing of hypotheses generated from theories puts the theory
to test. However, the question of whether imported theories are applicable in an
entrepreneurial context goes both unasked and unanswered. The theories that are
referenced are not actively challenged. Once evidence is gathered on the validity of
hypotheses the research exercise is complete. The studies are overwhelmingly left
unreplicated. Even constructive replication is uncommon. Evidence is not com-
pounded to weigh the merit of the theories. In a real sense, one might say the field
of entrepreneurship uses a minimalist approach to theory testing.
When a strong predictive theory is heavily tested using this minimalist strat-
egy the results can be strange and surprising. It may be a situation of using weak
methodology to test strong predictive theory. A case in point is the program of test-
ing that has been conducted on human capital theory. Most importantly, human
capital theory is a highly credible economic theory that makes real predictions about
the value of education. In effect, it boldly predicts that there will be a positive return
on investment in formal education – all education everywhere. It is a Nobel prize-
Propuestas, no teorías 45

winning theory1 with considerable evidentiary support across a number of different

disciplines. It is only natural that entrepreneurship researchers would want to test its
merits in an entrepreneurial context. The question under consideration is to what
extent does formal education generates a return on educational investments, after
accounting for all the related costs. At the time of the review by Kenworthy and
McMullan (2010), authors of some 52 different empirical studies were claiming to
test hypotheses supposedly derived from human capital theory – many published in
top journals. Not one of these studies took into consideration the cost of education as
part of the research, effectively assuming zero costs in people’s time and money. The
studies, even without including the cost side of the formula, produced mixed results
with most studies finding small positive relationship between formal education and a
surprising variety of measures of venture performance; effectively assuming that
venture performance (such as growth in employment) translates directly in some
unexplained way into a measureable financial return to the entrepreneur (which is
never calculated as financial compensation). None of the researchers critical appraised
the applicability of human capital theory to the entrepreneurship field – even when
their hypotheses were rejected or the results generated were surprisingly anemic.
Currently as has been illustrated, entrepreneurship research tests hypotheses but
not theories; with the result of somewhat validating empirical propositions, but not
scientific theories. Empirically supporting stand-alone propositions appears to be
the real objective of the current science of entrepreneurship. Some sort of combina-
tion of such stand-alone findings is a natural next step for a positivistic science of
entrepreneurship. It is therefore not surprising that Scott Shane based his general
theory of entrepreneurship upon empirical propositions alone.
This chapter reviews Shane’s (2003) supposedly comprehensive list of 80 plus
propositions that offer insight into the factors behind entrepreneurial performance,
from his A General Theory of Entrepreneurship. It appears that Shane has compiled
as much empirical data as he could find that relate a plethora of different apparent
factors to various measures of entrepreneurial performance. Then, in order to
simplify understanding he has grouped the large number of findings into different
propositions based on his appreciation of the similarities among them, and without
regard to the theories that may have inspired them. This exercise resulted in Shane
listing some 80 different propositions that have been correlated with desired entre-
preneurial outcomes. After having compiled his resulting propositions he then
grouped them under topic areas. This process may appear arbitrary (and to some
degree it is) since human judgment is unavoidable in such an exercise. At the time,
the approach was probably as close as one person could get to an objective,
empirically-based synthesis of important results-based, proposition-based evidence
in the field of entrepreneurship.
Shane related empirical findings in the field to either opportunity identification
or opportunity execution. Creativity was one of a few variables he chose to relate to
opportunity identification but not to opportunity execution. Technically speaking,
Shane failed to see creativity as a potential predictor of opportunity execution or
1
In actuality, human capital theory enabled Gary Becker to win the Nobel prize.
46 4 La ciencia social positivista del espíritu empresarial

what is being called here, entrepreneurial performance. In reality, Shane failed to

find evidence linking the creativity of entrepreneurs to the financial performance of
their firms. So when we argue that creativity was one of 80 plus factors related to
entrepreneurial outcomes, we are being liberal in our interpretation, because in real-
ity Shane missed the relevant evidence that showed creativity to be a factor in sub-
sequent venture performance.
The opportunity execution propositions were organized in six topic areas:
Sections “Entrepreneurial Strategy”; “Industry Choice”; “New Venture Organizing”;
“Acquiring Financial Resources”; “Entrepreneurial Psychology” and “The Sociology
of Entrepreneurship”. The sum of the topic areas and the encompassed propositions
constitutes Shane’s general theory. In this chapter Shane’s findings were extended
one further pragmatic step into six groups of action implications in order to bring to
conscientiousness the potential pragmatic value of Shane’s propositions.

Entrepreneurial Strategy

Shane (2003) lists the following twelve factors as important to entrepreneurial

strategy: legal barriers to imitation; scale; reputation; innovation; growth from small
scale; survival during the early years; focus on growth; entry by acquisition; a focus
strategy; flexibility and adaptability; forming alliances; and, legitimation. The fol-
lowing three examples provide insight into the nature of Shane’s entrepreneurial
strategy propositions.
Several studies indicate that those new ventures that establish legal barriers to imitation of
their process for exploiting an opportunity are less likely to fail than other new ventures.
(p. 200)
Some empirical evidence supports the argument that exploiting an entrepreneurial
opportunity on a large scale deters imitation, thereby allowing the new venture to appropri-
ate the profits from the exploitation of its opportunity, and survive. (p. 201)
A strategy to build new venture reputation appears to enhance new venture growth. (p.
203)

Practitioner Implications

Drawing from the entire entrepreneurial strategy section of Shane’s book might lead
an entrepreneur to be mindful of quite a few factors. As a potential entrepreneur, one
should not be concerned about starting out small because many successful people
begin that way. It may make more sense to buy an existing firm than start a new firm.
One should remain flexible during the search for a winning strategy, basing it on a
single product, targeting a single market at the outset. One should establish what-
ever legal barriers possible (e.g. patents, trademarks) and attain desirable certifica-
tions. If one can survive the early years, one should work towards introducing other
innovative products. One should also focus on growth and the development of econ-
omies of scale, acquiring strategic alliances whenever possible.
Propuestas, no teorías 47

Industry Choice

A chapter on industrial economics provides 18 factors that could help to facilitate

new venture success: R&D intensity; locus of innovation; size of the innovating
entities; uncertainty of the industry; market size; market growth; market segmenta-
tion; industry age; dominant design; presence of a density of firms; strength of pat-
ents; importance of complementary assets; profitability of the industry; cost of
inputs; capital intensity of the industry; advertising intensity of the industry; indus-
try concentration; and average firm size. Three of the propositions illustrating these
factors are as follows:
The research and development intensity of an industry should enhance opportunities for
new firms to be used to exploit opportunities… (p. 121)
The degree to which an industry relies on public sector institutions to innovate should
enhance opportunity exploitation by new firms. (p. 122)
Industries in which small firms tend to be better innovators have higher rates of firm
formation than other industries… (p. 123)

Practitioner Implications

A potential entrepreneur should carefully examine the industry in which s/he wishes
to establish a new venture as some industries are more munificent than others. One
might select a large and fragmented industry that is innovative, profitable and grow-
ing, and as yet not dominated by any particular design. One should avoid industries
in which large firms have a dominant position in R&D, advertising and distribution.
Further, one should avoid capital-intensive industries and industries characterized
by economies of scale advantages.

New Venture Organizing

Shane (2003) identifies 12 different factors that fall under the organizing process
for a new venture: employment experience; planning; legal entity; team size;
number of employees; selection of employees; direct ties; indirect ties; organiza-
tional policies and procedures; communication mechanisms; specialization of
labor; and, monitoring. Shane’s propositional knowledge included the following
three points.
…new company human resources practices typically have their origin in founders’ employ-
ment models. (p. 220)
…planning enhances the development and performance of start-ups after founding…
(p.222)
…newly established corporations are more likely to survive than partnerships or sole
proprietorships. (p. 235)
48 4 La ciencia social positivista del espíritu empresarial

Practitioner Implications

A would-be entrepreneur should be discriminating about his/her early employ-

ment choices, as entrepreneurs learn how to manage people through their early
work experiences. One should learn how to financially manage and control a busi-
ness. New venture success appears to be at least partially dependent upon meth-
ods of management, control and motivation. One should appreciate the need to
intelligently structure a new venture over time with meaningful policies and
procedures.
One should also consider a sophisticated approach to new venturing. A potential
entrepreneur should set up a corporation, develop an entrepreneurial team and get
involved in formal planning. One should appreciate the difficulties associated with
hiring and plan ahead. New hires may be new acquaintances. One should also rec-
ognize the value of knowing suppliers and customers at a personal level because
such people may supply the new business with leads for future employees.

Acquiring Financial Resources

Shane (2003) identified 13 factors related to financial resource acquisition that

influence new venture performance: adequate capitalization; debt/equity ratios;
self-financing; personal income and asset availability; due diligence; specialization;
localization; syndication; control; self-investments; business plans; founder attri-
butes; and, opportunity attributes. A number of the problems associated with new
venture financing exist due to uncertainty and information asymmetry. Information
asymmetry is based in part on the idea that potential entrepreneurs have greater
access to information about opportunities than do investors. Three of the proposi-
tions he provides are presented below.
The empirical evidence supports the proposition that adequate capitalization is important to
the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities….Firms with greater access to capital at
founding also appear to grow faster and larger….Initial capitalization also appears to
increase the profitability of new ventures….The amount of venture capital received by new
ventures increases their rate of employment and sales growth, reduces their likelihood of
failure and increases the likelihood of achieving an initial public offering. (pp. 162–164)
Because ventures that have higher leverage actually obtain more capital to use for oper-
ating activities relative to the amount of their capitalization, one would expect that new
ventures with higher financial leverage would perform better than new ventures with lower
financial leverage. (p. 164)
The empirical literature demonstrates the importance of self-financing as a solution to
the uncertainty and information asymmetry problems present in new venture finance. (p. 168)

Practitioner Implications

The source of start-up funding is likely to be from one’s personal savings and assets.
As such, one should prepare in advance to be an entrepreneur by controlling
Propuestas, no teorías 49

personal spending and acquiring some financial capital. Even if one expects to
acquire external funding, one should expect to use personal savings and assets in a
new venture. One should note that the relatively few ventures that are well-financed
in early stages succeed more often. The external financing may come with costs
such as behavior controls established by external investors.
One should acquire a good education as well as obtain experience in manage-
ment and other entrepreneurial ventures before launching a new venture. One should
learn the target industry of the new venture and find an opportunity with a number
of desirable characteristics. One should also prepare a quality business plan and
ensure that its financial projections are reasonably conservative.

Entrepreneurial Psychology

Shane (2003) identified the following 14 factors that can be considered as psycho-
logical in nature: extraversion; agreeableness; need for achievement; A-type person-
alities; risk-taking; tolerance of ambiguity; desire for independence; locus of
control; intrinsic motivation; Protestantism; self-efficacy; overconfidence;
representativeness; and, intuition. Three of the propositions that Shane advanced are
presented below.
…people higher in extraversion are more likely to exploit opportunities than people lower
in extraversion because they are better able to assemble resources and organize under
conditions of information asymmetry and uncertainty. (p. 98)
Agreeableness is an aspect of personality that incorporates the attributes of friendli-
ness, socially conformity, compliance, flexibility, tendency to trust, cooperativeness, ten-
dency to forgive, tolerance, softheartedness and courteousness (Barrick and Mount 1991).
People possessing this aspect of personality are less likely than other people to exploit
opportunities. (p. 99)
Firm founders who are higher in need for achievement appear to have faster growing
ventures than firm founders who are lower in need for achievement. (p. 102)

Practitioner Implications

In order to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, one should become extraverted, but

not friendly and trusting of others. One should develop a high need to achieve that
is oriented toward intrinsic, personally-set goals. One might even become obsessive
and driven towards their goals.
One needs to go one’s own way, tolerate ambiguity well and take risks. A high
degree of confidence in oneself and one’s intuition will be necessary, as well as
optimism about one’s ability to accomplish goals. One should trust one’s own judg-
ment regardless of supporting evidence. Finally, one should consider adopting
Protestant values.
50 4 La ciencia social positivista del espíritu empresarial

The Sociology of Entrepreneurship

Shane identified 14 variables that might be roughly labeled as sociological in a

chapter titled ‘Individual Differences and the Decision to Exploit’: income; oppor-
tunity cost; unemployment; married/working spouse; education; general business
experience; functional business experience; industry experience; start-up experi-
ence; vicarious learning; age; social position; social status; and, social ties. Three
examples of propositions are presented below.
…people who have higher incomes should be less likely to exploit opportunities… (p. 63)
…the likelihood that a person will exploit an entrepreneurial opportunity increases with
the gap between expected value of self-employment earnings and the person’s current wage
employment earnings. (p. 64)
…unemployed people should be more likely than employed people to exploit
entrepreneurial opportunities. (p. 64)

Practitioner Implications

One should attempt to identify a business opportunity that will make current income
pale by comparison. Alternatively, one should not fear becoming unemployed as it
might provide the impetus to start a new venture. One should acquire a good
education and marry a spouse who is committed to full-time employment.
One should acquire general business, as well as start-up, experience. One should
seek out marketing, product development and management, rather than finance and
accounting experiences in an industry of one’s choice.
It would be beneficial to have entrepreneurs for parents, but if such is not the
case, one should find friends who are. One should be aware that the optimal new
venturing window is between 25 and 44 years of age, with the earlier years better
for getting start-up experience, and the later years for capitalizing on it.
Finally, one should develop a social network and increase one’s social status,
with further education being the most likely path towards both goals.

Strengths of Shane’s General Theory

Shane’s general theory allows for a practical simplification of a massive amount of

scientific complexity that could otherwise take enormous amounts of time to even
partially comprehend. Each single study is complex in terms of methods. Drawing
reasonable propositional inferences from raw data is also problematic. Deciding
what to include and what to omit adds more complexity, and requires more fine
judgment. Shane’s manuscript takes a pool of thousands of findings and reduces it
to 80. Then he further organizes the hundreds into six groupings of a dozen or so
propositions each. Without doubt, information is lost along the way but this is to be
Propuestas, no teoríasof Shane’s Propositions51
Potential Limitations 51

expected. When one takes the further simplifying step of turning the propositions
into action implications, which was undertaken in this chapter, the resulting number
of practical implications is something that can be meaningfully contemplated in an
afternoon by an intelligent person.

Potential Limitations of Shane’s Propositions

The limitations of Shane’s general theory are threefold: limitations that originate
from the sheer complexity of the task; limitations that are a result of problems
within the underlying science of entrepreneurship; and, limitations that are a result
of Shane’s methods. The process of reducing massive amounts of complexity will
understandably result in mistakes and errors. The fact that entrepreneurial science
is a formative social science means that the base findings are often unreliable.
Finally, Shane makes the following choices with his method that should make us
more wary yet.
• There is inevitable subjectivity in Shane’s choice of relevant factors. For instance,
Shane missed entrepreneurial creativity as a potential influence on venture per-
formance. This is more than a small oversight as will become evident by Chap. 6.
What other potentially important factors were missing from his overview? How
much larger than the 83 factors listed here would there be in a more comprehen-
sive list, compiled, for instance, by a group of scholars and not just one?
• Shane provides only supportive data behind his propositions presumably to sim-
plify the task. Studies that yielded non-supportive or contrary data are omitted.
There are propositions in his list that have been well tested, but on balance are
not well supported. Given that there is a recognized bias against negative find-
ings in the management literature (c.f. Fanelli 2011), ignoring those negative
results that are reported is doubly serious.
• Shane appears to be content to make his case for relevance based on p values
which only provide evidence of the probability of a relationship between two
variables. One might be able to say with some confidence that factor A may be
related to a measure of entrepreneurial success, and maybe even from the struc-
ture of some studies to imply some confidence in the direction of causation.
However, p values are not evidence of the amount of outcome variance explained
by the factor under consideration. A practitioner also needs to know if factor A
has a big enough impact on different measures of entrepreneurial success to jus-
tify his/her attention. (It should be noted that in most cases, published data is
limited to p values.)
• Shane treats all the propositions as equally important. A proposition that has 1
weak supporting study behind it is given par status with one that has 20 or more
supportive studies. Neither are studies weighted by quality of methodology nor
strength of findings.
• Shane provides no guidance on how to combine propositions. The propositions
are all stand-alone other than for being grouped by type.
52 4 La ciencia social positivista del espíritu empresarial

• Shane ignores the fact that his propositional base of findings is theoretically
impoverished, meaning that inferences (including the action implications
included here) are drawn with guesswork. Technically, inferences from each
proposition are limited to the tight set of circumstances surrounding each find-
ing, or more properly still, to the actual data itself. Without theory around every
individual proposition, findings are marginally interpretable, at best.
• There is no rationale for why more propositions cannot be added and relation-
ships between variables not reformulated (e.g. from linear to curvilinear or con-
tingency relationships).
• Shane’s General Theory is not likely a general theory or even a theory since it
lacks the hallmarks of a theory. For one thing, the theory appears to be no more
than a list of unrelated, stand-alone hypotheses or propositions. Weick (1995,
p. 389) states that, “…stand-alone hypotheses … are not theory because authors
remain silent about the reason for his choice of hypotheses. why these hypothe-
ses and not other ones are being stated.”
• Shane’s theory is not testable and therefore, not really a scientific theory. There
is no over-arching assumptive base to his theory or any core propositions or core
implications that can be tested and rejected.
• An inventory of 80 plus stand-alone propositions would tax even the best memo-
ries. What can’t be remembered is hard to use.
• Finally, with such a cumbersome model it would be extraordinarily difficult if
not impossible to check the model for additivity. How would it ever be possible
to determine empirically how much performance variance could be collectively
explained by the model as a whole? Without an ability to calculate the additive
contribution of the different independent variables it becomes impossible to
determine the practical value of the model.

On the Problems of Using Scientific Knowledge in Education

The effective delivery of scientific knowledge about entrepreneurial phenomena in

a post-secondary classroom setting may hinge on a number of issues:
The first issue is the extent to which incoming students are prepared to appreciate
social science knowledge presented in a classroom. There is a considerable body of
research focused on the ability and willingness of primary and secondary school
teachers to deliver lectures on the nature, history and philosophy of science (c.f.
King 1991; Hottecke and Silva 2011). Van Driel at al. (2001, p.138) indicate that
science is typically taught, “…as a rigid body of facts, theories, and rules to be
memorized and practiced, rather than a way of knowing about natural phenomena.”
As such, it is likely that few undergraduate students will be well-prepared to cope
with the various issues associated with generating and interpreting social science
knowledge. Such training tends to occur at the masters level or higher, depending on
the intellectual field, and the worldwide location of the post-secondary institution.
An additional consideration here is that pragmatically-minded management and
Conclusion53
Propuestas, no teorías 53

entrepreneurship students may be less inclined than many other post-secondary stu-
dents towards any sort of science instruction.
The second issue that hinders the effective transmission of scientific knowledge
is the nature of social science research. It is subject to great deal of philosophical
and methodological debate. The disciplines of management science, in particular,
are prone to fads – research streams and theories come and go regardless of their
empirical status. Replication studies are hard to get published and when they are
published, the findings often fail to support original findings (c.f. Evanschitzky
et al. 2007). In entrepreneurship, there is also a need to demonstrate stronger effect
sizes (which is starting to happen – Connelly et al. 2010) in order to provide more
defensible findings.
A third issue also relates to the nature of research in entrepreneurship. A substan-
tial portion of research to date has not been explicitly theory driven. Atheoretical or
propositional research is problematic for a variety of reasons. It may typically be
method and context bound. It is subject to the problem of induction (Hume 1748;
Popper 1935). It is also subject to the problem of drawing appropriate inferences.
Here, Popper (1935, p. 88) argues, “…however rich a collection of statements that
might be collected in this way, it could never add up to a science. A science needs
point of view, and theoretical problems.”
A fourth issue is the extent to which entrepreneurship textbooks provide instruc-
tion based on state of the art of scientific knowledge. Edelman et al. (2008) provide
evidence that the entrepreneurship curriculum may not teach needed skills or con-
tent. Rubin and Dierdorff (2009) warn that our educational content must be valid
and closely relevant to workplace needs or else students will not develop necessary
competencies and hence, will suffer from weak performance.
A fifth issue is the training of entrepreneurship educators. Many instructors are
not terminally educated. For a variety of reasons, it is common for management
schools to hire adjunct instructors with course-based MBA training to teach entrepre-
neurship courses. Of those instructors who are terminally educated, very few of them
are formally educated in the scientific field of entrepreneurship (Brush et al. 2003).
A sixth issue is the willingness of entrepreneurship instructors to teach scientific
findings to students. Some instructors may view the outcomes of such endeavors as
career-limiting or damaging.

Conclusion

Shane’s General Theory of Entrepreneurship is an attempt by a leading scholar to

produce a broad reaching theory that has strong implications for entrepreneurial
practice and performance. It is solidly based in the science of the entrepreneurship
discipline and draws on a vast number of scientific studies. It provides for an appar-
ently intelligent synopsis of major propositions of the field. Yet in spite of its suc-
cesses, it also fails in a number of ways. It fails to make distinctions between weak
propositions with dubious support and propositions with strong support. It fails in
54 4 La ciencia social positivista del espíritu empresarial

being no more than a list of independent, unrelated propositions, and in that sense is
not really a theory. Moreover, it is not directly testable so therefore not scientific.
What follows is an attempt to build a general scientific theory of entrepreneurship
that doesn’t fall prey to so many of the criticisms listed here. Not unlike Shane’s
model, the GTEC uses our existing brick-like knowledge that positivistic methodol-
ogy has provided, but this time the evidence is used to support the advancement of
an integrative, predictive theory of entrepreneurial performance.
Propuestas, no teorías 55

Part III
A General Scientific Theory
of Entrepreneurial Creativity
Chapter 5
Modernizing Schumpeter: Toward
a New General Theory of Entrepreneurship

Abstract In Chap. 2 we saw how important it is for a person to have an edge to

succeed as an entrepreneur. In Chap. 3 we saw how formal knowledge of the busi-
ness disciplines and/or even ideas around good business practice did not seem to
offer much help to the would-be entrepreneur. In Chap. 4 we got some appreciation
of the value to be had from the numerous atheoretical studies in the field of entre-
preneurship, on the one hand, while on the other hand appreciating some of the
problems with atheoretical findings in the form of many different and somewhat
arbitrary propositions. At this point you should be ready to appreciate the value of a
good theory. In the next chapter you will be introduced to the ideas of perhaps the
greatest entrepreneurship theorist of the last century along with a number of sugges-
tions for modernizing his ideas from nearly a hundred years ago.

The purpose of this chapter is to build a new general theory of entrepreneurial

creativity. The resulting theory is a new combination that fuses the classical works
of Joseph Schumpeter with the works of modern researchers in the psychological
sub-discipline of creativity. In order to appreciate this new theory, it is desirable to
provide some background on the nature of theory and its scientific relevance.
Theory is not particularly easy to define or describe. Karl Weick (1995, p. 386,
italics in original) indicates that theory has been characterized in many ways:
Theory belongs to the family of words that includes guess, speculation, supposition,
conjecture, proposition, hypothesis, conception, explanation, model. The dictionaries per-
mit us to use theory for anything from ‘guess’ to ‘a system of assumptions, accepted prin-
ciples, and rules of procedure devised to analyze, predict. (American Heritage Dictionary)

Theory has been described elsewhere as taking on various levels – propositional,

mid-range, general and grand. The focus here is on general theory, which aims to
provide insight across one social phenomenon, in this case entrepreneurial
performance.
It is conceivable that entrepreneurship scholars may be skeptical of general
theory, preferring instead to see more mid-range theories. One scholar, William

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 57

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_5
58 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial
Gartner, expresses his skepticism of grander scale theories. Gartner (2001, p. 34), as
he puts it, does not believe that a general theory can address all entrepreneurial
phenomena:
Is there an elephant in current entrepreneurship scholarship? Can the study of the parts of
current entrepreneurship lead to a comprehensive theory in entrepreneurship?
No
The conundrum, as I see it, is that the totality of current academic entrepreneurship does
not espouse (nor can it espouse) an entrepreneurship theory, per se: rather entrepreneurship
research espouses a diverse range of theories applied to various kinds of phenomena. There
is no theory of entrepreneurship that can account for the diversity of topics that are currently
pursued by entrepreneurship scholars.

Gartner (2001) is likely right to propose that no one general theory can account
for the entire range of entrepreneurial phenomena. There is no reason to assume,
however, that some entrepreneurship theories cannot be much more general in
nature than others – some theories may only explain a single limited phenomena,
others will hopefully be developed to explain many and varied phenomena. This
book represents an attempt to advance a more general theory of entrepreneurship.

Developing an Entrepreneurship Theory

In order to engage in the theory building process, this section highlights key pieces
of related literature. It begins with a discussion of Hofer and Bygrave’s (1992)
important characteristics of the entrepreneurial process. It then briefly describes
some concerns about the nature of social science theory. Finally, it describes the
various aspects of the theory of creative entrepreneurship.
In 1992, Hofer and Bygrave (p. 14) asserted that, “If researchers could develop
a model or theory to explain entrepreneurial processes, they would have the key
that unlocks the mystery of entrepreneurship.” The scholars (p. 17, italics in origi-
nal) proposed the following nine characteristics of the entrepreneurial process: “It
is initiated by an act of human volition; it occurs at the level of the individual firm;
it involves a change of state; it involves a discontinuity; it is a holistic process; it is
a dynamic process; it is unique; it involves numerous antecedent variables; and its
outcomes are extremely sensitive to the initial conditions of these variables.” The
authors (p. 17) argue that, “Taken together, these characteristics create a set of
parameters and criteria that will have to be met by any ‘ideal’ model of
entrepreneurship.”
The general theory of entrepreneurial creativity proposed here appears to meet
Hofer and Bygrave’s (1992) criteria. First, the theory is initiated by an act of human
volition. The role of the entrepreneur is characterized as central to the process. The
process involves the creation of an individual firm through some stage development
model or another. Thus the work involves a change of state. In fact, in Schumpeter’s
model no change occurs without the entrepreneur. The creativity process implies
discontinuity, at least when new combinations are involved, because they may more
Developing an Entrepreneurship Theory59

generally change the way business is conducted over time. The idea of new combi-
nations, whether of small or great significance, is important to the modified theory
of creative entrepreneurship, as it builds upon the work of Schumpeter. The new
theory, however, treats creativity as not only generic to new combinations but also
to growth and development as well. One of the main advances of this modified view
of Schumpeter is the press towards more holistic treatments of the entrepreneur, in
this case as suggested by the Sternberg model.
The entrepreneurial process is dynamic because it is grounded in the
Schumpeterian model in the first place and thereafter, in the continuing creativity
of the entrepreneur over time. The theory is unique mainly in the sense that
Schumpeter’s theory is unique. The modified theory is, arguably, an embellish-
ment of Schumpeter’s ideas. At this point, it should not be difficult to argue that
the theory, as it is currently provisioned (with a number of creative resources),
involves numerous antecedent variables. Finally, it is straightforward to argue that
the outcomes of the theory (i.e. entrepreneurial performance) are extremely
sensitive to the initial conditions of these variables (i.e. the creative capacity of the
entrepreneur) because that is the major prediction of the theory and finding of the
book.
The nature of scientific theory is a matter of considerable debate. The field of
management has been at the forefront of deliberation regarding social science the-
ory with related forums in Academy of Management Review [1989, 14(4)] and
Administrative Science Quarterly [1995, 40(3)]. Sutton and Staw (1995, p. 372)
argue that, “Though there is conflict about what theory is and should be, there is
more consensus about what theory is not.” The authors (p. 371) claim that,
“…references, data, variables, diagrams, and hypotheses are not theory.” In
response, Weick (1995, p. 385) asserts that:
These substitutes for theory may result from lazy theorizing in which people try to graft
theory onto stark sets of data. But they may also represent interim struggles in which people
intentionally inch toward stronger theories. The products of laziness and intense struggles
may look the same and may consist of references, data, lists, diagrams, and hypotheses. To
label these five as “not theory” makes sense if the problem is laziness and incompetence.
But ruling out those same five may slow inquiry if the problem is theoretical development
still in its early stages.

Weick (1995, p. 385) also emphasizes the difficulties associated with develop-
ment of strong theory: “…most theories approximate rather than realize the condi-
tions necessary for a strong theory.” Entrepreneurship scholars, Bygrave and Hofer
(1991, p. 91), provide a brief discussion of what should constitute theory in the field
of entrepreneurship:
…theories are based on a limited number of underlying assumptions and have various
different types of basic structural characteristics including: (1) the number of dependent
variables involved (one vs. many); (2) the number of independent variables involved (one
vs. many); (3) the complexity of the variables involved (single-attribute constructs vs.
multi-attribute constructs); and (4) the complexity of the relationships involved (linear vs.
curvilinear vs. discontinuous).
60 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial
Ultimately, the theory developed here is generally aligned with arguments
presented by Hofer and Bygrave (1992) and Bygrave and Hofer (1991). Hence, the
theory involves one complex independent variable and one complex dependent vari-
able. The relationship between these variables is straightforward as an explanation,
but somewhat more complex as a process. Finally, the model presents an environ-
mental moderating variable.

Entrepreneurship and Creativity

A number of scholars have advocated for a clear linkage between entrepreneurship

and creativity. Gilad (1984, p. 151) sought to, “…convince psychologists that cre-
ativity and entrepreneurship are inseparable and therefore economic behavior
deserves at least some attention from researchers in the field of creativity.” Whiting
(1988, p. 182) proposed that the, “…tie between creativity and entrepreneurship
may be closer than is currently attributed.” Nystrom (1993, p. 238) suggests a view
of entrepreneurship, inclusive of creativity, that is, “…more complex and multidi-
mensional than most approaches in the literature, which usually do not consider the
need to balance over time different, often contradictory aspects of change.” Brazeal
and Herbert (1999, p. 33) suggest that, “…the next stage of the evolution of the
entrepreneurship field may include a more holistic orientation, to include relevant
concepts, topics, and selected information from the fields of creativity, change, and
innovation.”
In an article focused on entrepreneurial alertness, Gaglio and Katz (2001,
p. 103) suggest the value of leveraging creativity research: “The belief that
breaking the existing mean-ends framework is a necessary step for genuine inno-
vation can also be found throughout the creativity empirical literature (Amabile
1983; Csikszentmihalyi 1996).” In an article focused on creativity and entrepre-
neurship, Ward (2004, p. 185, brackets added) promotes an integration of, “…
constructs from mainstream cognitive psychology (specifically those in creativ-
ity) and how those constructs can be applied to an important component of the
entrepreneur’s task, namely, the generation and exploitation of novel and useful
ideas.”
Ward (2004) anticipates using Sternberg’s confluence theory to provide a theo-
retical linkage with entrepreneurship. Ward (2004) endorses greater focus on
Sternberg’s theory in entrepreneurship research: “Clearly, interactive models that
include knowledge, cognitive processes and skills, motivation, personality factors,
and environmental influences are needed to provide a complete theoretical account
(e.g., Amabile 1983; Sternberg and Lubart 1991).”
In addition to those advocating the use of creativity concepts within the entrepre-
neurship field were those who built models emphasizing a direct relationship
between creativity and entrepreneurship. Joseph Schumpeter is foremost amongst
such creativity/entrepreneurship model builders.
Schumpeter, el espíritu empresarial y la 61
creatividad

Schumpeter, Entrepreneurship and Creativity

Joseph Schumpeter’s entire professional life was spent in elaborating ideas about
the linkages amongst creativity, entrepreneurship and capitalism. The impact of his
intellectual endeavors has been tremendous, according to historian Thomas McCraw
(2007, p. 497):
Within universities, Schumpeter’s strongest influence has appeared not in economics
departments but in departments of sociology, political science and history, where his writ-
ings are frequently assigned. And far more than in any of these four traditional disciplines,
his ideas have thoroughly pervaded the curricula of post-graduate business schools all over
the world. These schools are much more numerous today (by a factor of about seven) than
when he died, and research within their environs has grown far more rigorous. By the
twenty-first century, every reputable business school offered numerous courses devoted to
entrepreneurship, innovation, and business strategy, and many housed full-blown depart-
ments devoted to these subjects.

Bull and Willard (1993, p. 186) have concluded that Schumpeter’s definition of
entrepreneurship remains as good as any available:
Recent attempts at redefinition use concepts and words like ‘fundamental change’ (Murray,
1984), ‘innovative, flexible, dynamic, risk-taking, creative’ (Stevenson and Gumpert, 1985)
and ‘alertness’ (Kirtzner, 1985). To some extent these descriptions add insight but, upon
closer examination, merely rephrase the Schumpeter definition. We argue that Schumpeter’s
definition is adequately descriptive and discriminatory for academic purposes. There are no
compelling reasons for modifying it.

Schumpeter’s (1911, [1934]) theory of economic development provides a

defensible historical precedent for the work required to establish a link between
creativity and entrepreneurship. It is not unreasonable to cast Schumpeter’s theory
as not only a specific type of theory of economic development, but also as an applied
theory of creativity. In his first seminal book, The Theory of Economic Development,
Schumpeter (1911, [1934]) elaborated a theory of economic development as a cre-
ative process. The three key elements in the process are, as follows:
1. An economy without entrepreneurs, as a circular flow of goods and services:
The people who direct business firms only execute what is prescribed for them by wants or
demand and by the given means and methods of production. (1934, p. 21)

2. The introduction of superior new business combinations that create new pre-
ferred patterns of flow occasionally disrupt the circular flow:
The carrying out of new combinations we call ‘enterprise’; the individuals whose function
it is to carry them out we call ‘entrepreneurs’. (p. 74)

3. Old, outmoded patterns of commerce are replaced by new, preferred patterns in

a process called creative-destruction.
… his (the entrepreneur’s) characteristic task – theoretically as well as historically – consists
precisely in breaking up old, and creating new, tradition. Although this applies primarily to
his economic action, it also extends to the moral, cultural, and social consequences of it.
(p. 92, bracketed content added)
62 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial
The three different aspects of Schumpeter’s theory of economic development –
base-line circular flow, new combinations, and creative-destruction – collectively
point to the role of the entrepreneur as the creative force within the economy, and
thus, Schumpeter’s ideas are wholly consistent with the field of creativity. The
notion that productive change in a system is brought about by creative people is
fundamental to the idea of creativity. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1996, p. 28),
“Creativity is any act, idea, or product that changes an existing domain, or that
transforms an existing domain into a new one.”
The creativity literature has long-recognized ‘new combinations’ as creative out-
comes. Albert and Runco (1999, p. 25) indicate that, “As early as 1837, Bethune
was interested in the ability to ‘originat(e) new combinations of thought…” The
creativity literature also has recognized that the creative process has both destruc-
tive and constructive sides. These aspects are the well-known and well-understood
creative features of Schumpeter’s theory, and over the course of his career,
Schumpeter clearly establishes that he is self-consciously writing about creativity as
well as innovation and that the creative process is characterized by indeterminacy.
McGraw (2007, p. 474) supports this perspective:
A creative response, which can never be predicted and is therefore indeterminate, shapes
long-run outcomes in a country, industry, or firm. It often depends on the leadership of
specific individuals, and, Schumpeter argued, it ‘changes social and economic situations for
good’.

According to Rosenberg (1976, p. 66), “Schumpeter was quite explicit that his
analysis was only intended to apply to major innovations of a kind which involved
significant shifts to an entirely new production function.” Schumpeter’s entrepre-
neur was a grand figure who exerted substantial influence on economic equilibrium.
In Schumpeter’s (1908, p. 8) words:
… the development of human culture and especially of knowledge proceeds in jumps to an
even greater extent; impetuous leaps are mixed with periods of stagnation, inspiring hopes
are singed with bitter disappointments, and, if the new may base itself on the old, progress
is not constant.

Schumpeter (1911, [1934]) asserted that the economic development process can
be divided into three clearly distinct stages: invention, innovation or commercializa-
tion; and, imitation. He distinguished a sharp contrast between invention and inno-
vation. Rosenberg (1976, p. 67) states that to Schumpeter, “…the making of the
invention and the carrying out of the corresponding innovation are, economically
and sociologically, two entirely different things.”
From Schumpeter’s perspective, entrepreneurs and innovations are the keys to
economic growth. McCraw (2007, p. 356) supports this view:
It seemed plain to Schumpeter that continuous technical innovation and organizational
remodeling, not monopolistic profits, accounted for the prosperity of most great compa-
nies…. Pushing his analysis to its limits, Schumpeter identifies capitalist entrepreneurship
with technological progress itself. As a matter of historical record, they were ‘essentially
one and the same thing’, the first being ‘the propelling force’ of the second.
Schumpeter, el espíritu empresarial y la 63
creatividad
The criterion variable in Schumpeter’s theory of economic growth is focused on
one type of business outcome: new combinations. Schumpeter (1934, p. 66) charac-
terized new combinations, or innovations, by type:
This concept (new combinations) covers the following five case: (1) The introduction of a
new good – that is one with which consumers are not yet familiar – or of a new quality of a
good. (2) The introduction of a new method of production, that is not yet tested by experi-
ence in the branch of manufacture concerned, which need by no means be founded upon a
discovery scientifically new, and can also exist in a new way of handling a commodity com-
mercially. (3) The opening of a new market that is a market into which the particular branch
of manufacture of the country in question has not previously entered, whether or not this
market has existed before. (4) The conquest of a new source of supply of raw materials or
half-manufactured goods, again irrespective of whether this source already exists or
whether it has first to be created. (5) The carrying out of the new organization of any indus-
try, like the creation of a monopoly position (for example through trustification) or the
breaking up of a monopoly position.

In Schumpeter’s (1911, [1934]) worldview, there are two types of people: hedo-
nistic economic beings and energetic entrepreneurs. The bulk of the population,
characterized as non-entrepreneurial hedonists, is consumed by the desire for utility
maximization and egocentric ends. According to Sanatarelli and Pesciarelli (1990,
p. 685), non-entrepreneurs dominate the static portion of the economy: “In the stat-
ics (circular flow) economic agents choose their plans of action on the basis of given
environmental constraints, information and preferences.”
Schumpeter’s energetic entrepreneur – his predictor variable – is an unusual,
atypically motivated individual who engages in a relatively undefined business
development process in the dynamic portion of the economy. Regarding the eco-
nomic interests, Sanatarelli and Pesciarelli (1990, p. 685) state: “In the dynamics
the concept of rationality is a much broader one: in choosing ‘new combinations’
economic agents ignore environmental and historical constraints; these they trans-
form into variables.”
With regard to entrepreneurial motivation, Sanatarelli and Pesciarelli (1990,
p. 685) find that, “Whereas in the static’s the motive is profit, in dynamics it com-
prises a set of goals. This is not to imply that in Schumpeter’s early writings entre-
preneurs are not profit-attracted; simply that profits are a means to achieve further
ends… and are not, as in the case of adaptive types, an end in themselves.”
Schumpeter (1934, p. 93) emphasizes the following three motives of energetic
entrepreneurs:
1. First of all, there is the dream and the will to found a private kingdom, usually,
though not necessarily, also a dynasty.
2. Then there is the will to conquer: the impulse to fight, to prove oneself superior
to others, to succeed for the sake, not of the fruits of success, but of success
itself.
3. Finally, there is the joy of creating, of getting things done, or simply of exercising
one’s energy and ingenuity.
64 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial
Creative Creative Entrepreneurial
Entrepreneur Process Outcomes

Creative/
Creative Destructive –
New
Entrepreneurial indeterminate
Combinations
Motivation with many
unknowns

Exhibit 5.1 Schumpeter’s view of creative entrepreneurship

Schumpeter’s characterization of entrepreneurial motives is, generally speaking,

consistent with the motivation to create, although some highly creative people
such as artists and scientists may build legacies rather than found private king-
doms. His notion of the dynamic side of the economy can also be considered
consistent with the creative process – characterized by uncertainty, ambiguity and
coping with many unknowns.
Schumpeter’s notions of entrepreneurship are illustrated in Exhibit 5.1 below.
The model contains the criterion and predictor factors mentioned above. The causal
factor is creative entrepreneurial motivation and the effect factor is the introduction
of new combinations. The intermediary variable is the process of creative/destruc-
tion decision making.
The variables in the exhibit above are all univariate, or in other words, constants.
New combinations are not described as varying along any type of continuum and
there is no description of variation in the degree of entrepreneurial motivation or the
number of unknowns in the creative process. Schumpeter’s model is descriptive and
explanatory, but not predictive. Schumpeter defines those people who create new
combinations as entrepreneurs, but he offers no method for predicting who the
entrepreneurs will be.
The limits of Schumpeter’s view of creative entrepreneurship have been dis-
cussed elsewhere. For example, Baumol (1993, p. 202) argues that there are serious
limits to the usefulness of the Schumpeterian model as an applied theory of
entrepreneurship:
The model makes no attempt to deduce what the innovating entrepreneur does or how he/
she can do it better. True, Schumpeter does provide a very generalized list containing five
broad classes of innovative activity. But that portion of the work makes no pretense of
constituting a piece of theoretical reasoning.

In order to develop a contemporary general theory of entrepreneurship, it is nec-

essary to modernize Schumpeter’s work by incorporating concepts from the field of
creativity. The end result is a general theory that should predict important entrepre-
neurial outcomes.
Creativida 65
d

Creativity

The field of creativity contains at least ten categories of theories (Kozbelt et al.
2010). The category of interest here is economic in nature because economic theo-
ries, “…offer testable hypotheses about creative efforts.” (Kozbelt et al. 2010). Only
one of the theories, the investment theory of creativity (Sternberg and Lubart 1991),
focuses a part of its attention at the micro-economic level. Sternberg and Lubart
(1999, p.3), include entrepreneurship in the realm of creative endeavors: “If one
wanted to select the best novelist, artist, entrepreneur, or even chief executive
officer, one would most likely want someone who is creative.”
The investment theory of creativity (ITC) is utilized as a platform upon which to
build a general theory of entrepreneurial creativity for a number of reasons. The first
reason is that there is a great deal of empirical support for the relevance of creativity
to new venture outcomes (please see Chap. 6). The second reason is that the ITC is
a confluence theory, i.e. it indicates that multiple factors must converge in order to
produce creativity. Many prominent creativity scholars agree on the importance of
multi-factor confluence (Sternberg and Lubart 2006). Third, extant empirical
research has yielded support for the ITC (Sternberg 2012).
The ITC is presented in Exhibit 5.2. Each of the six factors is described by
Sternberg (2012, p. 5–6) below.

Intellectual X X Thinking X X X
Knowledge Personality Motivation Environment
Abilities Styles

Creative

Outcome(s)

Exhibit 5.2 The investment theory of creativity

66 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial

Intellectual Abilities

Intellectual abilities are generally acknowledged to be necessary but not sufficient

for creativity (Kim et al. 2010; Renzulli 1986). According to Sternberg and Lubart,
three intellectual skills are particularly important: (a) the synthetic ability to see
problems in new ways and to escape the bounds of conventional thinking; (b) the
analytic ability to recognize which of one’s ideas are worth pursuing and which are
not; and (c) the practical–contextual ability to know how to persuade others of – to
sell other people on – the value of one’s ideas.
As Sternberg and Lubart see it, the confluence of these three abilities is also
important. Analytic ability used in the absence of the other two abilities results in
powerful critical, but not creative, thinking. Synthetic ability in the absence of the
other two abilities results in new ideas that are not subjected to the scrutiny required
to make them work. And practical–contextual ability in the absence of the other two
may result in the transmittal of ideas not because the ideas are good, but, rather,
because the ideas have been well and powerfully presented. To be creative, one must
first decide to generate new ideas, analyze these ideas, and sell the ideas to others.
A detailed analysis of cognition and intellectual processes in creativity can be found
in Ward and Kolomyts (2010).

Knowledge

Concerning knowledge, on the one hand, one needs to know enough about a field to
move it forward. One can’t move a field forward if one doesn’t know its current
limitations. On the other hand, extensive knowledge about a field can result in a
closed and entrenched perspective, resulting in a person being stuck in current
perspectives (Adelson 1984; Frensch and Sternberg 1989). Thus, one needs to
decide to use one’s relevant knowledge as a bridge and not a barrier.

Thinking Styles

Thinking styles are related to creativity (Kogan 1973). With regard to thinking
styles, a legislative style is particularly important for creativity, that is, a preference
for thinking and a decision to think in new ways (Sternberg 1997; Zhang and
Sternberg 2006). Preference to think creatively needs to be distinguished from abil-
ity to think creatively. To think creatively it is also helpful to think globally as well
as locally, distinguishing the forest from the trees and thereby recognizing which
questions are important and which ones are not.
Creativida 67
d

Personality

Numerous research investigations have supported the importance of certain per-

sonality attributes for creative functioning (Barron 1969, 1988; Feist 2010). These
attributes include, but are not limited to, willingness to overcome obstacles, will-
ingness to take sensible risks, willingness to tolerate ambiguity, and self-efficacy.
In particular, buying low and selling high typically means defying the crowd, so
that one has to be willing to stand up to conventions if one wants to think and act
in creative ways. Note that none of these attributes are fixed, in the sense they may
change over time. One can decide to overcome obstacles, take sensible risks, and
so forth.

Motivation

Intrinsic, task-focused motivation is also essential to creativity (Hennessey 2010).

The research of Teresa Amabile (1996, 1999) and others has shown the importance
of such motivation for creative work, and has suggested that people rarely do truly
creative work in an area unless they really love what they are doing and focus on the
work, rather than the potential rewards. Motivation is not something inherent in a
person: One decides to be motivated by one thing or another.

Environment

Finally, one needs an environment that is supportive and rewarding of creative ideas
(Sternberg and Lubart 1995; Sternberg and Williams 1996). One could have all of
the internal resources needed to think creatively, but without some environmental
support (such as a forum for proposing those ideas), the creativity that a person has
within him or her might never be displayed. Different cultures support creativity
differentially and may even have different conceptions of what constitutes creativity
(Lubart 2010) so it is important to take the environment into account when assessing
creativity.
The nature of confluence in the ITC is worthy of mention here. According to
Sternberg (2012, p. 6), the thresholds and interactions of the six factors have yet to
be discovered:
Concerning the confluence of components, creativity is hypothesized to involve more than
a simple sum of a person’s level on each component (Sternberg and Lubart 1991). First,
there may be thresholds for some components (e.g., knowledge) below which creativity is
not possible, regardless of the levels on other components. Second, partial compensation
may occur in which a strength on one component (e.g., motivation) counteracts a weakness
68 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial
on another component (e.g., environment). Third, interactions may also occur between
components, such as intelligence and motivation, in which high levels on both components
could multiplicatively enhance creativity.

The following section uses Sternberg and Lubart’s (1991) investment theory of
creativity in order to develop a general theory of entrepreneurial creativity. The
rationale for making adjustments to the ITC is located in the growing body of evi-
dence that creativity is domain specific. Baer (2012, p. 2), a scholar investigating
domain specificity, finds that:
…the evidence for domain specificity has only grown stronger (for a recent summary, see
Baer 2010). The question is not one of whether or not the cognitive skills that underlie
creativity are domain-specific – to some extent everyone now agrees that they are – but
rather whether or not there are any creative thinking skills that are truly domain general.

The Independent Variable: Entrepreneurial Creativity

As previously mentioned, it is both necessary and possible to modernize and modify

Schumpeter’s work. The five individual-level creative factors in Sternberg and
Lubart’s (1991) Investment Theory of Creativity provide a productive expansion of
Schumpeter’s independent univariate creative factor, creative entrepreneurial moti-
vation. The combination of the five multivariate creative factors when converted to
a measure will likely constitute a complex variable, given the potential for a variety
of thresholds and interactions of the separate factors. Each factor represents a vari-
able. Further, each factor can be divided into sub-components. For example, entre-
preneurial knowledge could be divided into various types of knowledge relevant to
entrepreneurs.

The Dependent Variables: Innovation and Business Development

Schumpeter’s new combinations were material innovations that changed the

functioning of business in substantial ways. The substance of his innovations was
such that they were important new innovations in both the sense that they involved
radical change (i.e. intermittent shocks in an otherwise static economy) and that
they had sizeable financial impact for the select few entrepreneurs. Modern thinking
about innovation (c.f. Rosenberg 1976) has refined Schumpeter’s views in much
more incremental terms, allowing for many more smaller-impact entrepreneurs to
generate a plethora of contributions to economic development.
Schumpeter’s entrepreneurs experienced incredible financial success, enabling
them to ‘found private kingdoms.’ Although Schumpeter’s focus was new combina-
tions rather than entrepreneurial wealth generation, it can be argued that Schumpeter
indirectly spoke to other outcome variables, namely business development, growth
and financial performance. Hence, it is possible to recast Schumpeter’s entrepre-
neurial outcomes along at least two dimensions: (1) new combinations or innova-
tions and (2) financial performance. Each is discussed below:
Creativida 69
d

Innovation

Schumpeter suggested that entrepreneurial creativity led to new combinations (i.e.

radical innovations). The allusions in The Theory of Economic Development indi-
cate that the new combinations are momentous changes in the way the business
world operates. For example, Henry Ford’s strategic introduction of the assembly
line transformed the production of automobiles and would thusly be classified as a
major innovation.
The scholarly field of innovation, as mentioned above, has its own, more inclu-
sive, take on the nature of innovation. According to Johannessen and Olsen (2010,
p. 502), the innovation field is witnessing a stronger focus on, “…both wider variet-
ies of innovations (see Johannessen et al. 2001, for an overview) and on how inno-
vations come into being.” Clearly, underneath the layer of rare Schumpeterian
innovations lie an array of business outcomes that are, at a minimum, of collective
economic significance, even if they do not involve innovations in a conventional
sense. Theoretically at least, one need not exclude non-innovative businesses from
a modified Schumpeterian model, as the concept of innovation is potentially as mal-
leable as one might wish it to be.

Business Development and Performance

Schumpeter, an economist, was predominantly focused on macro-economic develop-

ment rather than the development of individual businesses. His entrepreneurs enabled
economic growth through the production of more and better goods and services.
From the standpoint of entrepreneurship research, the key outcome measures lie at
the level of the firm or individual. Such measures include growth in sales, profits,
and entrepreneurial earnings, as well as growth in personnel.

The Relationship: The Causal Explanation

As previously mentioned, there is evidence in favor of creative domain specificity

(Baer 2012). This may be obvious for certain creative outlets. For example, devel-
oping an innovative, growth venture does not appear to bear much similarity to
painting a still life. First of all, the time frames are entirely different. Second, the
resource requirements are radically different. Third, the purpose or goal of the exer-
cise is much more subject to change or evolution in the case of the venture than in
the case of a single still life oil painting. Fourth, the nature of a venture changes
radically as it develops and grows.
If creativity for the domains of painting and new venturing are different, then it
may stand to reason that models for the creative processes underlying each genre
may need to be differently composed. There are some different available possible
models of the entrepreneurial process that might be useful for characterizing
70 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial

Later growth and development

Level of Early growth and development
Creativity
Survival
Start-up
Intention to start

Level of Development

Exhibit 5.3 Staircase of creative development: creative sorting function

entrepreneurship as a creative process. One common process model is the stages

model. Perhaps the most popular variation today is Venkataraman’s (1997) two-
stage model of creativity as opportunity identification and execution. McMullan
and Long’s (1990) ten-stage model of open-ended creative challenges provides a
more detailed alternative. Either of these process models could be used to orga-
nize evidence relating creativity to entrepreneurial outcomes over time. Here, a
five-stage model is proposed because it fits with a lot of existing evidence tying
creativity to entrepreneurial outcomes. Exhibit 5.3 below indicates that the model
combines both stages in the development of a business with a couple of growth
outcome measures, suggesting the ongoing need for entrepreneurial creativity as
a venture develops and progresses.
While entrepreneurial creativity might be viewed as an activity specific to certain
venture development tasks such as opportunity identification (Shane 2003), it is also
possible to view entrepreneurial creativity to be of continuing importance over the
subsequent development of a venture (McMullan and Long 1990). Whether entre-
preneurial creativity is more relevant to some particular stages of business develop-
ment than others is a scientific question worthy of some study.
In Exhibit 5.2 above, it is expected that the development and growth of an enterprise
is a monotonically increasing function of the creativity of the lead entrepreneur.
Moreover, it is expected that developing highly innovative enterprises is anticipated to
be more creatively demanding than developing non-innovative ones. Along similar
lines, it is expected that developing faster growing and more profitable enterprises is
anticipated to be more creatively demanding than developing less dynamic and less
profitable businesses. Growth is expected to be more demanding than survival; sur-
vival more demanding than start-up; and start-up more demanding than the expression
of an intention. The amount of creativity demanded by the activity will tend to climb
with each step along the staircase of venture development/growth.

The Environmental Moderator

Schumpeter put great stock in the role of a relatively small number of individuals
(i.e. highly-innovative, high-growth entrepreneurs) in order to fully explain eco-
nomic development. He ignored, or heavily discounted, a number of potentially
Creativida 71
d
relevant political and economic institutions (e.g. universities) and other individual
roles (e.g. central bankers). A modern reconceptualization of Schumpeter’s under-
socialized perspective would recast the entrepreneur as only one economic agent
amongst many agents and institutions. The reconceptualization provides, among
other things, a foundation for analysis of factors that explain regional variations in
entrepreneurial intensity.
Numerous scholars (c.f. David McClelland; Zoltan Acs and David Audretsch)
have investigated regional variations in entrepreneurial intensity. McClelland’s par-
ticular approach, for example, was to emphasize variations in need for achievement
between societies as a key factor for distinguishing have and have-not regions.
There are numerous other factors that might encourage more entrepreneurial cre-
ativity, including parenting practices, schooling practices, post-secondary educa-
tional opportunities and, career opportunities. It is conceivable that societies that
encourage more of their creative talent toward new venturing will (1) tend to empha-
size the value of entrepreneurship and (2) provide supporting institutions and (3)
generally remove barriers to success.

The Model

The objective here is to present a general scientific theory of entrepreneurial creativ-

ity (GTEC) that provides testable hypothesis at its core and hence, clear potential
for refutation. The scientific model, displayed in Exhibit 5.4 below, integrates
Schumpeter’s (1911, [1934]) formal model relating entrepreneurs to new combina-
tions and Sternberg and Lubart’s (1991) investment theory of creativity with addi-
tional process and outcome variables. The enhanced testability of the GTEC over
Schumpeter’s a formal model is one substantive argument for its adoption.

Entrepreneurial Creativity (EC) Creative Process Performance Outcomes

1. EC Intelligence 1. Intention A. Level of new combinations
2. EC Personality 2. Start-up
3. EC Motivation 3. Survival B. Financial Performance
4. EC Thinking Style 4. Growth (low level)
5. EC Knowledge 5. Growth (high level)

Environmental Supportiveness
(for example)
1. Dynamism
2. Heterogeneity
3. Hostility

Exhibit 5.4 The general theory entrepreneurial creativity

72 5 Modernizar a Schumpeter: Hacia una nueva teoría general del espíritu
empresarial
In the GTEC, elements of entrepreneurial creativity combine to enhance the
subsequent process of venture development as well as the outcomes of that process.
The creative process is described as taking place across stages of development and
growth. Testable core hypotheses include, but are not limited to the following
hypotheses.
The degree of development of a venture is a monotonically increasing function of the level
of entrepreneurial creativity possessed by the lead entrepreneur.
The level of venture innovation is a monotonically increasing function of the level of entre-
preneurial creativity possessed by the lead entrepreneur.

The GTEC offers numerous secondary hypotheses, including potential relation-

ships between all of the separate elements of entrepreneurial creativity and all of the
separate elements of the creative process and each of the entrepreneurial perfor-
mance measures. Additional stages in the creative process than those in the diagram
are possible, yielding more possible hypothetical relationships between entrepre-
neurial creativity and the latter parts of the model. Further, the model provides
numerous potential hypothetical relationships between entrepreneurial character
variables, environmental variables, creative processes and creative outcomes.

Conclusion

The idea that Schumpeter’s model of entrepreneurship from his early work might be
used as a basis for a modern theory of entrepreneurship has been suggested by a
number of scholars over time. Schumpeter’s model is carefully presented to demon-
strate both its strengths and limitations. A model of creative resources is provided as
a first step towards the modernization of Schumpeter’s theory.
The changing knowledge base within the discipline of creativity can continue to
inform the content of creative entrepreneurship over time. As the concept has been
elaborated, creative entrepreneurship is composed of: creative entrepreneurial peo-
ple, creative processes, creative outcomes and creative environments. The conflu-
ence of creative entrepreneurial resources suggests that the creative aspects of a
number of resources might be jointly required for effective entrepreneurial perfor-
mance (i.e. intellectual abilities, knowledge, styles of thinking, personality, motiva-
tion, and environment). The threshold aspect of in the Sternberg model suggests that
minimal amounts of the different creative resources might be required to be entre-
preneurially effective.
In practice, creative decisions may be often required as entrepreneurs do not have
the time and/or resources to assimilate expert routines in many problem areas.
Conceivably, there are so many areas of expertise required to develop a business
concept into a successful, on-going enterprise, that one person cannot expect to
learn all of them in a timely manner. More creative entrepreneurs will be expected
to outperform less creative, over the entire cycle of business development, growth
and financial performance.
Chapter 6
The Core Evidence

Abstract Now that we have formulated a modernized version of Schumpeter’s

model, should we believe it? The next chapter is concerned with the empirical evi-
dence and how it relates entrepreneurial creativity with venture development.

The purpose of this chapter is to review empirical evidence central to a theory of

entrepreneurial creativity. The chapter will take existing evidence relating personal
creativity (PC) to a hierarchy of increasingly important entrepreneurial attitudes,
behaviors and outcomes, and use it to judge the predictive potential of the general
theory of entrepreneurial creativity. This chapter poses the following questions:
1. Is PC related to the intention to start a new business?
2. Are entrepreneurs more creative than people who do not start companies?
3. Is PC related to the survival of new ventures?
4. Does PC distinguish those who build entrepreneurial ventures from those who
manage small, traditional businesses?
5. Does personal creativity distinguish levels of entrepreneurial success both in
terms of employment growth and financial performance?
6. Is PC related to venture innovativeness?
The chapter will also attempt to better frame the current research needs around
the six questions. Ultimately, it provides insight into what is known and the gaps in
knowledge with respect to the general theory of entrepreneurial creativity.
The search for creativity studies presented below was undertaken via two search
methods. The first method was to explore various electronic databases for key
search terms such as creativity, and highly-related constructs such as personal inno-
vation, openness to experience, innovativeness, innovative orientation and improvi-
sation. The second method involved a review of all citations for articles found via
the first method. In both cases, the primary objective was to uncover research,
including meta-analyses, which focused on the following new venture process out-
comes: intentionality, start-up, survival, and growth/success. A secondary objective
was to find and examine empirical research regarding any creativity differences
between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, and between entrepreneurs and small

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 73

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_6
74 6 Las pruebas
fundamentales
business owners. In every case, the researchers presented their measures as
measures of personal creative or innovative ability.
The search produced a database of 70 empirical studies starting in 1974 and
found in a wide range of fields including entrepreneurship, management and psy-
chology. The review revealed that research linking the personal creativity of lead
entrepreneurs with various outcome variables has been conducted in many countries
around the world: Austria, Australia, Costa Rica, Finland, Germany, Greece,
Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
Russia, South Africa, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, Uganda, the
United Kingdom, the United States and Zimbabwe.
The research has involved a variety of research instruments including: the
Achievement Motive Questionnaire (Elizur 1979; Shye 1978), the Big Five
Personality Traits model, the Entrepreneurial Orientation scale (Khandwalla 1977),
the General Enterprising Tendency test (Caird 1991a), the Geometric Patterns Test
(Wallach and Kogan 1965), the Jackson Personality Inventory (JPI), the Kirton
Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI), the Miner Sentence Completion Scale
(Miner 1965), the Interest in Work Innovation Scale (Patchen 1965), the Personal
Characteristics Inventory (Barrick and Mount 1993), the Mini-Markers Inventory
Saucier (1994), as well as original, researcher-generated instruments. The various
instruments measure different aspects of creativity and some instruments, such as
the KAI, provide more comprehensive measures of it.
The independent variable, personal creativity, has been expressed in a number of
ways in the 70 studies: creativity, innovativeness, openness to innovation, the ability
to provide innovative solutions to problems, creative self-efficacy, proclivity for
improvisation, innovative orientation, personal innovation, innovation, preference
for innovation, expert idea generator type, integrative complexity, divergent think-
ing and generation of original business ideas.
The review also revealed that many researchers tested variables related to mod-
ern creativity theory such as need for achievement and propensity to take risks. The
creativity relationships, as well as those of the related variables, are reported below
in three sections: “Pre-venturing”, “New Venturing”, and “New Venture Outcomes”.

Pre-venturing

Numerous scholars have examined the extent to which individual creativity influ-
ences entrepreneurial intentions. The articles that focus on the relationship between
personal creativity and intention to start a new venture are displayed below in
Table 6.1. An example of the type of research in this area is the Vesalainen and
Pihkala (1999) study, which involved the participation of 2,899 people in Finland.
Six percent (174 people) had a clear intention to start a new venture within 1 year.
Those with entrepreneurial intentions were asked ten 3-point questions on each of
several scales: appealing aspects of their working environment; appealing rewards
from work; and, the degree to which an entrepreneurial career would provide the
 Pre-venturing
Table 6.1 Creativity and new venture intentionality
Related findings and level
Article Creativity measures Outcome measures Level of significance of significance
Hull et al. (1980) Creativity Claim of wanting to start a business Significant at 0.01 Need for achievement
3-item personality scale significant at 0.01;
(unspecified) propensity to take risk
significant at 0.01
Koh (1996) Innovativeness Measure of entrepreneurial Significant at 0.0001 Propensity to take risks
Researcher created instrument inclination in next 3 years significant at 0.0001;
tolerance of ambiguity
significant at 0.01
Vesalainen and Creativity Differing levels of intentionality Significant at 0.001
Pihkala (1999) Factor analysis generated towards starting a business
measure
Sagie and Elizur Inclination to provide innovative Distinguishing small business Significant at 0.05 Facing uncertainty
(1999) solutions to problems students from other business students significant at 0.001;
Achievement Motive and economics students calculating risks
Questionnaire (Elizur 1979; significant at 0.001
Shye 1978)
Singh and DeNoble Openness to experience Intention to become self-employed Positive but not significant
(2003) Saucier’s Mini-Markers Inventory
Baron and Markman Creative self-efficacy Intention to become an entrepreneur Not significant
(2005) NEO-FFI Scale (Costa and
McCrae 1992)
Frazier and Niehm Creativity Entrepreneurial intentions Significant at 0.000 (as Opportunity seeking
(2006, unpublished) Researchers created instrument reported in article) significant at 0.05
based on entrepreneurship
orientation (EO) literature
(continued)

75

Table 6.1 (continued)
Article Creativity measures
Gurol and Atsan Innovativeness
(2006) Jackson Personality Inventory
Hmieleski Proclivity for improvisation
and Corbett (2006) Researchers created instrument
Zampetakis and Creativity
Moustakis (2006) Researchers created instrument
Frank et al. (2007) Innovative orientation
Researchers created instrument
Gurel et al. (2010) Innovativeness
Jackson Personality Inventory
Outcome measures
Distinguishing entrepreneurially-
inclined students from non-inclined
students
Entrepreneurial intentions
Entrepreneurial intentions
Entrepreneurial intentions
Entrepreneurial intentions
76
Related findings and level
Level of significance of significance
Significant at 0.002 Risk taking propensity
significant at 0.001; locus
of control significant at
0.001; need for
achievement significant at
0.01; tolerance for
ambiguity not significant
Significant at 0.01
Significant at 0.001
Significant at 0.05 Need for achievement,
internal locus of control
6 The Core Evidence
and risk propensity
significant at 0.05
Significant at 0.01 Propensity to take risks
significant at 0.05;
Tolerance for ambiguity
and locus of control not
significant

Obschonka et al. Openness to experience
(2010) 45-item instrument (Ostendorf
1990)
Zhao et al. (2010) Openness to experience
Meta-analysis
Liñán et al. (2011) Innovation, creativity and
detecting opportunities abilities
Researchers created instrument
Altinay et al. (2012) Innovativeness
Eight items from the Jackson
Personality Inventory
Hormiga et al. (2013) Propensity to innovate
Researchers created instrument
Marques et al. (2013) Creativity/innovation
Researchers created instrument
Entrepreneurial intentions
Entrepreneurial intentions
Entrepreneurial intentions
Entrepreneurial intentions
Entrepreneurial intentions of
employees
Entrepreneurial intentions
Pre-venturing
Not significant
Significant at 0.01 Risk propensity effect
size: p̆ = 0.40
Effect size: p̆ = 0.24
Not significant in final model
Significant at 0.05 Tolerance for ambiguity,
risk taking, need for
achievement and locus of
control not significant
Significant at 0.01 Risk taking not significant
Beta = 0.26
Positive, significance not Motivational factors
reported significant at 0.05
Explains approximately 35 %
of intention variance
77
78 6 Las pruebas
fundamentales
desired rewards. Factor analysis of the appealing rewards results yielded a ‘growth/
creativity’ factor. This factor included responses to a question on the value of using
one’s innovativeness and creativity; on the possibility to grow and learn; and on the
value of independence. This new factor variable was regressed against different
levels of intentionality, which was positive and statistically significant at the 0.001
level. The authors (p. 117) concluded: “Regarding entrepreneurial motivation, the
growth/creativity–dimension of valence appeared to function as the most powerful
ingredient of intentionality.”
The majority of the existing intentionality research indicates the presence of a
statistically significant relationship. Further, a meta-analysis undertaken by Zhao
et al. (2010) reported an effect size ( p̆ ) for openness to experience with intentional-
ity of 0.24. The effect size (p. 393) is the, “…estimated population effect size, after
correcting for measurement error in both the predictor and the criterion.”
Many of the new venture intentionality studies also examined and reported dif-
ferences in other personal characteristics related to creativity. The other characteris-
tics that appear to influence new venture intentionality are need for achievement and
propensity to take risk.

New Venturing

A substantial amount of research has focused on the extent to which personal

creativity influences the decision to create a new venture (i.e. become an entre-
preneur). Most of the research examines personal creativity level differences
between those who found new ventures and those who do not. The non-entrepre-
neurs are typically non-founding managers of existing businesses. A small amount
of the research examines the relationship between personal creativity and new
venture creation. The articles that focus on differences in personal cre- ativity
levels between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs are displayed in Table 6.2
below.
An example of the type of research in this area is the Robinson et al. (1991) study,
which used an attitudinal instrument to distinguish 54 entrepreneurs from 57 non-
entrepreneurs. The authors’ (p. 21) non-entrepreneurs were “…career white-collar
non-managers from two high-tech companies, a municipal government, and the
financial department of a major university.” The Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation
had four subscales: innovation, achievement, personal control and self-esteem. In a
stepwise discriminant analysis, the innovation measure was entered first with a sig-
nificance of 0.0001.
The majority of the extant research indicates a statistically significant difference
between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs with respect to personal creativity. A
meta-analysis undertaken by Zhao and Seibert (2006) finds a statistically significant
difference for openness to experience at the 0.01 level.
Many of the studies examined and reported differences in other personal charac-
teristics. The characteristics that appear to separate entrepreneurs from non-
entrepreneurs are need for achievement and propensity to take risk.
 New Venturing
Table 6.2 Creativity levels: entrepreneurs versus non-entrepreneurs
Related findings and level
Article Creativity measures Outcome measures Level of significance of significance
Hull et al. (1980) Creativity At least some ownership in Significant at 0.05 Propensity to take risks
3-item personality scale (unspecified) a business significant at 0.01
Smith and Miner (1984) Personal innovations Distinguishing fast-growth Significant at 0.05 Self achievement
Miner Sentence Completion entrepreneurs from significant at 0.01
Scale and an instrument created managers
by the researchers
Smith and Miner (1985) Personal innovations Distinguishing fast-growth Significant at 0.01 Self achievement
Miner Sentence Completion Scale entrepreneurs from significant at 0.01
and an instrument created by the managers
researchers
Miner (1990) Personal innovation Distinguishing high-growth Significant at 0.01 Self-achievement, avoiding
Miner sentence completion Scale entrepreneurs from risks, feedback of results
(Form T) managers and planning significant at
0.01
Caird (1991b) Creative tendency Distinguishing Business Significant at 0.05 for Need for achievement and
owners from other nurses and civil servants locus of control significant
General Enterprising Tendency occupational groups Significant at 0.01 for clerical at 0.01 for all occupational
Inventory trainees groups
Robinson et al. (1991) Innovation Distinguishing Significant at 0.0001 Measures of achievement,
Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation entrepreneurs from career personal control and
Inventory while collar workers self-esteem significant at
0.001
(continued)

79
 80
Table 6.2 (continued)
Related findings and level
Article Creativity measures Outcome measures Level of significance of significance
Cromie and O’Donaghue Creativity Distinguishing Significant at 0.001 Need for achievement,
(1992) General Enterprising Tendency entrepreneurs from locus of control and risk
Inventory managers taking significant at 0.001
Rosenfeld et al. (1993) Innovation and three subscales: Distinguishing Significant at 0.01
originality, efficiency and rule entrepreneurs from
conformity managers
Kirton Adaption-Innovation The efficiency subscale was
Inventory not significant
Engle et al. (1997) Innovativeness and three subscales: Distinguishing Innovation and originality Locus of control not
originality, efficiency and entrepreneurs from significant at 0.001; significant
conformity employees non-conformity significant
Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory at 0.05; efficiency not
significant
Hyrsky and Kangasharju Innovativeness Distinguishing founders Significant at 0.001
(1998) Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory from non-founders
Stewart et al. (1999) Preference for innovation Distinguishing Significant at 0.0001 Need for achievement
Innovation Scale of the Jackson entrepreneurs from significant at 0.0001;
Personality Inventory corporate managers risk-taking propensity
significant at 0.0001

6 The Core Evidence

Utsch et al. (1999) Innovativeness Distinguishing Significant at 0.05 for Need for achievement
Patchen’s (1965) interest in entrepreneurs from readiness to change at work; significant at 0.001
innovation scale managers significant at 0.001 for
interest in innovation at work
Miner (2000) Expert idea generator type Post-graduation Significant at 0.01 Personal achiever
Four way psychological typology of entrepreneurial activity significant at 0.01
entrepreneurs

Hmieleski and Corbett Proclivity for improvisation
(2006) Researchers created instrument
Zhao and Seibert (2006) Openness to experience
Meta-analysis
Frank et al. (2007) Innovative orientation
Researchers created instrument
Caliendo et al. (2014, Openness to experience
unpublished) Short versions of established
personality inventories
New Venturing
Started a business Significant at 0.01 for MBA
students; not significant for
undergraduate students
Distinguishing Significant at 0.01
entrepreneurs from
managers
Start-up Not significant Risk propensity significant
at 0.05
Self-employment entry Significant at 0.01 Internal locus of control
and high risk attitude
increase the probability of
self-employment entry
81
82 6 The Core Evidence

New Venture Outcomes

This section examines the extent to which personal creativity influences four new
venture outcomes: survival, employment growth, financial performance and venture
innovativeness. A sub-section that investigates the level of personal creativity dif-
ferences between entrepreneurs and small business owners is included here.

New Venture Survival

A small amount of research has focused on the extent to which personal creativity
influences new venture survival. The articles that focus on the relationship between
personal creativity and new venture survival are displayed below in Table 6.3. An

Table 6.3 Creativity and new venture survival

Related findings
Creativity Outcome Level of and level of
Article measures measures significance significance
Johnson and Creativity and Surviving Significant Need for
Ma (1995) innovation versus at 0.05 achievement
Researchers non-surviving significant at 0.001;
developed business locus of control
instrument owners. significant at 0.000;
calculated
risk-taking
(strategy)
significant at 0.000
Ciavarella et al. Openness to Long-term new Negative and
(2004) experience venture survival significant at
(8+ years) 0.05
Personal Life span of Negative and
Characteristics new venture significant at
Inventory – Form D 0.10
Beta = −0.592
Schmitt- Openness to Business Not
Rodermund experience survival significant
(2004) 45-item instrument
(Ostendorf 1990)
Caliendo et al. Openness to Business Not Internal locus of
(2014, experience survival significant control and high
unpublished) Short versions of risk attitude
established increase the
personality probability of
inventories self-employment
survival
Resultados de la nueva 83
empresa
example of the type of research in this area is the Johnson and Ma (1995) study,
which used a novel instrument to distinguish surviving from non-surviving business
owners. The authors’ creativity and innovation measure revealed a personal
creativity difference at the 0.05 level.
Overall, the small number of studies that relate personal creativity to the ten-
dency for businesses to survive is not convincing that creativity has much of a role
to play. The results lead the authors to more closely question whether such a rela-
tionship should have been expected in the first place.

Differences in Creativity between Entrepreneurs

and Small Business Owners

The articles that focus on creativity level differences between individuals who
founded high-growth companies and those who founded low-growth companies
(i.e. small businesses) are displayed below in Table 6.4. The definition of small
business remains a contentious one. In the articles presented here, the researchers
provide explanations of how to distinguish the groups. For example, Carland et al.
(1988, p. 99) offer the following definitions:
Small Business Owner: An individual who establishes and manages a business for the prin-
cipal purpose of furthering personal goals; the business must be the primary source of income
and will consume the majority of one’s time and resources; the owner perceives the business
as an extension of his or her personality, intricately bound with family needs and desires;
Entrepreneur: An individual who establishes and manages a business for the principal
purpose of profit and growth; the entrepreneur is characterized principally by innovative
behavior and will employ strategic management practices in the business.

An example of the type of research in this area is the Stewart et al. (1999) study
that uses the innovation scale of the Jackson Personality Inventory to distinguish
entrepreneurs from small business owners. The authors (p. 204) find that, “Small
business owners also lack the same degree of preference for innovation. Given the
relative significance of innovativeness in entrepreneurs, it would appear that creativ-
ity necessitates extended risk, because it entails coping with the potential outcomes
that are associated with untried venues. Small business owners appear to lack this
coalition of creativity and risk-taking.”
Overall, the research findings suggest that the two groups differ in terms of level
of personal creativity. A number of the studies also report statistically-significant
differences between the two groups with respect to need for achievement and pro-
pensity to take risk.

Table 6.4 Creativity levels: entrepreneurs versus small business owners
Article
Morris and Fargher (1974)
Carland et al. (1988)
Smith and Miner (1984)
Smith and Miner (1985)
Stewart et al. (1999)
Wagener et al. (2010)
Creativity measures
Creativity
Geometric Patterns
Test using the unique responses
index (Wallach and Kogan 1965)
Preference for innovation
Patchen Measure
Personal innovations
Miner Sentence Completion Scale
and an instrument created by the
researchers
Personal innovations
Miner Sentence Completion Scale
and an instrument created by the
researchers
Preference for innovation
Innovation Scale of the Jackson
Personality Inventory
Creativity
Researchers created instrument
Outcome measures
Distinguishing owner-operators
of high growth and low growth
businesses
Distinguishing entrepreneurs
from small business owners
Distinguishing fast-growth
entrepreneurs from slow-growth
entrepreneurs
Distinguishing fast-growth
entrepreneurs from slow-growth
entrepreneurs
Distinguishing entrepreneurs
from small business owners
Distinguishing successful
entrepreneurs from successful
small business owners
84
Related findings
Level of significance and level of significance
Significant at 0.01 Need for achievement
significant at 0.001
Statistical significance
suggested, but not
reported
Significant at 0.01 Self achievement
significant at 0.01
Significant at 0.01 Self achievement
significant at 0.01
Significant at 0.01 Need for achievement
significant at 0.001;
risk-taking propensity
6 The Core Evidence
significant at 0.05
Significant at 0.05 Risk-taking significant at
0.10; tolerance for
ambiguity significant at
0.05
Resultados de la nueva 85
empresa

Growth and Performance

The articles that focus on the relationship between personal creativity and new ven-
ture job creation are displayed below in Table 6.5. An example of the type of
research in this area is the Utsch and Rauch (2000) study, which used Patchen’s
(1965) interest in innovation scale to find a positive and statistically-significant rela-
tionship between innovativeness and new venture employment growth.
On balance, past research indicates a statistically significant relationship between
individual creativity and new venture employment growth. A meta-analysis that
might more effectively demonstrate the strength of relationship has not been under-
taken in this area.
Some of the articles also report a statistically-significant and positive relation-
ship between need for achievement and employment growth.
The research that addresses the relationship between the personal creativity of
the lead entrepreneur and new venture financial performance uses a variety of out-
come measures such as increase in gross sales, return on investment and profit
growth. The articles that focus on the relationships are displayed below in Table 6.6.
An example of the type of research in this area is the Bellu (2003) study, which used
the Miner Sentence Completion Scale to investigate personal innovation of 38
growth-oriented entrepreneurs in a depressed region of Italy. The author found that
personal innovation was positively correlated with growth in new venture sales at
the 0.01 level of statistical significance.
The majority of extant evidence indicates the existence of a positive, statistically-
significant relationship. Three meta-analyses have been undertaken. The first, by
Rauch and Frese (2007), report a corrected r of 0.273 and indicate statistical signifi-
cance but do not report it. Rauch et al. (2009) report a corrected r of 0.242 and
indicate statistical significance but do not report it. Zhao et al. (2010) find an effect
size of 0.21 and report statistical significance at the 0.01 level. The effect size
(p. 393) is the, “…estimated population effect size, after correcting for measure-
ment error in both the predictor and the criterion.”
A number of the studies also report a positive and statistically-significant rela-
tionship between need for achievement and new venture financial performance.

Some Synopses of Studies Related to Financial Performance

The following studies are illustrative of the strength of the relationship between
various measures of the lead entrepreneurs’ personal creativity and different mea-
sures of the financial performance of their firms. The following studies illustrate the
potential of a lead entrepreneur’s personal creativity measures to potentially predict
the financial outcome performance of their ventures.
McGaffey and Christy (1975) measured an aspect of cognitive complexity that
“… emphasizes the way a person combines information for adaptive and creative

Table 6.5 Creativity and new venture employment growth
Article
Miner et al. (1989)
Miner et al. (1994)
Walsh and Anderson (1995)
Utsch and Rauch (2000)
Tullar (2001)
Krauss et al. (2005)
Frank et al. (2007)
Creativity measures
Personal innovation
Miner Sentence Completion
Scale
Personal innovation
Miner Sentence Completion
Scale
Innovativeness
Kirton Adaption-Innovation
Inventory
Innovativeness
Patchen’s (1965) interest in
innovation scale
Personal innovation
Miner Sentence Completion
Scale
Innovative orientation
Researchers created instrument
Innovative orientation
Researchers created instrument
86
Related findings and level of
Outcome measures Level of significance significance
Mean annual growth Significant at 0.01 Self-achievement significant at 0.01
in employees Avoiding risks significant at 0.05
Growth in employees Significant at 0.05 Self-achievement significant at 0.01
Employment growth Not significant
Employment growth Significant at 0.05
Employment growth Significant at 0.01 for Self-achievement significant at 0.01
Russians and 0.05 for for both groups on both dependent
Americans variables
Employment Growth Not significant Achievement orientation and
6 The Core Evidence
risk-taking not significant
Employment growth Not significant Risk propensity significant at 0.05
 New Venture Outcomes
Table 6.6 Creativity and new venture financial performance
Related findings and
Article Creativity measures Outcome measures Level of significance level of significance
McGaffey and Christy (1975) Integrative complexity Increase in Gross Sales Significant at 0.05
Integrative Complexity Assessment r = 0.85
Instrument (Schroder et al. 1967)
Khan (1986) Creativity Return on Investment Significant at p = 0.014
Researcher created instrument
Khan (1987) Creativity/Ingenuity Return on Investment Significant at p = 0.0396
Researcher created instrument Accounts for 71 % of the
performance variance
Miner et al. (1989) Personal innovation Mean annual growth in Not significant Self-achievement
sales significant at 0.01
Miner Sentence Completion Scale Avoiding risks
significant at 0.05
Miner et al. (1994) Personal innovation Growth in sales Significant at 0.05 Self-achievement
Miner Sentence Completion Scale Current yearly income Not significant significant at 0.01 for
both measures
Utsch and Rauch (2000) Innovativeness Profit growth Significant at 0.05
Patchen’s (1965) interest in innovation
scale
Tullar (2001) Personal innovation Sales growth Significant at 0.05 for Self-achievement
Miner Sentence Completion Scale Americans; not significant significant at 0.01 for
for Russians both groups on both
dependent variables
Bellu (2003) Personal Innovation Sales Growth Significant at 0.01 Self-achievement and
Miner Sentence Completion Scale Profitability growth Significant at 0.01 risk-avoidance
significant 0.01
(continued)

87
Table 6.6 (continued)
Article
Schmitt-Rodermund (2004)
Baron and Markman (2005)
Krauss et al. (2005)
Rauch and Frese (2007)
Hmieleski and Corbett (2008)
Lim et al. (2008)
Rauch et al. (2009)
Nga and Shamuganathan
(2010)
88
Related findings and
Creativity measures Outcome measures Level of significance level of significance
Openness to experience Gross corporate income Significant at 0.10
45-item instrument (Ostendorf 1990)
Openness to experience Personal Income from Negative and significant at
NEO-FFI Scale (Costa and McRae business 0.01
1992)
Innovative orientation Business growth scale Not significant Achievement
(profit, customer and sales orientation significant
growth) at 0.01
Researchers created instrument Risk-taking
orientation not
significant
Innovativeness Business Success (multiple Significance indicated but Need for achievement
measures) not reported corrected r = 0.304
Meta-analysis Corrected r = 0.273
Proclivity for improvisation Sales Growth No direct effect Self-efficacy
Researchers created instrument significantly
moderates the
relationship at 0.01
Creativity Business performance Negative and significant at
(fixed 0.01
Researchers created instrument costs divided by variable
6 The Core Evidence
costs or minimum cost
production)
Innovativeness Business performance No significance reported Risk taking corrected
Meta-analysis (multiple measures) Corrected r = 0.242 r = 0.195
Openness to experience Profit growth Significant at 0.05
Big Five personality measures (Schmit Beta = 0.278
et al. 2000)

Zhao et al. (2010) Openness to experience
Meta-analysis
Messersmith and Wales Innovativeness
(2011) Covin and Slevin (1989) EO scale
Gielnik et al. (2012) Divergent thinking and generation of
original business ideas
Researchers created instrument
Kreiser et al. (2013) Innovativeness
Researchers created instrument
Wales et al. (2013) Innovativeness
Covin and Slevin (1989) EO scale
Entrepreneurial
performance
Sales growth
Business growth scale
(profit, sales and customer
growth)
Satisfaction with Sales
Growth
Growth in sales, operating
profit and return on assets
New Venture Outcomes
Significant at 0.01
Effect size: p̆ = 0.21
Not significant Risk taking not
significant
Original business ideas
significant at 0.01;
divergent thinking not
significant
Significant at 0.05
(curvilinear – U shape)
Significant at 0.05
(curvilinear – inverted U)

89
90 6 Las pruebas
fundamentales
purposes…. Highly complex integrative functioning entails multiple and simultane-
ous alternative perspectives, abstract thinking, and minimally fixed or rigid rules for
dealing with novel information (p. 858). The authors found the measure of cognitive
complexity on sentence completion exercises was significantly related to the rate of
business growth (measured by increase in sales) of 50 businesses (from 1 to 100
employees, all profitable businesses) in a major Midwestern US city. The multiple
correlation score between the measures of cognitive complexity and the measure of
‘financial growth’ yielded an R score of 0.85 (R squared = 0.72) at a probability of
less than 0.05.
Miner et al. (1989) based their research on task motivation theory, which they
claim “is largely synonymous with McClelland’s achievement motivation theory. In
fact, the original objective was simply to recast the theory in role-motivation format.
In its final form, however, task theory appears to place somewhat greater emphasis
on the concept of role and specifies five separate motive patterns rather than the
single achievement motive.”(p. 554). The five different role and related motivational
base are as follows:

Exhibit 6.1 Roles and motivational bases of task theory as originally stated
Role
1. Self-achievement (or individual
achievement)
2. Risk taking
3. Feedback of results (or seeking
results of behavior)
4. Personal innovation
5. Planning for the future (or
planning and goal setting)
Motivational base
A desire to achieve through one’s own efforts and to be
able to clearly attribute any success to personal causation
A desire to take moderate risks that can be handled
through one’s own efforts
A desire for some clear index of the level of performance
A desire to introduce novel, innovative, or creative solutions
A desire to think about the future and anticipate future
possibilities

The sample was composed of 118 American entrepreneurs who had won National
Science Foundation (NSF) grants for their ventures. A comparison sample was
composed of 41 additional NSF grant winners who were manager/scientists and not
founders of their companies. Over 60 % of the sample had PhDs with the remainder
holding other advanced degrees. The Miner Sentence Completion Scale T was used
to measure the different aspects of the motivational make-up of the independent
variable. The dependent variables included mean annual growth in number of
employees and in sales. The correlation between the MSCS-T sub-scales and mean
annual growth in employees and sales respectively were as follows: self-achievement
(.49** & .35**), avoiding risks (.18* & .24*), feedback of results (.28** & .21*),
personal innovation (.32** & .13), and planning for the future (.24** & .39**). 1
Five and one half years later, Miner et al. (1994) conducted a follow-up on this
study. This time the study was on 59 responding entrepreneurs. The researchers

1
*p < 0.05 **p < 0.01
New Venture Outcomes91

classified the companies into high and low growth firms by whether or not they had
increased their sales by $1 million a year or not. Twenty-one firms were classified
as high growth. The MSCS-T was administered again (1994, p. 629).
The total score results were quite consistent across all analyses, with correlations rising into
the high .40s in the case of follow-up data. Among the subscales, self-achievement and
planning for the future were strong in both the concurrent and predictive analyses. Feedback
of results was significantly related to the criterion initially, but not at follow-up. Personal
innovation was a significant predictor at follow-up, but was not significant in the initial
concurrent study. Although avoiding risks produced a minimally significant correlation in
the concurrent analysis, this relationship no longer obtained at follow-up.

In these two studies across time it is interesting that entrepreneurial creativity

was a useful predictor of high growth in a sample of technologically innovative
firms even though it failed to be demonstrated in concurrent data. This study is
exceptional in that the social sciences provide us with relatively little clear evidence
of the predictive validity of concepts and measures.
Wiklund (1999) used the Covin and Slevin measure of Entrepreneurial
Orientation on a sample of 132 small Swedish firms during three consecutive years.
The entrepreneurial orientation scale, the independent variable, was composed of
three subscales: innovation, proactiveness and risk-taking. The dependent variable
was a performance composite variable. The performance construct consisted of
three financial performance indicators and four measures of growth. Entrepreneurial
orientation correlated with performance at 0.16 (0.05 significance) in the first year
and at 0.25 (0.01 significance) in the second year. The author concluded that the
relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance increases over
time. Although this study buries creativity within a larger instrument it provides yet
additional evidence of the predictive potential of entrepreneurial creativity when it
comes to financial performance and growth. It is possible that the other measures in
the instrument might be at least partially descriptive of a broader conception of
entrepreneurial creativity such as the one provided by Sternberg and Lubart (1999).
Utsch and Rauch (2000) set out to discover if innovativeness was a mediator
between achievement orientation and venture performance. A sample was drawn of
201 German founding entrepreneurs who had started businesses between 1990 and
1992. The innovation scale was composed of two 5-point questionnaire items taken
from Patchen (1965). A second scale, achievement orientation, was created from
four other scales: locus of control, need achievement, higher order need strength,
and self-efficacy.2 Venture performance was measured by employment growth and
profit growth. Innovativeness was used to explain profit growth and employee
growth (both at a 0.23 correlation at a 0.05 level of significance). The achievement
orientation measure was also significantly correlated (0.38) with growth at a 0.001
level of significance. As with a number of these studies, this study suggests the
value of using measures of creativity based on a broader conception than is typically
found in entrepreneurship research.

2
All four factors loaded at a 0.001 level on this scale.
92 6 Las pruebas
fundamentales
Bellu (2003) studied 38 growth-oriented entrepreneurs in a depressed region of
Italy. Eighty percent of the firms had been in business for over 5 years. Over 50 % of
the firms had more than 26 employees with some having over 150. ‘Personal innova-
tion’, ‘self-achievement’ and ‘risk avoidance’ were measured using the Miner Sentence
Completion Scale (e.g. Smith and Miner 1985). The criterion variable included both
sales and profit measures, as well as “the average percentage increase in sales for the
five-year period” which was “81 % and correspondingly that for profit was 83 %” (p.
169). Bellu (p. 169) states that the Miner sentence completion test overall showed
“substantial correlations between the total score for MSCS-T with sales and profit: 0.69
and 0.78 respectively, both at p = <0.01.”. The correlations and significance levels of the
three MSCS subscales and the growth in sales were respectively as follows: personal
innovation (0.58 with p < 0.01), self-achievement (0.58 with p < 0.01) and risk-avoid-
ance (0.70 with p < 0.01) for growth in sales. The correlations and significance levels of
the three MSCS subscales and the growth in profits were respectively as follows: per-
sonal innovation (0.47 with p < 0.01), self-achievement (0.65 with p < 0.01) and risk-
avoidance (0.67 with p < 0.01). Overall the total score of the MSCS-T scale correlated
0.89 with growth in sales (p < 0.01) and 0.78 with growth in profits (p < 0.01). In this
study of fast growing firms evidence is generated to demonstrate that entrepreneurial
creativity is useful for predicting differences between growth in sales and profitability
amongst the group. The comparisons are all amongst fast growing firms, making this a
strong test of the relationship between entrepreneurial creativity and growth.
The statistical measures provided in these five studies illustrate the potential of
creativity measures of lead entrepreneurs to be strongly related to the financial per-
formance of their firms. These studies are uncommon because much of the pub-
lished research at this time still limits itself to reporting p values. The emerging
evidence presented here suggests that the entrepreneurial creativity finding holds
across a spectrum of firm sizes and growth rates. It would appear that entrepreneur-
ial creativity is positively correlated with both initial and ongoing firm growth.

Creativity and Innovation

The articles that focus on the relationship between personal creativity and venture
innovativeness are displayed below in Tables 6.7 and 6.8. Table 6.7 presents find-
ings for creativity measured at the individual level. Table 6.8 presents findings for
creativity measured at the organization level. An example of the type of research in
this area is the Verhees and Meulenberg (2004) study, which used Leavitt and
Walton’s (1975) scale to measure innovativeness and Goldsmith and Hofacker’s
(1991) to measure product innovation.
It should be noted that many of the studies in this section focus on small to
medium size enterprises that contain as many as 250 employees. In addition, two of
the studies are somewhat unusual. The Kraft (1989) piece uses percentage of sales
related to products developed in last 5 years to distinguish owner-managers and
hired managers. The de Jong and Vermeulen (2006) piece investigated the influence
 New Venture Outcomes
Table 6.7 Creativity and venture innovativeness
Related findings and level
Article Creativity measures Outcome measures Level of significance of significance
Kraft (1989) % of sales related to products Distinguishing owner-managers Significant at 0.10
developed in last 5 years from hired managers

Salavou and Lioukas Proactivness Perceptual measure of new product Significant at 0.01
(2003) Risk taking innovativeness Significant at 0.10
Naman and Slevin (1993) scale
Verhees and Innovativeness Product innovation [model mediated Innovativeness – domain-
Meulenberg (2004) by domain-specific innovativeness specific innovativeness:
(Goldsmith and Hofacker 1991)] significant at 0.01
Leavitt and Walton’s (1975) Beta = 0.48
scale Domain-specific
innovativeness – Product
innovation: significant at
0.01
Beta = 1.61
de Jong and Owner-Manager support for Recent product introductions: Significant at 0.05 for
Vermeulen (2006) innovation (self reported) 1. new to firm Wholesale and Transport,
2. new to industry Retail, Hotel and Catering
and Knowledge-intensive
Services; Significant at
0.01 for Construction
Significant at 0.10 for
Manufacturing, Hotel and
Catering, and Knowledge-
intensive Services;
Significant at 0.05 for
Construction

93
(continued)
Table 6.7 (continued)

Article Creativity measures
Avlonitis and Entrepreneurial orientation
Salavou (2007) Covin and Slevin (1986, 1988)
EO scale
Renko et al. (2009) Entrepreneurial orientation
Knight’s (1997) scale
Rhee et al. (2009) Entrepreneurial orientation
Khandwalla’s (1977) scale
Alam (2011) Innovativeness and openness to
experience
Researcher created instrument
Baron and Tang Creativity
(2011) Modes of problem solving
Shalley and Perry-Smith (2001)
Outcome measures
New product uniqueness
Product innovativeness
Innovativeness [mediated model
tested with three factors found to
influence learning orientation (LO)]
Firm innovation capability
Radicalness of innovations
94
Related findings and level
Level of significance of significance
Significant at 0.00
Not significant
EO positively influences
LO, significant at 0.01;
Beta = 0.16
LO positively influences
innovativeness, significant
at 0.01
Innovativeness significant Need for achievement
at 0.05 significant at p = 0.012
Beta = 0.158 (Beta = 0.277); risk taking
Openness to experience behavior significant at
significant at 0.05 p = 0.006 (Beta = 0.211);
self-confidence significant
Beta = 0.130
at 0.002 (Beta = 0.348)
Significant at 0.05

6 The Core Evidence

Romero and Intrinsic motivation Product innovation Not significant
Martínez-Román Process innovation Significant at 0.05
(2012)
Alegre and Chiva Entrepreneurial orientation Innovation performance Significant at 0.01
(2013) Covin and Slevin (1989) EO
scale
Martínez-Román and Intrinsic motivation Degree of product innovation Significant at 0.05
Romero (2013)
Resultados de la nueva 95
empresa
Table 6.8 Firm-level creativity and venture innovativeness
Ar and Baki (2011) Creative capability Product innovation Significant at 0.05
CENTRIM innovation
model
Sok and O’Cass Innovation capability Innovation-based Significant at 0.01
(2011) Researchers created performance R2 = 0.16 (R2 = 0.5
instrument when learning
capability
mediates the
relationship)

of self-reported owner-manager support for innovation on recent product introduc-

tions. Each piece is included because it appears to shed light on the relationship
between personal creativity and innovation.
Most of the empirical findings indicate the existence of a positive, statistically-
significant relationship between individual creativity and innovation. The two firm-
level studies also suggest a positive and statistically-significant relationship.

Need for Achievement

Finally at the time of writing, research evidence on need for achievement was already
well understood to have a noteworthy impact on entrepreneurial performance, and it
was therefore decided only to overview this research. The remaining question was not
whether need for achievement was an impactful variable but whether a larger concept
of creativity could be demonstrated to have even more power as both a predictive and
an explanatory theory of entrepreneurial performance. A Collins et al. (2004) meta-
analysis revealed a mean correlation (r) between achievement motivation and perfor-
mance of 0.46 for known group studies and 0.18 for individual studies. The authors
(p. 111) suggest that, “…achievement motivation may be particularly potent at dif-
ferentiating between successful and unsuccessful groups of entrepreneurs.” More
recently, Stewart and Roth (2007) employed a meta-analysis that used more powerful
statistics in its analysis. Stewart and Roth reported that growth-oriented owners differ
markedly from income-oriented owners on need for achievement (average observed
effect size (Cohen’s) d = 0.67). The Cohen’s d is a standardized measure of effect size
that removes some of the problems with social science scales. A Cohen d effect size
around 0.5 is considered a medium size effect while an effect size of above 0.8 is
considered large. The Stewart and Roth meta-analysis of impact of need for achieve-
ment, all by itself, on average, produces approximately a ten percent change in
normalized entrepreneurial performance variance.
While need for achievement has been theoretically integrated into a macro-level
understanding of the role of entrepreneurship in economic development (McClelland
1961) it was less developed at the micro level. At the level of the individual
96 6 Las pruebas
fundamentales
entrepreneur, McClelland’s theory, as it stands, might be thought of as a small
theory with limited theoretical implications. Based on the weight of evidence to
date, need for achievement findings require a strong theoretical context to make
sense of its impact, or it is liable to be lumped in with other performance relevant
variables willy-nilly, as happened with Shane’s general theory where need for
achievement is undifferentiated in importance from the other 80 plus disparate vari-
ables in his general theory model. Fortunately, throughout the discipline of creativity,
need for achievement is recognized, in parts or as a whole, as creative motivation.

Discussion

An examination of the 70 studies relating personal creativity to entrepreneurial

intentions, activities and outcomes provides a number of useful insights. It appears
that entrepreneurship scholars who examine the effects of creativity on aspects of the
new venture process have pushed beyond the original Schumpeter model, despite
often recognizing Schumpeter as the source of their idea. Implicitly at least, as is
demonstrated from the designs of these studies, they have expanded their ideas
regarding causal factors beyond Schumpeter’s concept of entrepreneurial motivation
and they have expanded their notions of relevant outcome variables beyond new
combinations. They appear to expect that entrepreneurial creativity should be useful
to predict a variety of other entrepreneurial outcomes.
The influence of personal creativity has been heavily investigated via a number
of instruments across numerous geographic contexts during the past four decades.
The research sheds substantial light on entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors, as
well as the differences amongst entrepreneurs, non-entrepreneurs and small busi-
ness owners. Table 6.9 below summarizes the overall findings.

Table 6.9 Summary of findings: personal creativity and aspects of new venturing
Relationship
Intentionality
Entrepreneurs versus
non-entrepreneurs
New venture survival
Entrepreneurs versus small
business owners
Employment growth
Financial performance
Innovation
Finding
Strong likelihood of a positive relationship
A meta-analysis finds an effect size ( p̆ ) for openness to
experience of 0.24
Strong likelihood of a difference between the two groups
A meta-analysis finds a statistically significant difference for
openness to experience at the 0.01 level
Insufficient evidence to indicate the existence of a relationship
Strong likelihood of a difference between the two groups
Some evidence in favor of a positive relationship
Strong likelihood of a positive relationship
Three meta analyses report the following findings: corrected r
of 0.273; corrected r of 0.242; and, an effect size ( p̆ ) of 0.21
Some evidence in favor of a positive relationship
Resultados de la nueva 97
empresa
The existing personal creativity research appears (with limited exceptions) to
provide substantial support for the step model predicted by the general theory of
entrepreneurial creativity.
First, the dimension that is of greatest interest is that of financial performance.
Here, there are three meta-analyses that provide support for the contention that the
personal creativity of the lead entrepreneur is not only statistically significant in its
relationship with financial performance but practically significant as well.
Second, the dimension that has the least amount of support is new venture survival.
Third, the review here uncovered a number of non-significant findings and even
a few negative findings because the review was comprehensive of negative findings,
unlike Shane’s review.
Fourth, the research emphasis on each aspect of entrepreneurial activity varies.
The financial performance, intentionality, entrepreneurs versus non-entrepreneurs
research and innovation streams contain 21, 18, 17 and 15 studies, respectively. The
employment growth, entrepreneurs versus small business owners and survival
research streams contain seven, six and four studies, respectively.
Fifth, a sufficient amount of research has been undertaken in certain veins to
allow for systematic reviews. The meta-analyses that are reported here shed greater
light on the extent to which varied limited measures of personal creativity influence
entrepreneurial intentions; distinguishes entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs;
and, impacts new venture financial performance.
Sixth, the research indicates that entrepreneurship scholars use personal creativ-
ity measurement instruments that only focus on personality variables or thinking
styles. They have not yet adopted modern, more complex and multi-dimensional
views of creativity (c.f. Sternberg 1999) that include creative aspects of personality,
thinking styles, intellect, motivation, knowledge, and environmental influences.
Entrepreneurship scholars often include a motivation variable, usually characterized
as need to achieve, in their research but they do not view it as a component of cre-
ativity. Knowledge and intellect are not considered.
In addition, the field of entrepreneurship has only begun to explore the complex char-
acter of entrepreneurial creativity. It is reasonable to posit that entrepreneurial creativity
is a distinct variation of creative ability. Further still, in the future it will be desirable to
scientifically study threshold and interaction effects.
Seventh, the research still focuses on p values, leaving a lot to learn about effect
sizes.
Eighth, the research designs found here represent a fairly limited set relative to
those employed in the field of creativity (c.f. Mayer 1999). Creativity researchers
utilize psychometric, experimental, biographical, biological, computational and
contextual research designs. The addition of more research designs may produce an
even more comprehensive understanding of entrepreneurial creativity and its rele-
vance to new venturing.
Ninth, the entrepreneurial creativity research has not yet focused its attention on
the upper end of entrepreneurial performance (i.e. those who amass substantial
wealth). Creativity researchers, by comparison, have more thoroughly investigated
the creativity levels of highly successful individuals from a variety of other disci-
plines such as fine arts and music.
98 6 Las pruebas
fundamentales
Tenth, the research examined here does not shed light on the extent to which the
creative abilities of other entrepreneurial team members influences new venture
intentions and outcomes.
Eleventh and finally, need for achievement alone, may justify the centrality of
creativity within the entrepreneurship field. Important questions remain about how
much added predictive power other creativity variables provide. What will be the
relative predictive power of other creativity variables once they are more fully stud-
ied? What overall models of entrepreneurial creativity will yield the most predictive
power in the most economical way? As Popper states, a good scientific theory
should also possess substantial explanatory power. The next chapter demonstrates
the additional explanatory power of the entrepreneurial creativity theory over a min-
imalist theory of need-for-achievement.

Conclusion

A number of conclusions can be drawn from the survey of existing personal creativ-
ity research focused on entrepreneurial intention and activity. First, personal cre-
ativity distinguishes individuals with new venture intention from those without such
intentions. Second, individuals who start new ventures are more creative than their
non-start-up counterparts. Third, personal creativity is directly linked to business
performance with the exception of business survival. Then there is the intriguing
possibility that the apparent failure of more creative founders to better sustain their
ventures may not infrequently rather be the wisdom to let marginal ventures fail.
Fourth, single measures of creativity appear to have a substantial impact on entre-
preneurial performance. Fifth, since in the social sciences one needs to be con-
cerned whether findings are merely an artifact of methods or measures (Campbell
and Fiske 1959), it is important that entrepreneurial creativity findings tend to hold
across different conceptualizations, measures, samples and geographical contexts.
Sixth, the findings are not infrequently practically significant as well as statistically
significant. This is perhaps, all the more impressive given that measurement is par-
ticularly difficult in the field of creativity (c.f. Clapham 2004). Seventh, the existing
personal creativity research appears to provide substantial support for the step
model employed as a basis for prediction by the general theory of entrepreneurial
creativity. Finally, the need for achievement variable has been demonstrated to
possess a noteworthy effect size on its own as only one component of a confluence
theory of creativity.
Chapter 7
A General Theory and Its Explanatory Power

Abstract Now that we appreciate that entrepreneurial creativity might be relatively

well supported as a potentially predictive theory by the empirical literature, other
questions may occur to us. How well does this general scientific theory compare
with other existing general scientific theories? To what extent does the theory of
entrepreneurial creativity have broad explanatory power, explaining entrepreneurial
success?

There are few established general scientific theories in the social sciences. One of
the most recent is Gottfredson and Hirshi’s (1990) General Theory of Crime (GTC).
An analysis of the similarities and differences of the GTC and the general theory of
entrepreneurial creativity (GTEC) may provide a useful means of evaluating the
GTEC, given that few established criteria exist for evaluating any general social
scientific theory, and that GTC is self-consciously a general scientific theory.
The first similarity is that GTC and the GTEC attempt to empirically explain
central outcomes in their respective fields, crime and business success/innovation,
respectively, by reference to selected attributes of individuals, low self-control and
creativity, respectively. Second, the GTC and the GTEC intend to explain all
instances of central outcomes, independent of history and geography – from the
Age of Rome to the New Millennium, and from Afghanistan to America. Third, the
GTC and GTEC do not attempt to differentiate focal individuals. The GTC does not
distinguish amongst burglars, smugglers or white collar criminals. The GTEC does
not distinguish amongst individuals launching convenience stores, professional
firms or biotechnology companies except to the degree that new venture financial
performance and/or innovation are involved.
Fourth, the theories focus on key outcome variables. It is a matter of no small
importance that development of the GTC began with an understanding of a key
dependent variable, the nature of crime. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990, p. 82) argue
that the positivistic science practiced in fields such as sociology, psychology and
economics lays claim to independent variables, which in turn become respective
starting points:
Positivistic social science resists general schemes or theories. As a consequence, it
proliferates concepts without concern for their distinctiveness or significance. This pro-
duces endless distinctions among behavioral categories and generates apparent interest in

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 99

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_7
100 7 Una teoría general y su poder explicativo

the countless permutations and combinations of units and their properties (e.g., internal
labor markets of multinational firms devoted to extractive economies; male gang drug-
related drive-by shootings; ideology and voting patterns among Southern workers in the
1930’s).

The GTEC developed from an initial consideration of both the nature of the
entrepreneurial outcomes (i.e. new combinations) and the entrepreneurial process
(i.e. complex, ill-defined and open-ended). Although established business disci-
plines have carved up the entrepreneurship field for research purposes, they have
largely focused their attentions on independent variables and intermediate business
processes.
Fifth, the independent variables in each theory are not intended to be solely
determinative of the dependent variables. Although the independent variable of the
GTC, an individual’s lack of self-control, may manifest itself via criminal behavior,
it may equally well manifest itself in a variety of non-criminal activities such as
accidents, smoking and alcohol abuse. Thus, the author’s (1990, p. 91) note: “Our
image therefore implies that no specific act, type of crime, or form of deviance is
uniquely required by the absence of self-control.” Similarly, the high entrepreneur-
ial creativity test scores of artists and scientists may be associated with a strong
ability to convince others of the value of their ideas. There is no particular reason to
expect measures of entrepreneurial creativity to only predict growth and innovation
of independent, new ventures.
Sixth, the theories may share a similar limitation related to level of generaliz-
ability. Both the GTC and the GTEC may have societal level implications, but are
focused on micro-level issues. Accordingly, the theories say less about the societal
levels of crime and societal levels of entrepreneurship.
Seventh, both theories tend to raise questions about the emergence of the pre-
cipitating tendencies in people. What kinds of circumstances and environmental
factors predispose people towards low self-control or towards high entrepreneurial
creativity?
The first difference between the GTC and the GTEC lies in how explanatory
power is demonstrated for each theory. Here, Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) faced
the problem of demonstrating the relative merits of their theory vis-à-vis a sizeable
number of existing theories within the field. Their strategy was to develop a compet-
ing theory that more effectively accounted for some of the most robust findings in the
field of criminology: (1) that overwhelmingly, criminals don’t specialize by type of
crimes, moving fluidly from one type to another; (2) that choice of crime is typically
made not by potential payoff but by proximity, ease and convenience; (3) that crimi-
nal behavior peaks around age 18–20 and declines rapidly after that; (4) that criminal
behavior can be predicted from an early age, and is in that sense, relatively stable
over time; (5) that gender accounts for marked differences in criminal participation;
and, (6) that some races and ethnicities are much more likely to participate in crimi-
nality than others. The entrepreneurship field, by contrast, lacks a similar small set of
extremely robust findings by which to challenge the veracity of a general theory.
Second, there is a substantial contrast in the degree and nature of historical con-
tinuity between the theories. As illustrated in Exhibit 7.1 below, the GTEC is built
7 A General Theory and Its Explanatory Power101

Entrepreneurial Creativity Entrepreneurial Outcomes

New Combinations (including tech. innovations)

Creative Resources
• Incidental
• Creative Intelligence • Incremental
• Creative Personality • Radical
• Creative Motivation
• Creative Thinking Styles
• Entrepreneurial Knowledge Degree of Development
• Environment • Intention
• Start-up
• Survival
• Growth and Profitability

Exhibit 7.1

squarely on the thinking of a father of the field of Entrepreneurship and thus

possesses historical continuity. The theory builds upon Schumpeter’s (1934, 1913
originally in German) propositions that: (1) entrepreneurs develop new business
combinations, and (2) entrepreneurs are unusually motivated, not so much by direct,
near-term outcomes but rather, in part, by the joy of participating in the creative
process. Here, new combinations are converted into a variable from a constant. The
degree of development and growth is added as a second entrepreneurial outcome. In
addition, the explanatory variable is dramatically expanded from an allusion to
intrinsic motivation to an entire confluent model of creative resources. The GTEC
explains that entrepreneurial creativity is not only needed for the creative develop-
ment and implementation of new venture concepts, but more generally for the
development of any new venture. This occurs fundamentally because the business
development problem/process is an open-ended, ambiguous type of problem/process
that lends itself well to creativity.
Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) also founded their thinking in that of a father of
their field. Classical theories in criminology are called ‘control theories’ because
they attempted to control criminal behavior through negative consequences meted
out by the criminal justice system (e.g. Bentham 1970 [1789]). Bentham viewed
criminals pursuing self-interest, and as a means of control, argued to change the
external calculus of payoff for the criminal. Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) observed
the criminal unwittingly trading off longer-term gain in favor of near instantaneous
payoff. From the perspective of the GTC, if criminals were in better control of their
thinking, they would make the necessary calculations and avoid criminal behaviors.
In that way, Gottfredson and Hirschi may be seen as turning Bentham’s thinking
inside out. As a result the GTC possesses less historical continuity than the modern-
ized Schumpetarian GTEC.
A third, and perhaps most important, difference between the GTC and GTEC is
the extent of pre-existing evidence in support of each theory. The empirical testing
and related evidence for the GTC has been overwhelmingly generated since its pub-
lication. In stark contrast, the GTEC has a substantial evidence base supporting its
102 7 Una teoría general y su poder explicativo

two core propositions at the time of its inception. The GTEC predicts that personal
entrepreneurial creativity will strongly and positively correlate with a number new
venture behaviors and outcomes. The evidence reviewed in the previous chapter pro-
vides substantial evidence for both the efficacy and the verisimilitude of the theory.

The Explanatory Power of the General Theory

of Entrepreneurial Creativity

According to Popper, explanation is the second most important function of a scien-

tific theory – prediction being the first. The evidence in Chap. 6 gives us confidence
that the personal creativity of a lead entrepreneur might be a reasonable basis for
predicting the performance of his or her ventures. Thus we can place reliance on the
predictive power of the GTEC. But what about its explanatory power? What exist-
ing findings in the field of entrepreneurship become more understandable as a result
of GTEC? Can the confluence theory headpiece (Sternberg and Lubart) of GTEC be
used to explain a number of important findings in the field of entrepreneurship? Are
there otherwise unrelated propositions that meaningfully become part of the creativ-
ity model? In this chapter, the six creative resources of the GTEC (i.e. personality,
motivation, thinking style, intelligence, knowledge, and environment) will be used
to channel findings from the science of creativity into the science of entrepreneur-
ship. Results from the two disciplines will be roughly compared. In the process,
ideas from the creativity field will be presented that also have the power to poten-
tially predict still more new findings within the entrepreneurship discipline. In that
sense the GTEC may also be viewed as a generative theory. Moreover, some of the
studies will continue to build the evidence base around GTEC’s primary or core
potentially predictive linkage between entrepreneurial creativity and entrepreneur-
ial performance.

Personality

Sternberg and Lubart (1999) list a number of personality attributes that are sup-
ported by numerous empirical findings: self-efficacy; take sensible risks; tolerate
ambiguity; non-conformity; and, willingness to overcome obstacles (perseverance).
Self-efficacy is defined by Bandura (1977) as a person’s belief in her/his ability to
succeed in a specific situation. The taking of sensible risks involves the uncertain
development of ideas that are potentially to be admired and regarded as trend-
setting. The tolerance of ambiguity involves an individual’s ability to neutrally and
openly perceive vague information. Non-conformity is an indication of an individ-
ual’s willingness to think and act independently with respect to the norms of a
group. Willingness to overcome obstacles is the inclination of an individual to con-
tinue on a path despite the difficulties.
El poder explicativo de la teoría general de la creatividad empresarial 103

Entrepreneurship scholars have made numerous attempts to test the relevance of

each personality attribute suggested by Sternberg and Lubart (1999). Rauch and
Frese (2007) conducted a meta-analysis and found that generalized self-efficacy had
effect sizes (corrected r) of 0.378 and 0.247 on business creation and business
success, respectively. Since then, Hmieleski and Corbett (2008) have found entre-
preneurial self-efficacy to positively moderate the relationship between an entrepre-
neur’s improvisational behavior and new venture performance.
A number of meta-analyses have been conducted on risk taking. Stewart and
Roth (2001) found that entrepreneurs with growth aspirations had a higher risk
propensity than those with a current income focus and a much higher risk propen-
sity than that of managers. Miner and Raju (2004) found lower effect sizes than the
first meta-analysis, motivating Stewart and Roth to conduct yet another one. The
second Stewart and Roth (2004) meta-analysis resulted in a slightly lower, yet rela-
tively consistent effect size for the difference between entrepreneurs and managers.
Rauch and Frese (2007) found that risk taking propensity had effect sizes (cor-
rected r) of 0.102 and 0.103 on business creation ̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂ and business success, respec-
tively. Zhao et al. (2010) found an effect size (p̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂̂) for risk propensity on new venture
intentions of 0.40. Zhao et al. did not find relevant effect sizes for new venture
performance.
There is no meta-analysis for the tolerance for ambiguity attribute. The
empirical studies that examine it do not yet provide much insight. Koh (1996)
found that tolerance for ambiguity positive influences new venture intentional- ity.
However, Gurol and Atsan (2006), Gurel et al. (2010) and Altinay et al. (2012)
found no evidence of a relationship. Wagener et al. (2010) found that tolerance for
ambiguity distinguishes successful entrepreneurs from successful small business
owners.
There is also no meta-analysis for the non-conformity attribute. Sexton and
Bowman (1984, 1986) found that entrepreneurs and managers differ significantly
on need for conformity. Buttner and Rosen (1988) found that loan officers at banks
rated successful entrepreneurs as much higher on non-conformity than men and
women in general. Rosenfeld et al. (1993) found non-conformity distinguishes
entrepreneurs from managers. Engle et al. (1997) found that non-conformity distin-
guishes entrepreneurs from employees.
There is no meta-analysis for the perseverance attribute. Baum and Locke (2004)
found that tenacity did not have a direct effect on new venture performance.

Motivation

Psychological and psychosocial research has investigated the relationship between

motivation and personal creativity for more than 30 years. The Intrinsic Motivation
Principle of Creativity, which developed as a result of the research efforts,
indicates that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations represent opposing effects on
104 7 Una teoría general y su poder explicativo

creativity. A contemporary view, however, argues that extrinsic motivation can,

under some conditions, provide a positive influence on creativity. Hennessey (2010,
p. 346) states that researchers, “…have a far more sophisticated and nuanced under-
standing of reward and evaluation effects and are quick to point out that not all
extrinsic contingencies can be expected to have the same deleterious impact.”
Theresa Amabile (1997, p. 23), one of the leading creativity and motivation
scholars, has proposed that extrinsic factors may play an unusually supportive role
in stimulating entrepreneurial creativity. Nevertheless, Amabile is quick to note the
inherent dangers represented by extrinsic factors.
Because entrepreneurial creativity requires implementation of novel, appropriate ideas in
the world of business, synergistic extrinsic motivators may be especially important.
Attention to the outside world - to what others are doing, to what others want, to what others
will recognize and reward - is necessary to gather the information that will lead to com-
mercial success. However, if those extrinsic motivators begin to make the entrepreneur feel
controlled by external circumstances or constraints, and if they therefore begin to under-
mine the original intrinsic excitement of the work, they are likely to undermine creativity
and reduce the possibility of success.

The research on entrepreneurial motivations, i.e. the stimuli for creating new
ventures, can be separated into a number of categories at the individual level
(Hessels et al. 2008). The first category can be characterized as push versus pull
reasons. According to Hessels et al. (p. 325):
These types of studies, being mostly conducted in developed countries where push motives
are less prevalent, report mostly pull motives such as autonomy (independence, freedom),
income and wealth, challenge, and recognition and status (Kolvereid 1996; Feldman and
Bolino 2000; Carter et al. 2003; Wilson et al. 2004). Autonomy or independence is one of
the most cited pull factors for starting a business (Shane et al. 1991; Kolvereid 1996; Carter
et al. 2003; Van Gelderen and Jansen 2006). However, individuals may also be pushed into
entrepreneurship (Thurik et al. 2008). Necessity motives for example occur when (a threat
of) unemployment forces people into self-employment.

The second category, characterized as cost-benefit studies, involves the use of

economic analyses to examine start-up motivations. The first of these studies,
Douglas and Shepherd (2002, p. 88), “…does not rely on assumptions of rationality
(common for most economic studies) but investigates the ‘black box’ of the entre-
preneur and reveals their decision/assessment policies.” The researchers find that
work effort and income do not appear to be relevant motivators with respect to self-
employment decisions.
The third category of entrepreneurial motivation studies focuses on psychologi-
cal constructs. The dominant construct in this category is need for achievement
(McClelland 1961). There are two meta-analyses that provide insight into the rele-
vance of need for achievement (nAch) as a source of entrepreneurial motivation.
Stewart and Roth (2007) find nAch to be a prominent characteristic of entrepre-
neurs, specifically those who pursue new venture growth. Zhao and Seibert (2006)
find that entrepreneurs possess substantially more nAch than managers.
El poder explicativo de la teoría general de la creatividad empresarial 105

Thinking Styles

Cognitive or thinking style refers to the manner in which an individual prefers to

organize, represent and process information. Sternberg (1997) characterizes think-
ing styles as functions of self-government: legislative, executive and judicial. He
(1997, p. 20) argues that the legislative style, described below, is particularly
beneficial for creative efforts.
Legislative people like to come up with their own ways of doing things, and prefer to decide
for themselves what they will do and how they will do it. Legislative people like to create
their own rules, and prefer problems that are not pre-structured or prefabricated.

The entrepreneurship research focused on thinking style has been promoted by a

variety of scholars (c.f. Buttner and Gryskiewicz 1993; Baron 1998; Allinson et al.
2000; Mitchell et al. 2002). Mitchell et al. (2002, p. 97) characterize entrepreneurial
thinking style as, “…the knowledge structures that people use to make assessments,
judgments, or decisions involving opportunity evaluation, venture creation, and
growth.”
A number of empirical studies have compared the thinking styles of entrepre-
neurs and non-entrepreneurs. Buttner and Gryskiewicz (1993, p. 29) used Kirton’s
(1984) Adapter-Innovator Index (KAI) to examine problem solving styles and
found that, “…entrepreneurs have a more innovative problem-solving style than
their managerial counterparts in larger U.S. organizations.” Rosenfeld et al. (1993)
also used the KAI and found that entrepreneurs scored significantly higher than
technology managers and the general population with respect to both means and
variances on KAI’s Innovator-Adaptor scale. Using the Innovation Scale of the
Jackson Personality Inventory (Jackson 1976), Stewart et al. (1999) found that
entrepreneurs manifest a stronger predisposition to be innovative than small busi-
ness owners.
Groves et al. (2008) used the Linear/Nonlinear Thinking Style Profile (Vance
et al. 2007) to find that, “…successful entrepreneurs reflected a much greater level
of balance in linear/nonlinear thinking style than their professional actor and
accountant counterparts, whose predominant linear versus nonlinear profiles fol-
lowed expected directions (e.g., actors greatly favor a nonlinear thing style while
accountants favor a linear style).” Groves et al. (2011) used the LNTSP again to find
that entrepreneurs exhibit much greater balance and versatility in linear and nonlin-
ear thinking than professional actors, accountants and frontline managers.
Entrepreneurs and senior managers, however, exhibited similar styles.
Allinson et al. (2000, p. 41) used the Cognitive Style Index (CSI) (Allinson and
Hayes 1996) and found that “…entrepreneurs (of high growth firms) are more intui-
tive than members of the general population and middle and junior managers, but
that, in terms of cognitive style, they are similar to senior managers.” Barbosa et al.
(2007) used the CSI and found that people characterized by an intuitive thinking
style do not exhibit higher levels of entrepreneurial intentions than people with an
analytic style.
106 7 Una teoría general y su poder explicativo

Brigham and Sorenson (2008) used the CSI to discover that high-technology
founding owner-managers are significantly more intuitive than the general popula-
tion and managers. They also found habitual (both serial and portfolio) entrepreneurs
to be significantly more intuitive than their novice counterparts. Armstrong and Hird
(2009) used the CSI to compare entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, and found the
former group to be more intuitive and less analytical than non-entrepreneurs.
Cools and Van den Broeck (2008) used their Cognitive Styles Indicator to inves-
tigate the extent to which the creating, knowing and planning cognitive styles
distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs and found no difference with
respect to the creating style. They found that entrepreneurs scored lower than non-
entrepreneurs on the knowing and planning styles.
A small number of studies have investigated the influence of thinking style on
aspects of new venture development. Ginn and Sexton (1990) used the Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator to compare thinking styles of fast-growth and slower-grower
entrepreneurs and found the former group to be significantly more intuitive. Sadler-
Smith (2004) used Sternberg’s (1997) Mental Self-Government Local and Global
Thinking Styles scales and Scott and Bruce’s (1995) General Decision-Making
Style questionnaire and found that global or local thinking styles had no impact on
firm performance and that intuitive decision style had a positive relationship with
sales growth. Ko (2008) used Sternberg and Wagner’s (1992) Thinking Styles
Inventory to find that only a liberal thinking style, which indicates a preference for
novel approaches to tasks, influenced the extent of firm-level innovation of technol-
ogy entrepreneurs.

Intelligence

A substantial amount of empirical research has examined the relationship between

IQ, the conventional measure of intelligence, and personal creativity. Many research-
ers subscribe to a threshold relationship which indicates a strong correlation between
intelligence and personal creativity up to IQ scores of 115 (~84th population per-
centile) to 120 (~91st percentile). Albert and Runco (1999, p. 28) review empirical
work and find that, “Above IQ 115, creativity and IQ constitute more or less inde-
pendent sets of abilities from late childhood on …” This kink in the relationship at
IQ 115 between creativity and IQ which afterwards frees creativity from its depen-
dency on IQ is referred to as the threshold theory of creative intelligence.
The field of entrepreneurship has focused very little research attention on the
relevance of personal intelligence. de Wit and van Winden (1989, p. 271) used
LO-IV test scores to find that, “A relatively high score on the IQ test applied at the
age of 12 appears to increase the likelihood of the individual becoming self-
employed.” The study does not address new venture outcomes. van Praag and
Cramer (2001) examined the relationship between IQ scores, measured via knowl-
edge and comprehension tests concerning school subjects at age 12, and entrepre-
neurial talent, indicated by the number of employees hired by their future ventures.
El poder explicativo de la teoría general de la creatividad empresarial 107

The researchers (p. 56) found that, “Intellectual capacity itself (as measured by IQ
score) has a positive influence on entrepreneurial talent.”
In his book, Shane (2003) includes a small number of studies that use uncorrobo-
rated measures of IQ to develop greater insight into the relevance of personal intel-
ligence. Based on the studies’ findings, he (p. 55) suggests that, “…entrepreneurs
have better cognitive capacity than non-entrepreneurs and therefore can identify
opportunities by thinking about them,” and that, “…intelligence is correlated with
the discovery of more valuable opportunities.”

Knowledge

There are two key debates in the field of creativity regarding the relevance of knowl-
edge to creative outcomes. The first debate involves the extent to which creativity is
domain-specific or domain-general (Baer, 2012). If creativity is domain-general, it
means that individuals can produce highly-creative outputs in a number of different
disciplines. According to Baer (2012, p. 337): “…being highly creative in just two
domains is indeed extraordinary, and it is almost impossible to find an example of
anyone being creative at the very highest level in three or more domains.” The
empirical evidence suggests that something may prevent highly creative people
from producing creative outputs in multiple domains. The mitigating factor may
simply be time (i.e. number of hours available to dedicate to assimilating requisite
knowledge).
The second debate directly addresses the extent to which knowledge plays a
fundamental role in creative output. The tension view proposes a non-linear rela-
tionship between knowledge and creativity. Weisberg (1999, p. 227) describes the
tension view:
Thus, while it is universally acknowledged that one must have knowledge of a field if one
hopes to produce something novel within it, it is also widely assumed that too much
experience can leave one in ruts, so that one cannot go beyond stereotypes responding. The
relationship between knowledge and creativity is assumed, therefore, to be shaped like an
inverted U, with maximal creativity occurring with some middle range of knowledge.

The foundation view, which stands in stark contrast to the tension view, proposes
that knowledge is positively correlated with creative outputs. Proponents of this
view (c.f. Hayes’ 10-year rule, 1989) suggest that deep immersion in fields such as
painting, poetry, music, physics and psychology is critical to producing creative
contributions. Weisberg (1999, p. 232) reviewed the research related to both views
and deemed that, “At this point, the only conclusion to be drawn is that a long period
of time in a domain seems to be a necessary, although not sufficient, condition for
notable contribution.”
The relationship between knowledge acquisition and entrepreneurial perfor-
mance has been tackled from a number of angles. The first angle is returns to formal
education. The most recent findings raise serious concerns about the extent to which
useful knowledge for successful new venturing is disseminated via formal education.
108 7 Una teoría general y su poder explicativo

Iversen et al. (2010, p. 179) use Danish labor market data to demonstrate substantial
variance in returns to schooling for the self-employed:
We show that the estimated average return to schooling of 6.5 % per year hides substantial
differences across different educational levels. Specifically, we find a highly non-linear
relationship with very low returns to most educational levels in self-employment. The
exceptions are a few specialized graduate levels of education (doctors and lawyers).

Mayer-Haug et al. (2013, p. 1264) used a quantitative meta-analysis to reveal

that education does not appear to play a significant role in new venture success:
Education is distinctive in that it presents the lowest effect size against two of our measured
dependent variables (education with sales: effect size=0.011, p=0.694, education with
profit: effect size=−0.011, p=0.739) and presents the lowest relationship with all perfor-
mance measures aggregated of any of our talent variables in direct effects (effect size=0.060,
p<0.001). This finding is also reflected in the meta-regression (see Table 6), indicating that
after controlling for different performance outcomes, every talent variable analyzed in the
models demonstrates a significantly stronger relationship to performance than education
since education is the excluded variable in the regression models.

The second research angle examines the efficacy of entrepreneurship education

with respect to specific new venture outcomes. There are two recent, related meta-
analyses. Rideout and Gray (2013, p. 329) used a qualitative meta-analytical
approach to review 12 entrepreneurship education outcome-based studies and made
the following conclusion: “Our systematic critique of the studies’ research methods
found a variety of methodological weaknesses, undermining confidence in the
belief that E-ed can produce entrepreneurship.” Martin et al. (2013) used a quantita-
tive meta-analytical approach to reveal a low effect size (weighted mean r = 0.166)
for entrepreneurship education and training (EET). The researchers (p. 221) pro-
posed that, “…EET is simply not developed enough at this point.”
The third research angle focuses on the utility of work experience. The Mayer-
Haug et al. (2013) meta-analysis mentioned above also examines the efficacy of a
wide variety of personal experiences. The researchers find that experience has a
consistently small but still noteworthy characterizing impact on a variety of venture
outcome variables: (effect size = 0.054, p = 0.008); number of employees (effect
size = 0.055, p = 0.007); sales (effect size = 0.088, p = 0.002); and profit (effect
size = 0.065, p = 0.005).
A fourth research angle is known as outsider assistance. This research program
focuses on the extent to which nascent entrepreneurs benefit from counseling ser-
vices. The majority of such studies focus on clients of Small Business Development
Centers in the United States. The studies (Chrisman et al. 2005, 2012; Chrisman and
McMullan 2004) indicate a positive return on the taxpayer dollars spent on centers.
Indirectly, the findings suggest that there are some types of knowledge that provide
economic value when offered in a timely fashion.
A fifth research angle, which has yet to take shape, is auto-didacticism.1 This
angle may prove to be the best option for a couple of reasons. First, the meta-

1
It is not uncommon for autodidacts to seek advice and instruction from others (e.g. SBDC
counselors).
El poder explicativo de la teoría general de la creatividad empresarial 109

analyzed formal education and experience findings show only modest promise.
Second, there are numerous examples of self-taught highly creative individuals
from numerous disciplines. The list includes, among others, Leonardo da Vinci,
James Watt, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Beatles used their many early live perfor-
mances to develop and refine their talent. It would appear that entrepreneurs such as
Bill Gates and Michael Dell fit on the list. They practiced and refined their entrepre-
neurship skills while being entrepreneurs in a way not dissimilar to that of the
Beatles who refined their artistry by performing more than once per day on average
beginning in 1960 (Weisberg 1999).

Environment

In the 1960s, Csikszentmihalyi (1999, p. 313) believed personal creativity to be a

purely intrapsychic process: “I assumed that one could understand creativity with
reference to the thought processes, emotions, and motivations of individuals who
produced novelty.” Over the years, he (p. 314) was compelled by research findings
to revise his thinking toward a much more socialized view of creativity: “Creativity
is a process that be observed only at the intersection where individuals, domains and
fields interact.” This ‘systems view’ is illustrated in Exhibit 7.2 below.
Csikszentmihalyi (1999, p. 315) asserts that, “The domain is a necessary compo-
nent of creativity because it is impossible to introduce a variation without reference
to an existing pattern. ‘New’ is meaningful only in reference to the ‘old’. Original
thought does not exist in a vacuum. It must operate on a set of already existing
objects, rules, representations, or notations….Without rules there cannot be excep-
tions, and without tradition there cannot be novelty.”
The system is insufficient, however, with only novelty. According to
Csikszentmihalyi (1999, p. 315), “Changes are not adopted unless they are

Culture

Selects Domain Transmits

Novelty Information

Individual
Field Produces Novelty

Society Personal
Background
Stimulates Novelty

Exhibit 7.2 The systems view of creativity

110 7 Una teoría general y su poder explicativo

sanctioned by some group entitled to make decisions as to what should or should

not be included in the domain. These gatekeepers are what we call here the field.
The term field is often used to designate an entire discipline or kind of endeavor. In
the present context, however, I want to define the term in a more narrow sense and
use it to refer only to the social organization of the domain – to the teachers, critics,
journal editors, museum curators, agency directors, and foundation officers who
decide what belongs to a domain and what does not.”
With respect to entrepreneurship, the cultural context varies somewhat from
country to country. Generally speaking, most Westernized countries no longer view
entrepreneurs as unemployed con artists and snake oil sellers. Instead, they are
viewed as key contributors of economic growth. All levels of government at least
pay lip service to fostering new venture creation via favorable political environ-
ments, regulatory policies and outreach centers, e.g. Small Business Development
Centers. The majority of post-secondary institutions provide some degree of entre-
preneurship education. Mainstream television programs showcase start-ups and
promote successful entrepreneurs. The World Wide Web provides an incredible
array of tips, tools and information to help budding entrepreneurs.
The social context for entrepreneurship is also quite supportive in most
Westernized countries. Creative destruction (Schumpeter 1934) occurs because
innovative product and service ideas are encouraged and supported. Increasing dis-
posable income allows people to buy more products and services and hence, take
risks or act whimsically with some purchases. Consumers, Csikszentmihalyi (1999,
p. 324) suggests, are frequently the ultimate authorities on what innovations become
successful: “For mass-market products such as soft drinks or motion pictures, the
field might include not only the small coterie of product developers and critics, but
the public at large. For instance, if New Coke is not part of the culture, it is because
although it passed the evaluation of the small field of beverage specialists, it failed
to pass the test of public taste.”

Conclusion

The main focus of this chapter has been on the explanatory power of the theory of
entrepreneurial creativity. A major reason for demonstrating explanatory power is
to provide evidence of the broad theoretical usefulness of entrepreneurial creativity
to make integrative sense of otherwise discrete findings in the field of entrepreneur-
ship. This review of GTEC implications provide a preliminary demonstration of the
power of the GTEC to make sense of different empirical findings from the science
of entrepreneurship. In addition it was shown that theories and evidence from the sci-
ence of creativity can also be channeled through the six creative resources of the
GTEC to provide different perspectives on entrepreneurship propositions. Some of
the propositions demonstrate the compatibility of the two fields for providing
mutual understanding. For example, personality evidence shows a strong overlap
between creative people, in general and entrepreneurs, in particular. Some creative
Conclusion111

resources, have been better developed within the field of creativity than within
entrepreneurship. For example, there is a relative dearth of research on the relevance
of intellect to entrepreneurial behaviors and outcomes, in the entrepreneurship field.
In the process, more evidence was added on the potential predictive power of GTEC.
In addition to demonstrating the explanatory power of a scientific theory, evi-
dence on the veracity of unstated auxiliary propositions (that flow from viewing
entrepreneurship as fundamentally creative) is indirect support for the verisimili-
tude of GTEC. This chapter and the ones which follow provide a substantial number
of different studies that collectively provide a great deal of indirect support for this
theory. In order, to properly evaluate the theory, consideration must jointly be made
of the evidence behind both hard core and auxiliary propositions.
Ultimately, this chapter is yet one more step in demonstrating that a theory of
entrepreneurial creativity can claim to be a useful, general, scientific theory of
entrepreneurship. The case for acceptance of entrepreneurial creativity as a general
theory is supported by the following observations:
1. The general theory of entrepreneurial creativity is more than a conceptual frame-
work or philosophy. It contains core propositions that are testable. Ultimately,
the GTEC may be rejected or modified, based on evidence collected over time.
2. There is substantial evidence to support the central propositions of the theory.
3. The theory fits within a strong historical tradition relating creativity to entrepre-
neurship in general and to that of Schumpeter in particular. It extends what is
already known in a cumulative manner.
4. The theory integrates ‘need to achieve’ findings into a more meaningful theoreti-
cal framework.
5. The theory has a large explanatory reach at a time when predictive theories in the
entrepreneurship field typically relate to few propositions.
6. There is substantial empirical support for auxiliary propositions related to the
GTEC.
7. The theory brings the benefits of a tested theory 2 from another discipline, cre-
ativity, to bear on the development of the Entrepreneurship field. In particular,
the findings within the field of Creativity provide potential generative power to
the field of Entrepreneurship.
The implications of such a theory are large and may go to the very definition of
the entrepreneurship field. The GTEC envisages entrepreneurship as an indepen-
dent, creative, applied art and/or applied social science rather than as a sub-discipline
of the traditionally viewed, technically characterized field of business management.
The entrepreneur is the creative artist; the manager, a technocrat. One implication of
having a general theory of entrepreneurship, based as it is upon entrepreneurial
creativity, is probably to view the field as not so much a sub-field of management
but more as a distinct creative discipline, bringing to bear the science of creativity
upon the science of entrepreneurship.
2
The parts of the theory are much better tested than the whole.
 Part IV
Auxiliary Theories
Chapter 8
Entrepreneurial Creativity

Abstract In the last two chapters you were given evidence that should give you
reason to believe that the theory of entrepreneurial creativity merits your serious
consideration. What, however, does it really mean to be entrepreneurially creative?
This next chapter elaborates the creative resources likely to be found in a prototypic,
entrepreneurially creative person; providing yet more evidence on the validity of
the theory.

Entrepreneurial creativity appears to be a driving force behind faster growing and

more successful business ventures (c.f. Rauch and Frese 2007; Rauch et al. 2009;
Zhao et al. 2010). Consequently, it is important that the field develop a sophisticated
model of the entrepreneurially creative individual. It is anticipated that the model
will provide substantial practical value to budding entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship
researchers, investors, policy makers and educators. Those considering an entrepre-
neurial endeavor will be able to judge for themselves the potential for success that
they possess. Policy makers will be able to modify outreach efforts to match
expected outcomes. Educators will be able to more effectively place students in new
venture-related programming.
Entrepreneurial creativity research efforts will need to develop more comprehen-
sive testing of the whole person, including creative aspects of the intellect, personal-
ity, motivation, thinking style and relevant knowledge (Sternberg and Lubart 1999).
In order to understand the specific nature of entrepreneurial creativity, it seems rea-
sonable to leverage the existing evidence linking different aspects of the creative indi-
vidual to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial performance. It will also be necessary to
develop new instruments specifically designed to measure entrepreneurial creativity.
Before delving into the various aspects of entrepreneurial creativity, it is essen-
tial to provide brief discussions regarding the downside of creative thinking ability,
as well as explore the contexts in which creative thinking is justifiable. The next two
sections offer some contemporary views on the negative side of creativity and the
applicability of creativity within various contexts. The remainder of the chapter is
dedicated to providing an enhanced characterization of the entrepreneurially cre-
ative individual. In addition to concerns about the measurement of entrepreneurial
creativity, a variety of related issues such as confluence, thresholds, contingencies,
range of applicability, and direction of causality are discussed.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 115

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_8
116 8 Creatividad empresarial

The Negative Side of Creativity

It is dangerous to think of creativity as unquestionably desirable. Some of the more

likely negative consequences of a creative lifestyle are worth highlighting to avoid
a Pollyanna view of the subject.
Highly creative people tend to exhibit some common social personality traits.
According to Feist (2010, p. 121), they are, “…generally not sociable and outgoing,
but they are independent, confident and assertive (Chávez-Eakle et al. 2006; Feist
1999).” Further, they, “…doubt, question, and often reject norms, traditions, and
conservative ideology.” (p. 122)
With respect to clinical personality traits, the evidence is more problematic.
Feist’s (2010) review of the literature suggests that those in the arts tend to be mani-
fest stronger clinical personality traits than those in the sciences. His review also
suggests a link between psychoticism and creative thought and behavior. Those
who score high on psychoticism tend to be cold, aloof, eccentric, egocentric, impul-
sive and hostile. However, this relationship may hold for men, but not women
(Martindale 2007).
In the abstract, creativity is typically viewed as unambiguously positive. In the
concrete, highly creative people are often a pain to be around. They are typically not
deferential to authority. They often are confident to the point of arrogance. They
often fail to co-operate with others. They will be just as likely to undermine the
system as to support it.
Just as being creative is not an overall stroke of good luck, neither is being entre-
preneurial for most people. Being entrepreneurial often means working long hours,
often for very uncertain returns; and often for a lower wage than comparable
employees. Entrepreneurs are often driven personalities who may suffer from a
number of physical and psychological ailments (c.f. Boyd and Gumpert 1983; Jamal
1997; Parslow et al. 2004), as well as work-family conflict (c.f. Parasuraman and
Simmers 2001; Werbel and Danes 2010).
Of course, the decision to be creative or entrepreneurial is often not a choice.
Creative people need to be creative, and when they are not given the creative outlets
that they want (and they can be most specific in their demands) they may tend to be
destructive to others and to themselves. Entrepreneurship is one of those creative
outlets that such people need.

When Creativity is (not) Needed

To justify the need for a creative person, a job requires a relatively high number of
ambiguous, open-ended problems. Ford (1996) developed a theory of creative
action, which described circumstances in which creative activity is preferred over
conventional activity and vice versa. With respect to innovation, Ford (p. 1125) con-
cluded that creativity has a critical role to play, “…across levels and in all phases of
El espíritu empresarial como arte/ciencia creativa 117
aplicada
the innovation process.” He (p. 1125) also concluded that the role of creativity is
limited: “Unlike prior conceptualization of organizational creativity, this theory
implies that creative actions must hold a relative advantage to habitual actions in
terms of expected personal consequences before creative pursuits will be intention-
ally undertaken.” When problems are sufficiently well understood to allow conven-
tional solutions, such solutions should normally prevail.
There is some limited evidence that creative people aren’t suited to particular
careers or work environments. Hayward and Everett (1983) found that government
employees who scored higher than fellow employees on the Kirton Innovation-
Adaption Inventory (KAI) were more likely to resign. Chan (1996) found that
Singaporean Civil Service engineers, who were materially more innovative than
their counterparts, as measured by the KAI, were more likely to leave positions in
which job expectations involved production and maintenance within a given techno-
logical system. Mitchell and Cahill (2005) found that new cadets (Plebes) at the US
Naval academy were materially less creative on the KAI. Moreover those students
who left the program were significantly more innovative than those who stayed.
Chilton et al. (2005) used the KAI to find that high innovator-type software develop-
ers experienced decreased performance and elevated stress levels in environments
suited to high adaptor types. Brigham et al. (2007, p. 42) found that, “…for less
structured work environments, intuitive owner-managers experience higher satisfac-
tion than those who are analytic, but for more structured work environments, intui-
tive owner-managers experience lower satisfaction than those who are analytic.”

Entrepreneurship as a Creative Applied Art/Science

To date much of the work on creativity has either focused on the arts or the sciences
(Feist 1999), although some writers may include technological achievement as a
third general classification of career types (Ward et al. 1999, p. 190).
All creativity to some extent or another depends upon discovery, self-expression
and design. Some disciplines weigh more heavily on one of these factors than on the
other two. Great artistic work and great scientific discoveries have been inspira-
tional sources for studies of creative people and their times (i.e. Gruber and Wallace
1999; Simonton 1999). The fact that the creativity of the arts and sciences are
understood to contain systematic differences may attest to different guiding forces
driving practice in these two types of discipline. Creative outcomes in the fine arts
are probably driven more by self-exploration and self-expression than those in the
sciences, which are probably driven more by outward exploration and the drive to
discover the external world. Feist (1999, p. 283) appears to agree, arguing that,
“One of the main differences between artistic and scientific creativity may be the
importance of getting more deeply into affective states and thematic material in
artistic creativity.”
We argue that neither a focus on inner or outer exploration does justice to entre-
preneurship. It may be more useful to view entrepreneurship as an applied art or
118 8 Creatividad empresarial

an applied science. Entrepreneurs more closely resemble inventors, engineers,

architects and even medical practitioners. In an applied art, a creator tries to design
and implement a better working model of something. In this sense, an entrepreneur
engages in a discovery of what is already known before engaging in the process of
designing a better business concept. Here, discovery implies looking within, as well
as going beyond oneself into the world, to develop something new. Creating (prob-
ably implying self-expression) is hence not limited to looking within oneself.
The following sections explore creative entrepreneurial intelligence, personality,
motivation, thinking styles and knowledge requirements.

Entrepreneurially Creative Intelligence

It may be useful to think of the intelligence resource within entrepreneurial creativ-

ity as being broader than its conventional conceptualization. The theory of intelli-
gence, measured by conventional instruments such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale, has been debated by, among others, Howard Gardner, who proposes contro-
versial models that promote multiple intelligences. Howard Gardner (1993), a
developmental psychologist, proposed a model of multiple intelligences by drawing
awareness to distinctive features that characterize a number of special types of
intellects, in particular: linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-
kinesthetic, outward-directed personal and inward-directed personal. Robert
Sternberg has also used a number of different conceptual models of intelligence to
generate different types of insights in different settings (c.f. Sternberg and Kaufman
1998). In 2004, Sternberg (p. 189) argued that, “…successful intelligence, not just
a subset of its components (analytical, creative, and practical abilities), is needed for
entrepreneurial success.”
An attempt is made here to propose five intellectual attributes that spur entrepre-
neurial creativity and hence, high growth entrepreneurship. Theoretical rationality
and/or empirical evidence are used to support the following intellectual attributes of
the entrepreneurially creative intellect: opportunistic imagination; entrepreneurial
judgment; persuasive ability; improvisational ability; and, collaborative ability. It is
hoped that these specific intellectual resources increase our understanding of the
nature of entrepreneurial creativity.
Opportunistic imagination. When Einstein observed that imagination was more
important than knowledge, he was probably thinking about his and other scientist’s
contributions in science. Knowledge would appear to be a precursor to meaningful
imagination in the hard sciences. If imagination is more important than knowledge
under conditions in which the acquisition of knowledge is incredibly demanding,
how much more important, relatively speaking, is imagination in a setting such as
entrepreneurship, in which (1) the subject matter is future oriented and (2) relevant
knowledge hurdles appear comparatively limited?
El espíritu empresarial como arte/ciencia creativa 119
aplicada
Opportunistic imagination implies a specific ability to imagine new venture
opportunities in the future. According to Klein (2008, p. 182): “Entrepreneurs do
not, in other words, create the future, they imagine it, and their imagination can be
wrong as often as it is right.” They generate hypotheses about future states – how the
future might look and act (Gartner 2004).
Studies relating entrepreneurial imagination to entrepreneurial performance are
scarce. Rockey (1986, p. 346) surveyed over 1,500 potential respondents asking
them, “…to identify the areas in which they utilized visualization, to indicate the
degree of vividness of their mental pictures…” Of over 400 respondents, over 50
said that they had used visual thinking in the process of starting a new venture.
Rockey provided a questionable and an unconventional classification of areas in
which visualization was utilized that included the following: clarification and capi-
talization, feelings and entrepreneurship, facility planning, planning and foresight,
venturing with confidence, economical decision-making, clarification for structur-
ing and staffing, tragic envisioning, and outmaneuvering in the mind’s eye. One of
his interviewees reports as follows (p. 354):
When I started my own company 8 years ago, visualization polished my business plan even
to the point of the sale of the company. In business, the imagery can ‘see’ about 1 ½ years
into the future with good clarity. Past this point the images are faded but the general notion
is clear. Before the sale of the company, I used imagery to practice the delicate dance
required to outmaneuver bankers, creditors, personnel, etc.….

Entrepreneurial judgment. Various noted economists have indicated the relevance

of entrepreneurial judgment over the years. According to Casson (2005)1:
“Cantillon’s entrepreneur needs judgment to speculate on future price movements,
while Knight’s entrepreneur requires judgment because he deals in situations that
are unprecedented and unique. Schumpeter’s entrepreneur needs judgment to deal
with the novel situations connected with innovation.”
Since entrepreneurial commitments are often long-lasting and they contain many
partially knowable consequences, entrepreneurs really see through a glass darkly.
Judging what to do, when and how to do it, and what to avoid doing, is viewed as
critical for entrepreneurs.
Persuasive ability. Diffusing an innovation (Rogers 1995) is partly about recogniz-
ing who to persuade and how. Sternberg and Lubart’s (1999, p. 11) model of intel-
ligence for creative outputs includes, “…the practical-contextual ability to know
how to persuade others of – to sell other people on – the value of one’s ideas.” The
ability to persuade people partially distinguishes the art dealer from the artist and
the innovator from the inventor.
If one conceives a venture as nothing more than a series of contractual arrange-
ments, then entrepreneurship is fundamentally about developing, communicating
and securing deals. Here, persuasion likely involves, and provides the rationale to

1
There is no page reference for this. Others use the same quote and also do not include a page
reference.
120 8 Creatividad empresarial

tie together, a number of other related abilities such as sales skills, negotiation skills,
communications ability and emotional intelligence. In order to grow their ventures
over time, entrepreneurs need to maintain the confidence of a variety of different
groups of people. Maintaining confidence is probably a political/diplomatic skill.
More successful entrepreneurs may need social and emotional intelligence to under-
stand other people, whether they be customers, employees or resource suppliers.
Improvisational ability. The idea that entrepreneurs need to improvise is not a new
idea. Baker et al. (2003) provided a number of different examples of new technol-
ogy entrepreneurs improvising from the point of opportunity identification onwards.
Hmieleski and Corbett (2006) provided evidence that the tendency towards creative
improvisation was related to people’s tendencies to have the intention to start a
growth venture, to take a course in entrepreneurship, to work for a start-up and to
start a new venture. Sarasvathy’s (1998) documented the development strategies of
a number of extraordinarily successful entrepreneurs. Her research uncovered the
commonplace tendency of entrepreneurs to improvise in solving their problems.
Sarasvathy (2001) has since developed a theory of entrepreneurial action centered
on her concept of improvisation which she labelled effectuation. She likens the
entrepreneur to a cook who crafts possibilities from ingredients that are immedi-
ately available, rather than collecting necessary ingredients ahead of time in order
to follow a preset recipe.
Of course, improvisation is neither simple nor automatic. Even though improvi-
sation is the act of spontaneous composition, a lot of knowledge and practice is
required in order to learn how to be productively spontaneous. The premise of The
Book of Five Rings (Mushashi 1643), an ancient Japanese text on the relationship
between improvisation and deadly sword fighting, is that endless practice is needed
before a fight. When a fight begins, however, a swordfighter should lose himself in
the moment. In Jazz, a twentieth century art form founded on improvisation, artists
are educated for many years in order to learn how to meaningfully improvise. There
are many guidelines regarding effective and ineffective note sequences.
Collaborative ability. Shane (2003, p. 99) indirectly suggests that entrepreneurs
tend to be disagreeable, difficult people: “The evidence supports the proposition
that people who are friendly, socially conforming, compliant, flexible, trusting,
cooperative, forgiving, tolerant, softhearted and courteous are likely to be less entre-
preneurial.” He (2003, pp. 106–107) also indicates that a, “…desire for indepen-
dence tends to be associated with the likelihood of self-employment.” Interestingly,
“…people who have a greater desire for independence actually perform worse at
entrepreneurial activities” (Shane 2003, p. 108).
It would appear then, that successful entrepreneurs are rather prickly people who
happen to know how to act interdependently. It appears that a strong spirit of inde-
pendence is needed to launch a promising venture, but it may be potentially toxic
once the venture is launched. These countervailing tendencies of the independent
entrepreneurial personality might be labeled the independence paradox.
¿Qué es común al intelecto creativo? 121

What is Common to the Creative Intellect?

Sternberg’s (1985) definition of creative intelligence is based on three components:

the ability to see things in new and different ways; to be able to judge what is worth
exploring; and, to be able to persuade or sell other people on the value of one’s
ideas. It should come as no surprise then that the first three abilities mentioned
above are commonly associated with creativity. Improvisation has elsewhere been
recognized as a creative ability (c.f. Hmieleski and Corbett 2006). The least-well
defined intellectual attribute of successful entrepreneurs described above, the ability
to collaborate, may be their only truly distinctive intelligence characteristic, as com-
pared with many other creative people. There are other comparable exceptions, of
course, such as film directors who also need to actively collaborate with others.
Otherwise, the entrepreneurial intellectual skill set is mainly a variant of creative
intelligence.
Entrepreneurs need to imagine opportunities rather than concertos. Entrepreneurs
specifically need business judgment rather than judgment regarding what consti-
tutes great literature. Entrepreneurs need to know how to persuade their relevant
stakeholders, which may be different than scientists influencing granting agencies
or reviewers of journals. It may also be the case that persuasion plays a larger and
more continuous role in the lives of entrepreneurs than it does for other creative
artists. The improvisational tactics and strategies of the successful entrepreneur will
also probably differ from that of other creative improvisers. The search for the
defining characteristics of the successful entrepreneurial intellect will need to be
on-going.

Entrepreneurially Creative Personality

The identification of a limited number of defining personality characteristics of

entrepreneurs is tricky. There are many potentially distinguishing personality char-
acteristics for both the highly creative and the entrepreneurial. The commonality
amongst entrepreneurs and other creative people has been noted elsewhere
(McMullan and Long 1990). Three of the four personality factors of creative people
that Sternberg and Lubart (1999) highlight (self-efficacy, willingness to overcome
obstacles, taking sensible risks and tolerating ambiguity) are also found amongst
Shane’s (2003) factors that influence new venture outcomes (self-efficacy, risk-
taking and tolerating ambiguity2). The Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation scale
(Robinson et al. 1991) includes self-esteem as one of its four variables.
Perhaps, we might view the creative entrepreneurial personality set as being a
syndrome of related attributes. Those with a strong sense of self-efficacy must be
persistent and selective in the way that they take risks. In an entrepreneurial setting
they will need to be tolerant of ambiguity.

2
Shane treats tolerance of ambiguity as a part of risk taking propensity.
122 8 Creatividad empresarial

Other personality factors might also influence entrepreneurial creativity. Some

other high potential inclusions may be intuitiveness (Allinson et al. 2000), extraver-
sion (Zhao et al. 2010) and open-mindedness. Here, five factors are selected to
characterize the personality of the entrepreneurially creative person for the purpose
of engendering productive controversy: self-efficacy, perseverance, selective risk-
taking, tolerating ambiguity and extraversion.
Self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s own ability to perform a given task.
According to Bandura and Locke (2003, pp. 87–88), it is a key driver of motivation
and performance:
The evidence from these meta-analyses is consistent in showing that efficacy beliefs
contribute significantly to the level of motivation and performance. Efficacy beliefs predict
not only the behavioral functioning between individuals at different levels of perceived self-
efficacy but also changes in functioning in individuals at different levels of efficacy over
time and even variation within the same individual in the tasks performed and those shunned
or attempted but failed. Evidence that divergent procedures produce convergent results adds
to the explanatory and predictive generality of the self-efficacy determinant.

When confronted with an entrepreneurial challenge, the entrepreneur will tend to

think that s/he is capable of handling it. S/he can, in effect, turn inward for suste-
nance. According to Markman et al. (2005, p. 5), in the field of entrepreneurship,
self-efficacy is preferred to the closely related constructs of self-confidence and
self-worth because, “…research has shown that the former is a more robust predic-
tor of task performance (cf. Bandura 1997) and personal variability in entrepreneur-
ship (Baum et al. 2001; Chen et al. 1998).” Rauch and Frese (2007) meta-analyzed
empirical findings related to generalized self-efficacy and found effect sizes of
r = 0.378 and r = 0.247 for business creation and success, respectively. Hmieleski
and Corbett (2008) have found entrepreneurial self-efficacy to positively moderate
the relationship between an entrepreneur’s improvisational behavior and new ven-
ture performance.
Perseverance. Markman et al. (2005, p. 3) define perseverance as, “…one’s ten-
dency to persist and endure in the face of adversity.” Those who persevere, according
to the authors (p. 3),”…discover ways to circumvent constraints or change them by
their actions, whereas less resilient people are easily discouraged by impediments
and unexpected challenges (Bandura 1997; Eisenberger et al. 1992).”
Perseverance has long been associated with entrepreneurship. Napoleon Hill’s
(1937) Think and Grow Rich, one of the first self-help books, focused on common
characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, including many of the most famous
American industrialists of the early twentieth century. Hill’s (p. 151) overwhelming
message was passionate persistence: “Persistence is an essential factor in the proce-
dure of transmuting desire into its monetary equivalent. The basis of persistence is
the power of will.”
Selective risk-taking. As mentioned in the previous chapter, a number of meta-
analyses have been conducted on risk propensity. A meta-analysis focused on risk
propensity (Stewart and Roth 2001) found that growth-oriented entrepreneurs have
¿Qué es común al intelecto creativo? 123

substantially higher levels of risk propensity than income-oriented entrepreneurs

(average effect size corrected for reliability d = 0.69). The results indicate that entre-
preneurs with high growth aspirations have higher risk propensities than other
entrepreneurs and managers (Stewart and Roth 2001, 2004). The results also indi-
cate that risk propensity positively influences new venture intentions (Zhao et al.
2010) and creation (Rauch and Frese 2007). There is conflicting evidence for the
impact of risk propensity on new venture performance. Rauch and Frese (2007) find
a small positive effect size, whereas Zhao et al. (2010) find no effect. The results of
the different meta-analyses appear to somewhat contradict one another. Zhao offers
a rationalization:
Our results for risk propensity are particularly interesting because they shed light on
inconsistent meta-analytic findings in the entrepreneurship literature (e.g., Miner and Raju
2004; Stewart and Roth 2001, 2004). Stewart and Roth (2001) conclude that risk propensity
is related to entrepreneurial status, whereas Miner and Raju (2004) provide evidence, based
on a different set of studies, that entrepreneurs are more risk avoidant… On the one hand,
our current results show risk propensity to be moderately related to entrepreneurial inten-
tion, which we argue should lead to the higher level of risk propensity among entrepreneurs
found by Stewart and Roth (2001). On the other hand, our results also show that risk pro-
pensity is not significantly related to entrepreneurial performance.

Following Schumpeter, David McClelland (1961) saw achievement motivation

as the prime driver of entrepreneurial performance. He predicted the nature of the
relationship between risk-taking propensity and need for achievement as an inverse
U relationship, which across the entire spectrum of the population, might be consis-
tent with a zero correlation between risk-taking propensity and venture perfor-
mance. He argued that if risk-taking propensity were low then individuals would be
inclined to select easy tasks where their chances of failure were low. Such people
would be unlikely to consider an entrepreneurial career. If the individual’s risk-
taking propensity were high then the individual would be likely to choose very dif-
ficult tasks where the chances of achieving were low and any failure could be easily
explained away. Neither would high risk takers under such a scenario be likely to
persist in entrepreneurship. It was only in the intermediate zone where people suited
to be entrepreneurs were to be found. These people were willing to take the substan-
tial risk of a venture but were not out-right gamblers.
Tolerating ambiguity. The requirement for tolerance of ambiguity speaks to the
open-endedness of entrepreneurial problems. Potential entrepreneurs must be or
become comfortable coping with substantial uncertainty, or else they should choose
another career path. Per the previous chapter, only a small number of empirical
studies examine tolerance for ambiguity. Wagener et al. (2010) found that tolerance
for ambiguity distinguishes successful entrepreneurs from successful small busi-
ness owners. Koh (1996) finds in favor of a positive relationship between tolerance
for ambiguity and new venture intentionality. Three studies find no evidence of such
a relationship (Gurol and Atsan 2006; Gurel et al. 2010; Altinay et al. 2012).
Extraversion. Abra and Abra (1999, p. 289) indicate that, “…creative people in
every field tend to be introverted, with some such as Newton and Emily Dickinson
124 8 Creatividad empresarial

being virtual recluses…” Shane et al. (2010, p. 1155) argue that, “Entrepreneurship
is more appropriate for extraverts than introverts, because entrepreneurs need to
interact with investors, employees, and customers and sell them on the value of the
business.” Costa and McCrae (1992) describe extraverted individuals as assertive,
dominant, active, energetic, talkative, cheerful and enthusiastic people who seek
excitement and stimulation. Costa et al. (1984) found that more extraverted indi-
viduals tend to have more interest in enterprising occupations than those who are
less extraverted.
To date, two meta-analyses have been conducted on extraversion. The first study,
by Zhao and Seibert (2006), hypothesized that entrepreneurs would have higher
extraversion scores than managers. The researchers did not find a statistically sig-
nificant difference between the groups. However, they (p. 266) indicated that the
confidence interval, “…was wide and included zero, suggesting the difference
between entrepreneurs and managers on this personality dimension is not reliable or
could not be measured with precision in this sample.” The second study, by Zhao
et al. (2010), focused on the impact of extraversion on new venture intentions and
performance. The researchers reported effect sizes of 0.16 and 0.09, respectively.
Perhaps extraversion might be expected to have a curvilinear relationship with
venture performance. While entrepreneurs may need to aggressively interact with
others they also need to want to have alone time to ponder their evolving ideas.
After a certain threshold amount of extraversion, the relationship might turn
negative – thus suggesting an upside-down U relationship between extraversion and
venture performance. Such a relationship might explain the relatively unimpressive
findings to date.

What is Common to the Creative Personality?

Self-efficacy, mindful persistence, selective risk-taking and tolerating ambiguity are

all features of the creative personality. It is in terms of extraversion that entrepre-
neurs are different from other creative people. The fact that entrepreneurs, of neces-
sity, work through and by other people, characterizes their specific art form – setting
it apart from many other creative art forms. As with the entrepreneurially creative
intellect, the entrepreneurially creative personality is more similar to the personali-
ties of other creative people, than it is distinctive.

Entrepreneurially Creative Motivation

In the case of motivation, the achievement motive may be viewed as an integrating

entrepreneurial motivating syndrome (Miner et al. 1989). The achievement motive
has four elements that may have partly originated with Schumpeter: First, it is the
need for success itself that drives entrepreneurs – whether in the form of
What is Common to the Creative Personality? 125

competition with others or with oneself. Second, it appears that it is the goal and not
the financial gain that is important; the joy of being involved in creation pulls entre-
preneurs as much as it pulls at other creative people. Third, creative people every-
where are driven by the need to create a body of work that will outlive them. These
first three goals were all described by Schumpeter as part of entrepreneurial motiva-
tion (Schumpeter 1911). McClelland (1961) not only sharpened the imagery around
the first three goals, he added a fourth dimension, that of credible goals, and shaped
all of components together into a single overarching entrepreneurial motive called
achievement motivation.
A Desire for success. The game that entrepreneurs choose to play is blatantly a
competitive one. Even if they begin the game with a competitive niche or a localized
monopoly of sorts, over time most goods become commodities and entrepreneurs
must compete. Competition is not foreign to creative artists or creative scientists
either (Abra 1993). It is important to realize that creative people, including entrepre-
neurs, may just as soon compete with themselves as with other people (Abra 1993).
Schumpeter (1911, p. 686) writes: “…there is the will to conquer: the impulse to
fight, to prove oneself superior to others, to succeed for the sake, not of the fruits of
success, but of success itself.”
Intrinsic motivation. Schumpeter (1911, p. 686) appears to have recognized both
the joy derived from the creative process as well as the motivating force inherent in
the act: “…the joy of creating, of getting things done, or simply of exercising one’s
energy and ingenuity.” Csikszentmihalyi (1997, p. 29) has also documented the joy
of creating and related it to the experience of flow:
The metaphor of ‘flow’ is one that many people have used to describe the sense of effortless
action they feel in the moments that stand out as the best in their lives. Athletes refer to it as
‘being in the zone’, religious mystics as being in ‘ecstasy’, artists and musicians as aesthetic
rapture.

The notion that entrepreneurs are more driven by an intrinsic need for achieve-
ment rather than by a need for money or greed is emphasized in the work of
McClelland (The Achieving Society 1961), who popularized the idea of achievement
motivation. McClelland knowingly based his understanding of the achievement
motive on work by Atkinson. Referencing a series of three studies by Atkinson,
McClelland (p. 235) stated:
All three studies point to the same conclusion: people with high n Achievement are not
influenced much by money rewards; they are interested in achievement. People with low n
Achievement, on the other hand, are influenced by money and can be made to work harder
for money or other external incentives.

Stewart and Roth (2007) reported that growth-oriented owners differ markedly
from income-oriented owners on need for achievement (average observed effect
size (Cohen’s) d = 0.67).
A legacy. The sum and substance of a creative life is an individual’s body of
work. The body of work lives beyond. Death and the durability of one’s work may
be inextricably tied together in the minds of many creators (Abra 1995).
126 8 Creatividad empresarial

Schumpeter (1991, p. 686) characterized an entrepreneur’s legacy as follows: “…

there is the dream and the will to found a private kingdom, usually, though not
necessarily, also a dynasty.” The idea that many an entrepreneur might want to leave
a legacy after his passing may not be far-fetched.
Credible goals. McClelland’s (1961) ring toss game epitomized the idea of choos-
ing intermediate goals in which the chance of success on each toss was around
50 %. Coincidentally, the 5 year survival rate of new ventures is approximately 50
% (Shapero and Giglierano 1982; Audretsch 1991). These odds are probably much
better than those faced by many in the fine arts. Nevertheless, entrepreneur- ship
entails a high level of uncertainty, especially in terms of attaining financial
success. Entrepreneurs are likely to focus upon levels of financial gain as they
represent credible, concrete measures of goal attainment.

What is Common to Creative Motivation?

Creative artists and scientists strive for success and are sustained by intrinsic moti-
vation, desire to leave a legacy and pursue credible goals. Entrepreneurs are not
unlike artists and scientists in these regards. However, entrepreneurs may be some-
what distinguished by a stronger emphasis on money, since it is both a requirement
for participation and a measure of success.

Entrepreneurially Creative Thinking Style

As indicated in the previous chapter, a number of scholars have focused their

research efforts on entrepreneurial thinking styles (c.f. Buttner and Gryskiewicz
1993; Baron 1998; Allinson et al. 2000; Mitchell et al. 2002). For the most part, this
research is in an early stage of development. There may be a multi-dimensional
construct that characterizes the entrepreneurial thinking style in much the same way
that McClelland contrived the idea of achievement motivation to link together a
number of different aspects of entrepreneurial motivation. The dimensions may
include the following ones, described below: innovation orientation, focus on prob-
lem, contrary thinking, intuition, ideation and deferred judgment, and analogical
thinking.
Innovation orientation. The small amount of research to date on innovation orien-
tation indicates a relationship between innovation orientation and entrepreneurship.
Buttner and Gryskiewicz (1993, p. 29) used Kirton’s (1984) Adapter-Innovator
Index (KAI) to examine problem solving styles and found that, “…entrepreneurs
have a more innovative problem-solving style than their managerial counterparts in
larger U.S. organizations.” Rosenfeld et al. (1993) used the KAI to reveal that
entrepreneurs score significantly higher than technology managers and the general
What is Common to Creative Motivation? 127

population with respect to both means and variances on the I-A scale. Stewart et al.
(1999) used the Innovation Scale of the Jackson Personality Inventory (Jackson
1976) to find that entrepreneurs exhibit a stronger predisposition to be innovative
than small business owners.
Focus on problem. Since an evocative experiment by Csizkzentmihalyi and Getzels
(1970) that demonstrated a longitudinal impact of a problem focus orientation on
creative success, problem-finding has been a standard concept within the field of
creativity. Csizkzentmihalyi and Getzels (1970) filmed a number of art students
who attempted to paint a still life in a 1 hour session. Analysis of the film record
revealed that those student artists who spent a relatively larger portion of the hour
examining the fruit in the bowl and otherwise delaying their start (presumably
thinking) not only produced a more creative piece of art in the experimental setting
but also were subsequently more likely to develop successful careers as professional
artists.
More recently, a number of studies have found evidence that problem construction
ability is correlated with originality and quality of solutions to a number of real
world problems (c.f. Reiter-Palmon et al. 1997, 1998; Mumford et al. 1997). One
study, Mumford et al. (1994), asked two groups of undergraduate management
students to develop a marketing survey and advertisement for a fictitious product.
Only one group was given a problem construction condition which involved listing
important factors for consideration and a restatement of the problem before task
engagement. The researchers (1994) found that the problem construction condition
group generated higher quality and more original ideas than the other group.
Contrary thinking. Non-conformity indicates a disposition to think and act inde-
pendently with respect to group norms. As mentioned in the previous chapter, a
number of studies have examined the extent to which entrepreneurs are contrary
thinkers. Studies by Sexton and Bowman (1984, 1986) revealed that entrepreneurs
and managers differ significantly on the need for conformity. Buttner and Rosen
(1988) found that bank loan officers rated successful entrepreneurs as much higher
on non-conformity than average men and women. Rosenfeld et al. (1993) found that
non-conformity distinguishes entrepreneurs from managers. A study by Engle et al.
(1997) indicated that non-conformity distinguishes entrepreneurs from employees.
Intuition. Shane (2003, p. 115) describes intuition as, “…a belief or feeling that
something is true without actually gathering evidence to demonstrate its veracity.”
As mentioned in the previous chapter, a number of studies have investigated the
relevance of intuition to new venture activity. Generally speaking, the existing
evidence suggests that high-growth entrepreneurs are more intuitive than low-
growth entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs (Ginn and Sexton 1990; Allinson et al.
2000; Brigham and Sorenson 2008; Armstrong and Hird 2009).
Deferred judgment and ideation. One of the fundamental requirements of brain-
storming is that of deferring judgment. The suppression of judgment delays a criti-
cal mindset that would otherwise prevent the emergence of new and potentially
valuable ideas. To date, only one study, by Ames and Runco (2005) connects
128 8 Creatividad empresarial

ideation to entrepreneurial thinking. The study was conducted on 47 successful

entrepreneurs to determine if ideation practices could distinguish the more success-
ful from the less successful entrepreneurs. Two measures of divergent thinking were
used. The first measure was based on the SWOT model of organizations. The sec-
ond measure was a self-report measure of ideational tendencies. Neither fluency nor
originality scores as judged on SWOT scores were meaningful correlates of entre-
preneurial success. Runco (2008) later explained the surprising finding: “…it was
fairly clear that they were drawing too much on actual experience about their busi-
nesses and not using their ideational skills to generate original ideas. They were
drawing from memory instead of ideational potentials.”
It is interesting to note that those entrepreneurs who had started three or more
businesses reported using more ideation on the self-report measure than did those
starting only one or two businesses. Ames and Runco (2005, p. 314) concluded that
entrepreneurs “…seemed to frequently use their ideational skills in the natural envi-
ronment and relied more on their own thinking than on routine and rote solutions to
problems.”
Analogical thinking. Analogical thinking involves using information from one
field in order to facilitate problem solving in another field. Ward (2004, p. 174) has
expressed confidence that useful applications of metaphorical thinking will be
found in entrepreneurship:
Analogy, or the mapping of knowledge from a familiar to a less familiar one, is central to
creative developments in science, art, music, and literature and may also have applicability
to entrepreneurship, as when a new successful venture is based on the principles that operate
in other currently successful ventures.

What is Common to Creative Thinking Styles?

The aspects of an entrepreneurial thinking style discussed above overlap with those
of creative artists and scientists. As such, it is entirely possible that entrepreneurs do
not differ with respect to thinking style from their creative colleagues in other
disciplines.

Entrepreneurial Knowledge

The deep and lengthy immersion required for certain fields suggests that a great
deal of knowledge is required for creative contributions (Hayes 1989). In the field
of entrepreneurship, there is also a sense that knowledge is important. Ward (2004,
p. 176) argues that, “Creative ideas do not appear, ex nihilo, full-blown in the
minds of their originators, but rather must be crafted from the person’s existing
knowledge.”
What is Common to Creative Thinking Styles? 129

There is vagueness with respect to some of the modern definitions of the nature
of entrepreneurial knowledge. According to Kirzner (1979, p. 8), whose definition
of entrepreneurship is based on arbitrage: “Entrepreneurial knowledge is a rarefied,
abstract type of knowledge – the knowledge of where to obtain information and
how to deploy it.” Birch (1987, p. 140) viewed growth entrepreneurship as being
based on innovation and argued that entrepreneurial knowledge comes from the
creation of new knowledge across a variety of disciplines: “Universities – particularly
those that concentrate upon research – are the wellspring of the high-innovation
economy.”
Other than for the ability to find knowledge and deploy it from the most innova-
tive of sources, are there other, more specific types of knowledge that are of general
usage to most growth entrepreneurs? As discussed in previous chapters, the most
recent education-related findings raise serious concerns about the extent to which
useful knowledge for successful new venturing is disseminated via formal educa-
tion. Finding specific knowledge that makes a difference to entrepreneurial success
is proving to be difficult. What constitutes the empirically-demonstrated, effective
knowledge base of the entrepreneurially creative person is not well understood at
the current time.
One place to look for key forms of entrepreneurial knowledge is the core tech-
nologies or art forms of most new growth ventures. Some types of entrepreneurial
knowledge that are probably useful, and maybe even important, for success in
entrepreneurship might include the following: selling know-how, negotiations
know-how, knowledge of the competition, knowledge about an industry and core
technology know-how.
Selling know-how. Steve Case (Gendron 2004, p. 307), the founder of AOL,
describes his notion of selling as, “…to try to look at things from somebody else's
perspective and then just try to position something that kind of makes sense.” Shane
(2003, p. 98) suggests that, “…to make sales, entrepreneurs must satisfy customers’
needs. The process requires them to be able to get beyond the customer’s initial
objections and overcome unarticulated fears to recognize unstated wants
requirements.”
David Birch (Aronsson 2004) argues that selling is a critical skill that an entre-
preneur must know and master. This seems plausible, particularly in light of Bhide’s
(2000) finding that founders of INC 500 companies typically operate as the sole or
key salesperson – suggesting both that it is difficult to attract key salespeople to new
firms and that the sales role is integral to entrepreneurial success.
Negotiations know-how. Carnevale and Pruitt (1992, p. 532) state that negotiation
is a procedure for, “…resolving opposing preferences between parties.” Lewicki
(1992) suggests that the following four factors are present in negotiation: at least
two parties; the perception of conflict/disagreement, interpersonal exchange/
communication; and, a mutual desire to reach an agreement. The two main styles of
negotiation are integrative (‘win-win’) and distributive (‘win-lose’).
130 8 Creatividad empresarial

The research on negotiation in the field of entrepreneurship is in its infancy. The

first major undertaking, a dissertation by Dunne (2012, p. vi), reveals the following
findings:
Entrepreneurs tend to possess slightly more complex schema in regard to negotiation than
non-entrepreneurs. They also differ on how central a particular schema category was to
their thinking, putting more emphasis on building relationships, outcomes for others, and
risk taking. Additionally, entrepreneurs put less weight on extracting personal value from
negotiations.

Knowledge of the competition. This is an area of research that has also received
relatively little scientific attention. Peters and Brush (1996) found that new venture
outcomes benefited from knowledge of competitors’ marketing information. Zahra
et al. (2002, p. 21) found that development of formalized competitive analysis sys-
tems positively influence new venture success as strategic uncertainty in the envi-
ronment increases: “The value of a comprehensive CA system increases in highly
uncertain environments as new ventures struggle to carve out their competitive
niche in complex and dynamic markets.” Presumably, entrepreneurs benefit through
an appreciation of the relative merits of their products and services in fast changing
industries.
Knowledge about an industry. Shane (2000) asserts that, “Three major dimensions
of prior knowledge are important to the process of entrepreneurial discovery: prior
knowledge of markets, prior knowledge of ways to serve markets, and prior
knowledge of customer problems…Important prior knowledge about markets might
include information about supplier relationships, sales techniques, or capital equip-
ment requirements that differ across markets (Von Hippel 1988).”
A number of studies have examined the link between industry knowledge and
entrepreneurial performance. In one of the earliest studies, Vesper (1979, p. 165)
noted that a large majority of the successful case studies he reviewed had a,
“…pattern of close connection between prior work and new-venture ideas.” Feeser
and Willard (1990) found that growth rates of new ventures were positively influ-
enced by founders’ prior experiences with related products, technologies and
markets. Bosma et al. (2004) discovered that experience in the same industry sector
influenced the survival, profitability and number of employees of new ventures.
Colombo and Grilli (2005, p. 795) investigated the relevance of industry knowledge
in high-tech industries and found the following: “…prior work experience in the
same industry of the new firm is positively associated with growth while prior work
experience in other industries is not.” Ganotakis (2012, p. 510) also finds that the
relationship holds in high-tech industries: “Entrepreneurs with experience in differ-
ent industrial sectors seem to be less likely to affect the performance of a firm than
those with same-sector experience. The latter are more likely to have a better
knowledge of technological and marketing opportunities that can be exploited in
this specific market.”
Core technology know-how. Core technological knowledge is distinct from the
knowledge gained from working in an industry. It refers to technical skills, such as
Developing Measurement Instruments131

software development, that are honed by related education and training. There is
evidence supporting the proposition that entrepreneurs benefit from experiences
related to the technologies of a specific industries. Almus and Nerlinger (1999)
found that West German start-up firms who had founders with technical degrees
enjoyed greater growth in high, medium and low technology businesses. Colombo
and Grilli (2005, p. 795) found that, “…it is the technical work experience of found-
ers as opposed to their commercial work experience that determines growth” in
high-tech industries.

What is Common to Creative Knowledge?

Selling and negotiations know-how may be common to all creative endeavors and
not specific to only new venturing. Scientists need to sell their ideas and artists need
to sell their creations, and both groups negotiate for the required resources. The
difference is one of degree, with entrepreneurs typically selling and negotiating
much more frequently than the other two groups. It may also be that artists and
scientists benefit from some industry and competition knowledge to function at
peak levels, but the differences here are also likely to be of degree. Finally, the art-
ists and scientists need to know about relevant core technologies. Overall, what
initially might look to be a difference of kind may be more a difference of degree.
There are, of course, material knowledge requirements differences among artists,
scientists and entrepreneurs, but those requirements are likely to be project specific
for each creator.

Developing Measurement Instruments

The development of concise and credible measurement instruments will be difficult

given the inherent complexity of the concept of entrepreneurial creativity. Currently,
creativity/innovation measures used in empirical studies tend to measure a single
creative resource, a couple of resources or a holistic notion of creativity or innova-
tion. Kirton’s KAI (1976) measures cognitive style. Miner’s MSC-T (2000) mea-
sures managerial/leadership motivation. Robinson’s EAO (1991) measures deeply
entrenched attitudes, as proxies for personality. Caird’s GET (1991) measures per-
sonality and motivation.
There may be an opportunity to compose a more complete inventory that relies,
in part, on pre-existing sub-scales with demonstrated reliability and validity. A num-
ber of research questions will emerge. What sub-scales will be dominant in relation
to entrepreneurial success? To what degree will the newly formed scales function
additively to predict entrepreneurial outcomes? What will be the relative influence
of creativity in general versus entrepreneurship-specific resources in particular in
explaining entrepreneurial outcomes?
132 8 Creatividad empresarial

While it is critical to predict who the better performers will be, it is also necessary
to carefully explain how some individuals will be better performers than others. The
best tools for prediction will likely be composite tools that take features from vari-
ous aspects of the different creative resources. In order to determine which of the
various creative resources has the most predictive power, researchers will need to
‘drill down’ into each resource to uncover the aspects that produce the strongest
connections with venture performance.
Let us say for argument sake that beyond a 115 IQ, personality variables will
have the most power for explaining entrepreneurial performance. Then let us say
that of the various personality variables involved that self-efficacy explains most of
the subsequent performance variance. Next, researchers will try to explain why self-
efficacy is so important. Ultimately, the search for answers will hopefully not only
aid understanding but yield still better tools for prediction and control. Here, control
implies an enhanced ability to identify those who will be successful entrepreneurs.

Viewing Entrepreneurial Creativity Holistically

At the current time, scholars assemble the entrepreneur’s character in a piecemeal

fashion, using aspects of motivation, personality, thinking style and knowledge in
no particular order. The various distinctive features of, for example, very successful
entrepreneurs are rather randomly observed, not unlike the blind men examining an
elephant (Gartner 2001). A shift toward the lens of entrepreneurial creativity pro-
vides an opportunity to examine entrepreneurial phenomena both holistically and
analytically. Theory testers would, hence, observe the whole elephant before pro-
ceeding to examine the various parts. A holistic view also encourages the imple-
mentation of more integrative measurement techniques. As Shaver and Scott (1991,
p. 32) state, “… don’t send a scale to do an inventory’s job”.
To put the above argument in perspective, one might imagine investigating the
psychological profile of Miles Davis, the great creative jazz artist. It is not said that
Miles Davis was a driven musician who also happened to be creative. The drive is
part of the creative syndrome. It is creativity, thus, that allows for the linkage of
various constructs and ultimately, a clear view of the elephant.

Confluence

Sternberg and Lubart (1999) describe confluence as the convergence of multiple

components, which allows creativity to occur. In entrepreneurship research, the pre-
ponderance of empirical studies report multiple correlates of entrepreneurial cre-
ativity that influence entrepreneurial outcomes. Regrettably, the components are
treated as independent of one another. However, a small number of empirical stud-
ies do explore the additive nature of separate factor contributions. For example,
Range of Applicability133

Robinson et al. (1991) used the entrepreneurial attitude orientation (EAO) scale to
distinguish entrepreneurs (n = 54) from white collar managers (n = 57). All four of
the EAO subscales were independently significant at the 0.001 level. When entered
into a stepwise discriminant analysis (pp. 20–21), innovation, personal control and
self-esteem collectively provided, “…77 % accuracy in predicting group member-
ship using the classification function coefficients.”
Utsch et al. (1999) used Patchen’s (1965) interest in innovation scale to classify
75 East German Managers and 102 East German entrepreneurs. When combined,
the scores for the ‘readiness to change at work’ and ‘interest in innovation’ mea-
sures were able to predict the classification of managers and entrepreneurs, 80.6 %
and 79.3 % of the time, respectively, thereby implying that both scales were required
to develop such a high level of discrimination.
Hmieleski and Corbett (2008) used a novel research instrument to investigate the
influence of improvisational behavior and self-efficacy on new venture performance
with 159 firm founders. The researchers (p. 490) found that, “…the interaction of
improvisational behavior × entrepreneurial self-efficacy on new venture performance
is indeed positive and significant (β = .21, p < .01)…startups led by founders who
were high in entrepreneurial self-efficacy tended to grow at a greater rate when their
founders exhibited high levels of improvisational behavior, whereas startups led by
founders who were low in entrepreneurial self-efficacy tended to grow at a com-
paratively lower rate when their founders exhibited high levels of improvisational
behavior.”

Thresholds

That fairly substantial evidence exists to demonstrate an IQ threshold in other cre-

ativity disciplines is suggestive of the usefulness of the concept of a threshold
(Albert and Runco 1999). To date, the evidence of minimum (or maximum) thresh-
olds of different element of entrepreneurial creativity is very limited. It is reason-
able to propose, though, that some minimum levels of self-confidence, tenacity or
tolerance of ambiguity are required for successful entrepreneurship. Similarly we
should anticipate thresholds in knowledge and thinking style. There will, of course,
be problems with respect to the measurement of such thresholds.

Range of Applicability

The focus here is on the creativity of entrepreneurs. The extent to which the general
theory of entrepreneurial creativity can extend beyond entrepreneurship to predict
other business outcomes is unclear. Nonetheless, there are empirical studies that
suggest an extended (or extendable) range of applicability. One potentially informa-
tive study by Howell and Higgins (1990) investigated a broad range of
134 8 Creatividad empresarial

characteristics in order to distinguish 25 champions of corporate innovation from a

matched group of non-champions. The researchers examined personality character-
istics (achievement motivation, persistence, innovativeness, persuasiveness, and
risk-taking), leadership behaviors (charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation,
and individualized consideration) and influence tactics. They (p. 333) found that,
“An examination of factor loadings clearly indicates that two variables drive the
personality construct within the theoretical context of our model. They are risk tak-
ing and innovativeness…These results imply that risk taking and innovativeness are
the predominant personality characteristics of champions.” A discriminant analysis
was significant at the 0.001 level with an overall classification rate of 84 %. Howell
and Higgins (p. 335) concluded that, “…champions manifest the personality char-
acteristics of risk-taking propensity and innovativeness, which are empirically
related to entrepreneurship…”
The question of how broadly entrepreneurial creativity might apply is, in effect,
a question of boundary conditions. While the what, why, and how are questions of
the functioning of the model; questions of where, when and who are concerned with
the boundaries of a theory (Whetten 1989). As it is, the existing evidence from the
empirical research would suggest that the boundaries of the theory may encompass
more than just entrepreneurs, i.e. new venture founders. Hence, the scope of the
usefulness of entrepreneurial creativity might be extended over time to include,
among others, corporate entrepreneurs, innovators and CEOs.

Contingencies

The environment is conceived as directly effecting both the creative development

and the creative undertakings of the entrepreneur. It is also conceived as influencing
the process of venture development itself. The environment may play a material role
in the influence of each of the various stages of venture development, from selecting
an opportunity at a promising time in a promising industry, onward. A useful start-
ing point for environmental munificence might be to follow the empirical research
of Miller and Friesen (1983) and Covin and Slevin (1989). Disciplines other than
creativity are likely needed to help with finding specific environmental characteris-
tics that will be supportive of entrepreneurial creativity.

The Direction of Causation

The expectation is that the direction of causation is from entrepreneurial creativity

to entrepreneurial outcome, and not the reverse. However, some degree of caution is
necessary here. Shaver (1995, p. 21) argued that entrepreneurial activity might be
able to induce creative personality attributes: “Finally, the work on creativity, though
psychometrically sound, has typically compared people already identified as
Conclusion135

entrepreneurs to other folks, leaving open the possibility that the differences were
obtained during the experiences gained in an entrepreneurial career rather than
before…In other words, entrepreneurs may not be born, but they might be made.”

Conclusion

This chapter develops a more complete understanding of entrepreneurial creativity.

The chapter first drew on Sternberg and Lubart’s (1999) conception of creative
resources. The section focused on motivation also drew on Schumpeter’s conception
of entrepreneurial motivation. Finally, the chapter used the balance of evidence link-
ing the various features of creativity resources with entrepreneurial performance.
The characterizing features chosen represent a credible list of the more important
elements of entrepreneurial creativity. Such a list of components of entrepreneurial
creativity will help to distinguish entrepreneurial creativity from other forms of cre-
ativity. As it is presented, entrepreneurial creativity appears to be similar to other
forms of creativity but for modest and understandable differences typically related
to differences in entrepreneurial media.
It should be noted that the creativity literature offers a variety of other possible
components of the five creative resources delineated by Sternberg and Lubart
(1999). Further research is needed to hone the field’s understanding of entrepreneur-
ial creativity. Finally, the case for the GTEC possessing both potential predictive
and explanatory power continues to grow.
Chapter 9
Entrepreneurial Dynamics

Abstract Being entrepreneurially creative is one thing, knowing what to do as a

creative entrepreneur is something else again. The next chapter provides a creative
process model of entrepreneurial venture development. The role of creativity in the
entrepreneurial investment process is explored. We come to appreciate plausible pro-
cess linkages between entrepreneurial creativity and entrepreneurial performance.

As Schumpeter noted, entrepreneurs live in a world of dynamics. The statics he left to

conventional, non-innovative business. Thinking of entrepreneurship in terms of pro-
cess can provide different insight into both the problems entrepreneurs face and the
structure of their solutions. A process model of venture dynamics inevitably will need
to capture a multiple of variables interacting over an extended period of time as a ven-
ture proceeds from an idea in someone’s head to an evolved, growth organization.
If entrepreneurs need to be creative then they need to act creatively. What kinds
of creative actions do we expect that they will be engaging in? Are there plausible
tactical and strategic activities that would heavily draw on the creative talents of
entrepreneurs? What is needed is a process model or two to explore the nether world
between being a creative entrepreneur and having a high performing business. What
is needed is a process model of entrepreneurial dynamics. Before exploring the pos-
sible tactics and strategies of creative entrepreneurship it makes sense to review
some of the more popular alternative treatments of the entrepreneurial process.

The Rationalist Model

It is probably commonplace for management scholars to use various approxima-

tions of homo economicus across their teaching and research agendas. One of the
common first distinctions in the utilization of the rationalist models is between
means and ends. To avoid the folly of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, one should clearly
establish one’s destination in order to select the right path that leads to it. The great
strength of a means-ends model is it enables us to put technology in place, that is to
say, better standardized methods for accomplishing ends.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 137

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_9
138 9 Dinámica empresarial

Values Goal(s) Strategies Tactics

Exhibit 9.1 A model of strategic rationality

In the organizational science realm, a goal is distinguished from a strategy. One

might also further elaborate a goal to introduce the values that precede it. A strategy
may be further refined to introduce finer-grained tactics. Hence, the model of strate-
gic rationality presented in Exhibit 9.1:
Homo economicus establishes a set of values which lead to one or more goals.
Each goal dictates the development of high-level strategies and relevant tactics. The
model appears to offer both consistency and derivability. A high degree of rational-
ity can theoretically be obtained by a thorough and comprehensive approach to
alternatives at each juncture of the model. In the realm of entrepreneurship, strategi-
cally rational thinking offers reason and order, thereby potentially influencing the
survival and success of a new venture.
However, there are substantial limits to rationality in general, and specifically to
the rationality in the type of model advocated here. In effect, the limits to rationality
impose limits to the use of standardized solutions and therefore to technology.
Where rationality is limited, creativity is often required.

Limits to Strategic Rationality

In 1959, Lindblom described and compared two decision making approaches:

rational-comprehensive (RC) and successive limited comparisons (SLC). Lindblom
(p. 80) described the hallmarks of the RC approach as, “…clarity of objective,
explicitness of evaluation, a high degree of comprehensiveness of overview, and,
wherever possible, quantification of values for mathematical analysis.” He (p. 81)
characterized the RC approach, which he argues is the conventionally-advocated
strategic planning model, as follows:
1a. Clarification of values or objectives distinct from and usually prerequisite to
empirical analysis of alternative policies.
2a. Policy-formulation is therefore approached through means-ends analysis:
First the ends are isolated, then the means to achieve them are sought.
3a. The test of a “good” policy is that it can be shown to be the most appropriate
means to the desired ends.
4a. Analysis is comprehensive; every important relevant factor is taken into
account.
5a. Theory is often heavily relied upon.
Limits to Strategic Rationality139

Lindblom disputed the viability of the rational-comprehensive approach for the

following reasons: (1) it is extraordinarily difficult to specify desired values at
useful levels of abstraction; (2) trade-offs among values are also hard to specify,
let alone quantify; (3) it is difficult or impossible to fully anticipate outcomes in
order to measure them against values; (4) one cannot derive objectives from values
because innumerable objectives may be consistent with different values; (5) outlin-
ing all possible alternative action sets could be extraordinarily demanding if not
downright impossible; (6) being comprehensive in one’s analysis is both impossible
and wasteful in the attempt.
Ultimately, Lindblom claimed that goal-directed action was not a straight for-
ward proposition. Even in the case of higher-level strategic decisions, Lindblom
demonstrated that there are severe limits to control through logical reasoning. As an
alternative to the RC approach, he (1959, p. 81) offered the successive limited com-
parisons or ‘muddling through’ approach:
1b. Selection of values, goals and empirical analysis of the needed action are not
distinct from one another but are closely intertwined.
2b. Since means and ends are not distinct, means-end analysis is often inappropri-
ate or limited.
3b. The test of a “good” policy is typically that various analysts find themselves
directly agreeing on a policy (without their agreeing that it is the most appro-
priate means to an agreed objective).
4b. Analysis is drastically limited:
(i) Important possible outcomes are neglected.
(ii) Important alternative potential policies are neglected.
(iii) Important affected values are neglected.
5b. A succession of comparisons greatly reduces or eliminates reliance on theory.
Since Lindblom (1959), a number of management scholars have developed
related ideas and models with the intention of shifting scholarship away from fully-
rational, decision-making models. Recently, Hmieleski and Corbett (2006) offer a
model that indicates the type of entrepreneurial action required for varying degrees
of novelty and resource constraints. They suggest that rational strategic planning
should be constrained to venture situations in which both resource constraints and
the demand for novelty are low. By contrast, improvisation is the desired decision
making style when resource constraints and the demand for novelty are high, the
circumstance facing most growth entrepreneurs. Trial and error (not unlike mud-
dling through) is suggested when required novelty is high and resource constraints
are low. The use of biases and heuristics is recommended when required novelty is
low and resource constraints are high.
The significance of less rational models is to indicate the limited viability of their
rational counterparts. This is not to suggest that less rational models lack flaws –
they are merely more realistic or preferred (Simon and Houghton 2002) in many
circumstances. Of course, rationality need not be limited to the rational comprehen-
sive approach alone. Perhaps, entrepreneurs might aspire to root their logic within
the structure of the business disciplines.
140 9 Dinámica empresarial

On the Limitations of the Small Business Model

of Entrepreneurship

The third chapter of this book introduces the implicit small business theory of entre-
preneurship. The theory predicts that knowledge of each of the various management
disciplines positively influences new ventures outcomes. It is revealed that the theory
may possess value, though existing evidence does not yet weigh strongly in its favor.
Perhaps, the various parties involved with entrepreneurial endeavors maintain
belief in the functional areas of business because comfort is found in holding onto
business conventions. Each management discipline provide entrepreneurs with new
venture development checklists. Unfortunately, the checklists tend to be rather long
and overwhelming. It can easily be argued that there is an incredible array of tasks
required to transform the intellectual and physical infrastructure of a tiny start-up
into a large, successful company.
A second problem is that the management disciplines have yet to provide clear
direction regarding which actions to take first and/or which actions have the highest
return on investment. Some might argue that knowing the customer should be the
key driver of new venture development. This could imply an early requirement for
in-depth empathic product/service research (c.f. Leonard and Rayport 1997). It
could imply endless traditional market research. Supposedly, a budding entrepre-
neur should do enough market research to understand the customer and the
market – whatever that means, particularly given the limited budget available for
most new ventures (Bhidé 2000). Disturbing to this view however, it should be
noted here that one research stream indicates that it is dangerous to listen carefully
to what customers want when the anticipated products or services are based on new
technology unfamiliar to the customer (Christensen 1997). Then there is the prob-
lem of determining the best second and third steps, etc. – problems not assisted by
functional business knowledge.
The upside of the management disciplines is that they offer structures that aid in
understanding business problems. The functional disciplines organize problems by
type and shed light on business issues, including how some are interrelated. For
example, although market research might not have method in common with promo-
tion (e.g. preparing advertising copy), there are important conceptual linkages
between these two sub-disciplines. When market research is conducted effectively,
it can provide direction to those who design ancillary features of products, including
promotional copy.
Moving beyond conventional management thinking probably means moving
beyond the comfort of structure (i.e. statics) towards the confusion of process (i.e.
dynamics). The only thing perhaps delaying this shift in thinking might be the belief
that new venture business planning provides insight into what action steps to take
and when to take them. A recent meta-analysis (Brinckmann et al. 2010) indicates
that for new ventures, business planning offers at least some promise of value (mean
effect size = 0.13; p = 0.002). Beyond the limits of business planning is the complexity
and uncertainty that calls for creative decision making.
An Investment Theory of Entrepreneurial Creativity141

In order to effectively understand entrepreneurial dynamics, it is probably necessary

to utilize a model that does not stem from the management disciplines. Given the
nature of the general theory of entrepreneurial creativity, it is necessary to search for
a model that sheds light on how entrepreneurs might use their creativity. The model
should offer insight into what it means in practical terms for entrepreneurs to be
creative in this realm. It should also provide understanding regarding what happens
during new venturing other than marketing, finance, accounting, human resources
and information systems-related efforts. In other words, to what extent does being
an entrepreneur change the media and the processes of business activity from that of
a middle manager?

An Investment Theory of Entrepreneurial Creativity

Sternberg and Lubart (1999) described their confluence model of creativity as an

investment model – a view of creative decision-making wherein the creative person
invests in ideas, when still relatively undervalued, then upgrades them in order to sell
at a higher price in the future. Their model of buying ideas at low prices and selling
them at high prices particularly fits the modus operandi of the entrepreneur. In the
case of entrepreneurs the investment decision is not one but many as they piece
together their venture, one investment decision at a time. This chapter favors an
interpretation of new venture development characterized as one of securing business
deals and arrangements, frequently under adverse conditions, in order to realize an
entrepreneurial vision. Entrepreneurial visions, per Lindblom (1959), encompass
end states as well as their methods of attainment. The process is further characterized
as both purposefully strategic, and opportunistically tactical and improvisational.
Exhibit 9.2 below portrays the entrepreneurial development process. The core of
the process involves arranging deals that constitute commitments (i.e. investments)
among the entrepreneur and others stakeholders who contribute in a variety of ways
to developing the venture. The arrows in the diagram represent the origin of deal
making as being either from (1) the entrepreneur’s vision of what is needed for
development or (2) events that emerge along the way, creating unanticipated venture
development possibilities. Vision and improvisation independently exert influence
on the development of the enterprise.
The entrepreneurial process may begin with opportunities imagined or opportu-
nities presented. If the process is begun with a person identifying an opportunity and
developing a vision, the process next moves towards arranging productive invest-
ments to develop a related venture. Beyond the initial stage of opportunity identifi-
cation, strategy and improvisation become much more relevant. The term strategy
represents an entrepreneur’s long-term perspective on how to develop a venture over
time, including but not limited to fundraising, finding partners, incorporating and so
on. The term improvisation represents an entrepreneur’s short-term (re)actions with
respect to ideas, people and events that represent new and potentially profitable
investment possibilities during the venture development process. The ways in which
142 9 Dinámica empresarial

Exhibit 9.2 The creative

process Entrepreneurial Vision:

Goals and Strategy

Deal Making under Adversity:

Creating Entrepreneurial Commitments

Improvisation: Tactics

Time

unexpected deals present themselves can control the development of a venture more
than any strategic pre-commitment on the part of the entrepreneur. For instance, a
new realization about a need for external funding, due to growth in an unanticipated
market segment, makes its own demands upon an entrepreneur.
The characterization of a business venture as a combination of deals or contracts
through time enables it to be represented as a dynamic entity. As a business grows,
it develops more and different contractual relationships with numerous collabora-
tors such as customers, suppliers of financial capital, real estate owners, and employees.
Each contract will vary in sophistication and potential for financial return. There
may also be synergistic effects produced by combinations of contracts.

Entrepreneurial Vision

Vision is about both ends and means – where one hopes to go and how one might
set about getting there. According to some scholars, entrepreneurship is vision-
driven (c.f. Tarabishy et al. 2005). Although the nature of an entrepreneurial vision
may vary in clarity and complexity, it may be useful for a budding entrepreneur to
spend substantial time crafting one (Rockey 1986). The importance of entrepreneur-
ial vision is underscored by Ensley et al. (2006), who examined owner/managers of
Inc. 500 companies. The researchers found that vision ‘scores’ can (1) distinguish
lead entrepreneurs from other team members and (2) account for differences in new
venture sales growth.
From a Schumpeterian perspective, the core of any entrepreneurial vision is a
new combination. At the core is a powerful synthesis, rather than simple addition of
Entrepreneurial Vision143

constituent parts. A powerful vision need not, however, be founded in radical

innovation. A new combination that represents an incremental advance may be just
as effective, from an entrepreneurial perspective, as a more radical one. In many
cases, an idea for a business may be no more than a copycat idea adopted by a
different individual in a different location. However, such new combinations tend to
be trivial, which suggests that a budding, high-growth-oriented entrepreneur who
proposes such a combination should carefully consider its nature and customer
value proposition.
Envisioning the entrepreneurial process means envisioning both the goal and the
necessary strategies. The goal is an end-state – the creation of a functioning enter-
prise which accomplishes a pre-specified purpose. The strategy is the means – how
the entrepreneur will reach the desired end state. A new venture execution strategy
may entail a series of tactics, hopefully culminating in the envisioned end state.
McMullan and Long (1990) offered a model for developing a self-sustaining
venture over time. The authors proposed a three-phase, ten-stage model in which
opportunity identification is the first stage and aspects of opportunity execution con-
stitute the remaining nine stages. The first phase of the McMullan and Long model
is preparation. This phase involves identifying realizable opportunities; designing a
feasible product / service offering; planning resource requirements (i.e. the imple-
mentation strategy); and, contracting resources for launch. The second phase is the
launch phase. It involves engineering for efficient production of products or ser-
vices; regularizing sales revenue; and, standardizing operating performance. The
third and final phase encompasses growth and survival. It includes expanding stra-
tegically and opportunistically both sales and employment growth; enhancing man-
agerial professionalization; and, institutionalizing an innovative capacity.
Each of these ten stages, or strategic challenges, provides a degree of ordered
direction to the process of venture development over time. Prior to the development
of a business plan, the logic is to first find a credible opportunity and second, design
the related product/service offering to fit a particular market. Business planning
occurs next, when there is a pressing need to determine how to find and use resources
to realize the opportunity. Each of the steps might intelligently direct new venture
activity through time since each step requires a conceptual answer at the very least
before proceeding. The model inherently involves an increasing amount of respon-
sibility with the advent of each new strategic challenge. Further, each strategic chal-
lenge is subject to continuous change as venture development continues. Hence, the
process is anything but a step-by-step, linear process. As Bhave (1994, p. 223)
discovered from 27 case studies of firms in up-state New York, the process of entre-
preneurial venture creation is, “…an iterative, nonlinear, feedback-driven, concep-
tual and physical process.”
McMullan and Long (1990) also suggested that many of the activities across the
three phases could not be wholly delegated. Each of the strategic challenges is
thought to provide the very essence of a self-sustaining venture – its DNA, so to
speak. As a new venture is created, its defining character is dependent on
entrepreneurial decisions. As such, this strategic creativity model provides some
144 9 Dinámica empresarial

discrimination with respect to what activities entrepreneurs can delegate and what
they must accomplish and / or directly supervise themselves.
An alternative, and possibly more strategic, perspective might view a new venture
by its constraints. During early development, a new venture is characterized as loosely
constrained due to a small number of investments in ideas, actors and organizations.
Over time, strategic options become increasingly constrained as entrepreneurs add
greatly to the number of investments – to products, customers, employees, industry, a
marketing strategy, and so on. The process is thus one of successive constraint with
more creative latitude potentially offered earlier than later in the process.

Entrepreneurial Investments

There are a number of ways of characterizing entrepreneurial implementation. One

useful core concept may be that of entrepreneurial investments. An investment can
be made in an idea, a person or an organization. Commitments to (investments in)
people might be in the form of anything from the allusion of an intention (i.e. a
vague non-binding promise) at one end of the continuum to a legally binding con-
tract underwritten in cash at the other end. A commitment might be momentary and
contingent, for example to test if there is a financeable deal in the offing. A commit-
ment may also be longer-term and less contingent as is typically represented by the
acquisition of a business partner or full-time employee.
Initially, budding entrepreneurs must become committed to entrepreneurial
activity. Around that time, they must invest in a specific business idea. They also
need to generate commitments from other people and organizations in order to exe-
cute a chosen idea, with the understanding that many of the arrangements will
require a reciprocal commitment and be subject to legal recourse.

Deal-Making Under Adversity

Deal-making involves several phases – deal-finding, deal-negotiation and deal-

management – that involve creativity. Initially, entrepreneurs need to find the deals
that they want to secure. One such deal would be to obtain capable people. As
employee turnover can be costly, entrepreneurs need to find employees who have
the necessary knowledge and skills, as well as the willingness to work under cir-
cumstances of reduced certainty for an extended period. It may also be necessary to
attract people who are willing and able to forego some current wages in exchange
for (the possibility of) higher earnings later. Securing such people without investing
a great deal of time and/or money requires creative thinking.
A second example of deal finding involves the search for funding. Creativity is
used during the search for debt or equity capital. For many entrepreneurs it is not
easy to determine who, or what people, or organizations might be a source of funding.
Entrepreneurial Improvisation145

A third example involves the search for accommodating suppliers. Many entrepreneurs
are faced with the prospect of harsh terms from suppliers as new ventures lack confi-
dence-inspiring track records. A fourth example involves the search for amenable
customers. For some products and services, entrepreneurs must be creative with
respect to selling in order to secure early customers (c.f. Wang and Netemeyer 2004).
Once entrepreneurs identify people and organizations with which they can do
business, they must create deals that benefit them in either the short or long term.
In order to effectively negotiate deals, entrepreneurs need to be able to appreciate
the various aspects of legal contracts and imagine how various terms and conditions
will impact their ventures in the future. Given that the other parties to contracts have
different interests, the ability to create (seemingly) mutually beneficial outcomes
under such adversity is of great significance.
Finally, entrepreneurship requires the continuing management of deals.
Entrepreneurs must be vigilant as some contracted parties may attempt to ignore
contractual obligations after some time in order to better self-interests elsewhere.
Ultimately, whether it concerns doing deals with employees, investors, customers,
or members of a board, entrepreneurs face more adversity than larger, more estab-
lished competitors.

Entrepreneurial Improvisation

Deal-making is inevitably tactical and improvisational because of the messiness of

the realism around each separate deal. Baker et al. (2003) characterize the widely-
held, linear and rational decision-making model for new ventures as ‘design-
precedes-execution’ (DPE). The researchers (p. 256) suggest an alternative model
based on improvisation: “Founders may plunge into the start-up process, designing
the firm as they create it. In some cases, design emerges as founders observe and
provide accounts for activities they have actually undertaken…the framework does
not require the entrepreneur to be a calculating actor driving forward through a chal-
lenging linear process.”
Moorman and Miner (1998, p. 698) define improvisation as, “…the degree to
which the composition and the execution of an action converge in time.” Hence, the
entrepreneur’s mental short-cuts move towards improvisation when there is no time
for planning and no available heuristic to follow. The empirical research focused on
new venture improvisation is in its infancy. The small number of studies and their
key findings are described below.
Baker et al. (2003) conducted improvisation research via interview studies on
three different samples of American new ventures: (1) twenty-five firms in the com-
puter training and air pollution consulting industries; (2) twenty-one business-to-
business software companies, and (3) twenty-two faculty start-ups. The researchers
(p. 255) found that, “…not only may founding itself be improvisational in some
cases, but improvisational processes and issues permeate entrepreneurial activity
and have non-obvious implications for emergent firm strategies and competencies.”
146 9 Dinámica empresarial

The latter finding (p. 264) is further described as follows: “The crucial feature of this
process here is that the improvising team observes its own partially completed impro-
visational activity and makes sense of it in a way that shapes ongoing activity.”
Baker et al. (2003, p. 265) also provided examples of firms that cleverly made-do
with resources at hand in order to further various interests relating to customers,
financing, suppliers, office space, advice and employees. The researchers further
noted that when improvisation was available in the start-up decision, entrepreneurs
were less likely to deviate from prior lines of work.
Hmieleski and Corbett (2006) used a sample of 430 American college students
to investigate the effects of, among other things, personality, motivation, cognitive
style, social models, and improvisation on entrepreneurial intentions. The research-
ers found the strongest relationship between improvisation and entrepreneurial
intentions. Improvisation accounted for 20.3 % (p < 0.01) of the variance in partici-
pants’ intentions to start a new business.
In 2008, Hmieleski and Corbett used a sample of 159 American entrepreneurs to
investigate the moderating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the relationship
between founders’ improvisational behavior and new venture performance. The
researchers (p. 482) found that, “…the interaction of improvisational behav- ior ×
entrepreneurial self-efficacy on new venture performance is indeed positive and
significant (β = 0.21, p < 0.01).” The researchers (p. 491) conclude that, “…
entrepreneurs who are low in self-efficacy and frequently improvise might be shoot-
ing themselves in the foot. Improvisation for such individuals is more of a ‘craps
shoot,’ because they do not have the confidence to actively seek out how resources
might be recombined. Moreover, their lack of confidence in their abilities is likely
to stifle their attempts to improvise.”
In 2013, Hmieleski et al. (2013) used a sample of 207 American entrepreneurs to
examine the moderating effect of dispositional optimism on the relationship between
founders’ improvisational behavior and new venture performance. The researchers
(p. 143) found that, “…in dynamic environments, the effects of improvisational
behavior are greater (more positive) for firms led by entrepreneurs who are moder-
ate in optimism than for those led by entrepreneurs who are high in optimism.” The
result was significant at the p < 0.05 level.

Investigating the Entrepreneurial Process

In addition to the studies on creative improvisation, there is a small amount of

empirical research focused on other creative aspects of the entrepreneurial process.
The existing evidence suggests a number of interesting process-based possibilities.
Sarasvathy et al. (1998) employed an experimental design to examine the thought
processes of four entrepreneurs and four bankers as they solved problems. The
researchers (p. 218) found that, “Entrepreneurs accept risk as given and focus on
controlling outcomes at any given level of risk; they also frame their problem spaces
with personal values and consequently assume greater personal responsibility for
A Provocative Study147

influencing outcomes. Bankers use target outcomes as reference points and operate
by attempting to control risk with the existing structured problem spaces, avoiding
situations where they risk higher levels of personal responsibility.” They (p. 217,
italics in original) concluded that, “…entrepreneurship is more a problem-finding
process than merely a problem-solving one.”
Buttner and Gryskiewicz (1993) used the Kirton Adapation-Innovation
Instrument on a random sample of 300 American entrepreneurs to discover that
entrepreneurs can become creatively stale with respect to a venture over time. The
entrepreneurs in business (p. 27), “…two years or less were significantly more inno-
vative…than entrepreneurs in business more than eight years” which may suggest
that entrepreneurial creativity may die out over time when confined to a single ven-
ture. The result was significant at the p < 0.05 level.
Buttner and Gryskiewicz (1993) also found that more innovative entrepreneurs
started more businesses – an average of 2.4 new businesses versus 1.2 for the adap-
tor group (p < 0.03). This may indicate that entrepreneurs shift from venture to ven-
ture over time to help maintain their creative edge. Finally, the researchers found
that innovators and adapters allocated their time differently once in business.
Specifically, innovators appear to spend less time on administering ongoing activi-
ties than adapters during the life of a venture (p < 0.01). This finding suggests that
creative entrepreneurs tend to avoid getting mired by administration.
Armstrong and Hird (2009, p. 424) used a sample of 131 UK-based entrepre-
neurs to find that a difference in entrepreneurial drive between entrepreneurs who
operate in earlier stages of venture creation and growth versus those operating in
more established operations. The result was significant at the p < 0.01 level.
Entrepreneurial drive was defined as, “…the drive to create and grow a venture”
(Carland et al. 2002, p. 38).

A Provocative Study

Khan (1987) conducted a study of the decision-making of 36 Texas-based venture

capitalists. He asked that each venture capitalist (VC) identify one outstanding suc-
cess and one outstanding failure amongst his/her portfolio of investee companies.
Using a combination of methods, Khan elicited a set of six decision factors that the
VCs claim to use in choosing their investees. Khan obtained directly from the VCs
their own assessment of the relative importance of the six factors: entrepreneur’s
desire for success; uniqueness of product or service relative to competition; enthu-
siasm/capacity for work; tenacity/courage; creativity/ingenuity; and, competence in
field of endeavor. Khan wanted next to mathematically determine which of those
factors best discriminated the winning investee firms from the loosing firms, and
how much of the success outcome each factor separately contributed. For start-up
ventures, the creativity/ingenuity measure by itself accounted for 71 % of perfor-
mance variance. Khan (p. 197) defined the creativity / ingenuity variable as, “…the
148 9 Dinámica empresarial

ability to be innovative, which in turn implies not just invention but the resourcefulness
and ingenuity to market that invention successfully.”
There are a number of things that are provocative about the Khan (1987) study.
First, the VCs did not anticipate the predictive power of creativity. Second, the cre-
ativity measure was a global measure of creative performance. Third, the measure
is likely an after-the-fact measure of creative actions and outcomes observed by
each VC. Fourth, the assessments were done by people in a good position to make
such assessments because they were vitally interested in the performance of their
investees. Fifth, the measurement strategy is unique. Typically, people are assessed
on their creative potential before the fact. Instead of assessing the person, in all
likelihood, the VCs were assessing what they saw as creative outcomes produced by
the entrepreneur in the course of developing ventures. Fifth, from a collective per-
spective, the VCs were unknowingly assessing the role taken by creative action in
the development of ventures.
Chief amongst this study’s weaknesses is the uncertainty around the meaning of
the creativity measure. Is it truly possible that the creative actions of lead entrepre-
neurs could really have such a powerful impact on the relative performance of such
high potential firms?

Conclusions

Some model is needed of the process that follows being a creative entrepreneur but
precedes the success of his/her enterprise. Existing models of entrepreneurship are
not particularly useful as models of creative entrepreneurship. A dominant model is
the means-end model. There are however practical limits to the logic of rational
decision-making and to reliance on business knowledge in an entrepreneurial con-
text. Yet, it is not straight-forward to simply shift away from a rational, planning
model to one based on creativity. To suggest that entrepreneurs need to be creative
to be successful raises as many questions as it answers. This is particularly obvious
if one concludes that creativity is needed for something more than the application of
business technology to business problems. What is it that entrepreneurs are doing
that they need to do more creatively in order to be more successful?
A model of evolving entrepreneurial investments (i.e. commitments) is advanced
here to offer insights into the possible nature of entrepreneurial dynamics. There is
a lot to say about the entrepreneurial process of deal making under adversity, but in
particular, it is at least partially uncertain, ambiguous, unknowable, and uncontrol-
lable. Entrepreneurs must envisage their goals, as well as strategies for attaining
them. The process of entrepreneurship may contain substantial elements of tactical
improvisation, as well as purposeful strategy. The process also may involve borrow-
ing many useful ideas over time from other contexts in order to perfect a business
idea (e.g. Walton and Huey 1993). In summary, perhaps entrepreneurial creativity is
important just because the development of growth ventures presents entrepreneurs
with so many open-ended issues.
Chapter 10
Developing Entrepreneurial Creativity

Abstract By now you might be wondering how people become entrepreneurially

creative. Is it simply a matter of taking a university course?

There is strong empirical evidence that growth entrepreneurs are central to economic
development (e.g. Birch 1979, 1987; Wong et al. 2005). There is also evidence that
the people who develop growth ventures are markedly more creative than other
entrepreneurs (see Tables 6.4–6.6 in Chap. 6). However, entrepreneurial program-
ming is indifferently successful at producing growth entrepreneurs (c.f. Martin et al.
2013; Rideout and Gray 2013). It would appear, hence, that there is more to devel-
oping growth entrepreneurs than what currently occurs in classrooms.
It is the purpose of this chapter to review some of the evidence that relates to the
development of creative people within a number of different contexts. A better
appreciation of how creativity is acquired over time should foster a stronger under-
standing of how entrepreneurial creativity might be developed.
The evidence that pertains to the development of creativity implies that the
development of entrepreneurial creativity is a time consuming process taking many
years, spanning a number of life stages. Some aspects of creative entrepreneurship
may tend to become more solidified at younger ages than others. Parenting during
the youngest years can be important, as can preschool experiences. Primary and
secondary schooling appear to play roles. Even adult career choices can strongly
influence entrepreneurial direction.

Parents and Family

Wright and Wright (1986) provided an overview of existing research focused on

the relationship between family and childhood creativity. They found that a lax
discipline/general permissiveness atmosphere was more effective for engendering
creativity than more authoritarian forms of discipline. More strict and punitive par-
ents produce less creative children. Parents who developed children’s autonomy and
provided opportunities to participate in family decision making produced more

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 149

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General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_10
150 10 Desarrollar la creatividad empresarial

creative children. Evidence tended to support the development of clear ethical

standards, but without strong pressures for children to conform to parental values.
Wright and Wright (1986) also found that parents of creative children tended to
be neither rejecting nor closely possessive. The parents were less anxious about
their children and tended to demonstrate respect for them. They accepted immature
or ‘childish’ behavior and encouraged playful behavior. Children were encouraged
not to repress negative feelings. The researchers (p. 131) state: “The family pattern
characterized by openness of expression, parental explanation, and acceptance of
regression illustrates the respect parents have for their creative children.”
The parents of creative children typically encouraged their children to explore
their environments and make decisions for themselves. The researchers (p. 131)
found that achievements were celebrated but stress “placed on school performance
was inversely related to children’s creativity.” The parents appeared to be less con-
strained by sex-role stereotypes and even reported father-mother conflicts on
domestic values. Finally, creative children tend to come from more stimulating
homes with more creative adult models.
Kemple and Nissenberg (2000) also reviewed evidence related to parental disci-
pline and concluded that neither permissive nor authoritarian parents were best for
encouraging children’s creativity. Citing Baumrind (1966), these reviewers (p. 68)
favored a third strategy, which they labeled an authoritative parent: “Authoritative
parents clearly communicate expectations and reasons for rules, set firm but reason-
able limits on a child’s behavior, and display a high degree of nurturance.”
In the field of entrepreneurship, a number of researchers have considered the
effects of parents’ behaviors. A number of studies have reported that the presence of
an entrepreneurial or self-employed parent increases the odds of venturing (c.f.
Collins and Moore 1970; Waddell 1983; Watkins and Watkins 1983; Hisrich and
Brush 1984; Ronstadt 1984; Cooper and Dunkelberg 1986; Scherer et al. 1989).
Such findings, for both males and females, suggest that entrepreneurial parents act
as positive role models (Brockhaus and Horwitz 1986).
McClelland (1961) suggested that the formative years have a strong role to play
in developing the capacity to become an entrepreneur. He suggested that a parent’s
ability to help a child internalize reasonably attainable goals was most important.
The goals should neither be too easy nor too difficult to reach. McClelland suggested
goals with a 50 % chance of achievement were best. He used a ring toss exercise to
demonstrate his notion. Individuals with a high need to achieve and thus most likely
to become entrepreneurs are the ones who would stand an intermediate distance
from a ring toss target. Those, standing closer or further away from the target, had a
lower need to achieve. They either made things too easy or too difficult for them-
selves. Those making the exercise too easy assured themselves of success without
risk. Those standing too far away provided themselves with an excuse for failure.
Schmitt-Rodermund (2004) used a measure of authoritative parenting that
included authority, warmth and supportiveness to find a correlation of 0.18 between
authoritative parenting and measures of early entrepreneurial competence. The
finding suggests that it is better to be permissive than coldly authoritarian, but being
warm and confidently directive is probably to be preferred over just being permis-
sive when it comes to developing entrepreneurial creativity in children.
Parents and Family151

Some of the limited evidence on the childhoods of entrepreneurs uncovers a

range of other factors that might be playing a role. In addition to finding that entre-
preneurial intentions were related to having parents that had their own businesses,
Drennan et al. (2005) found that having a difficult childhood and relocating fre-
quently during childhood were material factors in perceiving entrepreneurship as
both desirable and feasible later in life. Their (p. 233) review of the literature on
difficult childhood experiences is both informative and provocative:
The childhood experiences of entrepreneurs have been found to be difficult, characterized
by poverty, insecurity and/or neglect (Collins and Moore 1964) and personal tragedies, such
as parents’ divorce, a parent’s death, family financial difficulties and/or serious illness (Cox
and Jennings 1995: Ohe and Ohe 1996). Clinical studies of entrepreneurs suggest that they
are often affected by poverty, poor relationships with their fathers, strong controlling
mothers, and feelings of rejection and remoteness, which result in hostility, guilt, anger and
suspicion of people in positions of authority (Kets de Vries 1976, 1977, 1996). Difficult
childhoods are also posited to increase one’s self-reliance, which in turn increases one’s
ability to cope with the risks and uncertainties of self-employment. (Scherer et al. 1989)

On the issue of frequent relocation Drennan et al. (2005, p. 234) had the following
to offer:
An individual’s self-reliance and adaptability to new situations are related to entrepreneur-
ship, and such resilience and adaptability are associated with radical change during one’s
life. Moving location frequently is seen as one aspect of radical change (Davidsson 1995).
Reynolds (1995) found nascent entrepreneurs were less likely to have lived their whole
lives in the same geographical area and more likely to have lived in several places during
their lives. Davidsson (1995) related frequent moves to general attitudes related to change,
achievement, money (negative) and autonomy…

One might wonder how to square the findings which suggest that family func-
tionality is the basis of artistic or scientific creativity while family dis-functionality
seems to play a much greater role in the early up-bringing of entrepreneurs. Perhaps,
creative people, in general, need the support of a strong functional family up-
bringing, whereas creative entrepreneurs, in particular, have destructive elements in
their family backgrounds that shift them towards an entrepreneurial career. Negative
personal background influences may influence people to distrust others to the extent
that they want to work alone. Of course, it must be noted that the aforementioned
studies present nothing more than correlates and hence, it is entirely possible that
the influences that push people towards an entrepreneurial career path are different
than those that aid in their level of entrepreneurial success.
Then again, perhaps the studies that emphasize family functionality in the up-
bringing of creative children speak to the need to develop strong, imaginative and
independent people. The studies that emphasize family dysfunctionality may speak
to a need to socialize creative people and entrepreneurs alike, as somewhat more
marginal people: people who are at least mildly inclined to treat others as more means
than ends; people who are mildly independent of social constraints – distrusting of
others and fiercely committed to their own direction – not insiders, nor outsiders, but
rather marginal social actors driven to obsessive passions and/or extreme hours of
work. In any case, it is entirely possible that there is a dark side to both early entre-
preneurial preparation, specifically, and early creative preparation, in general.
152 10 Desarrollar la creatividad empresarial

Primary and Secondary Education

According to Russ and Fiorelli (2010), specific cognitive, affective and play skills
and abilities are generally considered to be drivers of creative outputs. The specific
cognitive processes are listed as: divergent thinking; transformational abilities;
sensitivity to problems and problem finding; task persistence and willingness to
engage in a variety of problem-solving approaches; a wide knowledge base and
range of interests; insight and the ability to synthesize; and, evaluative ability. The
specific affective processes are affect expression and affective fantasy. The specific
play process related to creativity is pretend or improvisational play.
In order to foster creativity in a child, Russ and Fiorelli (2010, p. 245) prescribe
the following steps:
1. Give children time to engage in pretend play.
2. Encourage exploration of different domains of activities so the child can find
what they deeply enjoy and develop their talents and abilities.
3. Foster an environment in which a child feels safe and comfortable to express
ideas that are unconventional.
4. Reinforce and enjoy acts of everyday creativity.
5. Encourage independence in problem solving, keeping in mind the principles of
optimal challenge and frustration.
6. Encourage expression of feelings in verbal exchange, in pretend play, and in
other media, so the child learns to feel comfortable with feelings and to integrate
them into easily accessible memories.
Lobler (2006) argued that younger children exhibit more entrepreneurial spirit
than high school children, citing a study by Kourilsky (1980) which reported that
25 % of kindergarten children versus 3 % of high school students demonstrate
important entrepreneurial characteristics. He (p. 20) observed that:
…if we look carefully at children under the age of five or six we find several entrepreneurial
competencies to start a creative destruction. They are motivated to learn, they are interested
in many different topics, they do not care about conventions, they ask excellent questions,
they discover exciting things, they are impatient and so on.

Unfortunately, he (p. 20) found that, “Then they go to school and seem to unlearn
these competencies.” Young creative students are typically not treated well in the
education system. A number of studies have found that teachers often unfavorably
view the behaviors and personality traits of creative children (Torrance 1962; Raina
and Raina 1971; Rimm and Davis 1976; Ritchie 1980; Robinson 1980; Oliphant
1986; Cropley 1992; Davis and Rimm 1994; Scott 1999).
Westby and Dawson (1995) found a negative correlation between teachers’ judg-
ment regarding favorite students and student creativity. Teachers indicated a prefer-
ence for student characteristics that facilitate classroom management such as
unquestioning acceptance of authority; conformity; logical thinking; and, responsi-
bility. Other studies have also reported that teachers prefer socially acceptable and
conforming characteristics (Torrance 1963; Bachtold 1974; Kaltsounis 1977;
Kaltsounis and Higdon 1977).
Career Choices153

Teachers who prefer socially-desirable, conforming behavior are characterized

as conservative autocratic. Teachers who support creative behavior, which includes
related socially undesirable behavior, are identified as more liberal democratic by
nature. Ng and Smith (2004) have found that over time the latter group’s inclina-
tions shift more towards those of the former group with years of teaching
experience – meaning that open-minded teachers become less supportive of creative
students as their career progresses.

Post-Secondary Education

Discussions of the efficacy of entrepreneurship education are provided in Chaps. 4

and 7. The most recent investigations by Rideout and Gray (2013) and Martin et al.
(2013) indicate that entrepreneurship education has a negligible to small impact on
new venture success. The training may not be effective for a variety of reasons.
First, it is possible that post-secondary programs do not train students capable of
benefiting from entrepreneurial programming. Second, students may forget the
knowledge gained as few of them start ventures during or immediately after gradu-
ation. Third, the programming may not effectively foster creative thinking skills.
Fourth, the knowledge base for entrepreneurship education may not be sufficiently
developed at this time.

Career Choices

Not all career paths provide an effective launch pad for new venturing (e.g. the pub-
lic sector – Özcan and Reichstein 2009). The most obvious route to launching busi-
nesses appears to be past entrepreneurial experience (Carroll and Mosakowski
1987; Delmar and Davidsson 2000; Rotefoss and Kolvereid 2005). Dobrev and
Barnett (2005) found that new venture founders become increasingly likely to leave
and start new ventures as their current ventures age and grow.
Short of being an entrepreneur, working for an entrepreneur might be a useful
training ground, as spin-off studies testify (Dahlstrand 1997; Elfenbein et al. 2010).
There may be limits to the duration of the experience, though. Dobrev and Barnett
(2005, p. 445) found that employees of new ventures, “…become unlikely to leave
their organizations to build new ones as their organizations age and grow—evidence
that organizations are effective in shaping and constraining the innovative behavior
of their members.
There is also some evidence in favor of a diverse set of work experiences for
pursuing new ventures, rather than extensive experience in a single industry or
occupation (Wagner 2003; Lazear 2004). The evidence regarding the impact of
specific types of work experience on new venture success is not very clear at this
point. Kenworthy and McMullan (2010) reviewed related findings in 56 published
154 10 Desarrollar la creatividad empresarial

empirical articles and found that only 38 % of the work-experience hypotheses were
supported. Four studies produced findings that reached a high level of statistical
significance (i.e. p ≤ 0.001). The researchers (p. 16) noted that the,
strongest findings suggest that 1) business failure is mitigated via prior work experience in
a similar industry; 2) prior new venture experience positively influences revenues; 3) prior
similar business experience positively influences the amount of money that an entrepreneurs
draws from a business; and 4) prior similar business experience substantially reduces the
odds of exiting a new venture. Additional findings at the p ≤.01 level suggest that work
experience reduces the chance of failure and increases the probability of revenue growth
and firm profitability. However, the types of work experience that influence success are not
made clear from the findings. It is interesting to note that there is evidence, albeit weak, that
prior management experience hurts new venture survival probability.

Conclusion

It probably makes more sense to view entrepreneurship as a performance art than as

a business technology. The challenge of developing more entrepreneurially creative
people is not unlike the development of more creative artists in other fields. Creative
competence is developed over a lifetime. Parenting practices have been shown to be
related to the development of creative children as have the practices of the school
system. Choice of career can also contribute to entrepreneurial creativity.
Chapter 11
Towards a Macro Theory
of Entrepreneurial Creativity

Abstract At a societal level does creativity play a substantial role in economic

development? How important is entrepreneurial creativity at the macro-economic
level? What does the evidence show us?

The Entrepreneur in Economic Development

There are a number of lenses through which one can view the relevance of the
entrepreneur to economic development. The first lens is that of Joseph Schumpeter.
Schumpeter’s theory (1934) is a description of an economy characterized by
repetitive cycles of business activity that are occasionally changed by entrepreneurs
who introduce new business combinations. The entrepreneur acts as the fundamen-
tal agent of change, responsible for all economic progress. Progress is thus attributed
primarily to a relatively small group of individuals, namely innovative entrepre-
neurs, rather than to more impersonal ‘institutions’ such as public education,
research and development, public infrastructure and/or the functioning of economic
institutions such as central banks and stock markets.
A second lens is that of Blanchflower and Oswald (1992). The scholars
developed two competing models to explain the general supply of entrepre- neurs
within any economy. Their (1992, pp. 3–4) first model, characterized by free entry
and no entrepreneurial rents, is a variant of competitive labor market theory:
According to the theory, individuals are able to enter whichever labour market they wish,
and running an enterprise comprises one of those occupational markets. Individual 1 weighs
up his or her talents and interests and chooses a career path. If entrepreneurship gives higher
utility than being a regular worker, individual 1 will be more prone to choose to enter that
line of work. Thus he or she will be more likely to set up in business…Given free entry,
long-run equilibrium has the characteristic that the utility of entrepreneurs has been pushed
down until it equals the utility of employees.

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General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_11
156 11 Hacia una macroteoría de la creatividad empresarial

Blanchflower and Oswald’s (1992, p. 4) second model, characterized by supply

constraints and entrepreneurial rents, views entrepreneurs as being generally in
short supply:
This model captures a rather different way of viewing the supply of entrepreneurs. It is one
in which, because some individuals have neither entrepreneurial vision nor the necessary
start-up capital, there can be a shortage of small business that allows entrepreneurs to earn
supernormal returns.

A third lens, developed by Nobel laureate Robert Solow, ties economic develop-
ment to innovation, particularly that of a technological nature, rather than entrepre-
neurship. Solow (1957) identified the central dominant role of innovation in
economic development by studying US macroeconomic data from 1909 through
1949. He (p. 320) concluded that, “Gross output per man hour doubled over the
interval, with 87½ percent of the increase attributable to technical change and the
remaining 12½ per cent to increased use of capital.”
The economic character and consequences of innovation has been under the
scholarly microscope for some time. Rosenberg (1976, p. 192) found that large
influential innovations were typically composed of many small ones: “The essential
point to be grasped here is that inventive activity is itself, best described as a gradual
process of accretion, a cumulation of events where, in general, continuities are
much more important than discontinuities…Thus, even the big technological break-
throughs which are associated with such names as Darby, Watt, Cort, and Bessemer,
usually have much more gently declining slopes of cost reduction flowing from
their technical contributions than the historical literature would lead us to expect.”
Bhidé (2000, p. 331) provides an example of the incremental nature of innovation
leading to sensational change:
Automobile manufacture began in the United States in 1893, when the Duryea brothers of
Springfield, Massachusetts, built a carriage powered by a one-cylinder motor. Six years
later, in 1899, many individuals and about 30 American companies had built a grand total
of some 2,500 vehicles. Ten years later, reports the U.S. Bureau of the Census, total car
registrations reached 32,900 vehicles, with 11,200 passenger vehicles sold in 1903. The
‘unification’ phase of the automobile industry in the United States, which, according to
historians McCraw and Tedlow led to the development of a mass market, did not begin until
the introduction of Ford’s Model T. This was 1908, fifteen years after the Duryea brothers
and twenty-three years after the Daimler-Benz vehicles.

The very idea of innovation as the implementation of creative ideas raises the
question of the identity of the innovator. Different scholars since Schumpeter have
seen entrepreneurship as a major vehicle for the introduction of innovations. Some
scholars such as Davidsson (2003) even go so far as to even view all innovation as
a form of entrepreneurship. Specifically, Davidsson (2003) proposes that entrepre-
neurial activity encompasses both new ventures, and innovative and imitative entries
into new markets by established firms. According to Wong et al. (2005, p. 337),
Davidsson implies that, “…existing models linking innovation to growth have in
fact addressed a specific aspect of entrepreneurship, that of innovative entry.”
The Entrepreneur in Economic Development157

Accordingly, it may be sensible to modify Schumpeter’s concept of ‘new

combinations’ to include the many smaller innovations that contribute over time to
economic development rather than only the large, sensational ones. It may also be
necessary to somewhat modify Schumpeter’s dramatic notion of creative destruc-
tion given some of the conflicting evidence. For example, Bhidé (2000, p. 333)
describes the co-existence of the typewriter and the word processor:
The introduction of word processors in the 1970s … led to predictions of the imminent
demise of typewriters. As I discovered in the course of a consulting study for a typewriter
manufacturer, in spite of a fourteenfold growth in the shipment of word processing units
between 1977 and 1981, the demand for typewriters in the United States had remained
steady, at about 1 million units per year.

Instead of completely replacing prior business activity, as suggested by Schumpeter,

innovations often appear to be added to the economic mix of goods and services
available. As a result, an economy may grow, in part, by adding to its variety.
Birch (1979) provides a fourth lens that sheds light on the importance of the
entrepreneur to economic development. Birch (1979) revolutionized thinking about
new ventures by empirically demonstrating that a relatively small segment of the
new firm population produced most of the job growth – overall, small business was
responsible for approximately 80 % of net new job creation. According to Birch, the
average proportion of US-based growth firms or ‘gazelles’ as a percentage of new
ventures was around 3 %. Further, the proportion of gazelles varied by region –
from 0.5 % to 5 % of new ventures. Over time, a number of studies have replicated
Birch’s finding in a variety of countries (c.f. Armington and Odle 1983 and the
Small Business Administration 1998 and 1999 in the US; Doyle and Gallagher
1987 and Blanchflower and Burgess 1996 in the UK; Picot et al. 1994 and 1998 in
Canada; Spilling 1996 in Norway; and, Davidsson et al. 1998 in Sweden).
In a 1987 book, Birch (p. 114) argued that the variation in the numbers of growth
firms as a proportion of small firms was so closely related to the economic strength
of different regions of the United States that it could almost be used as a surrogate
for economic development, since the loss rates from area to area were more or less
fixed: “Virtually all the variation in growth was attributable to variation in the rates
at which new firms started and grew to replace the fixed losses.”
In 2005, Wong et al. tested the impact on economic development of total entre-
preneurial activity versus that of only growth firms. The multivariate model used
cross-sectional data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor database of 37
countries. The researchers found that high-growth ventures were significant in
explaining economic growth, while in contrast, total entrepreneurial activity con-
tributed nothing to economic growth. According to Wong et al. (2005, p. 338), the
finding regarding total entrepreneurial activity may not be that surprising:
Some studies such as Picot et al. (1998) have found a ‘Schumpeter’ effect where new firms
enhance employment levels by stimulating economic activity and creating new jobs. On the
other hand, a ‘refugee’ or ‘shopkeeper’ effect was discovered by Evans and Leighton (1989,
1990) and Reynolds et al. (1994) among others, where unemployment leads to individuals
seeking self-employment. Van Stel and Storey (2004) further emphasized that this ‘refugee’
push effect coupled with low entry barriers may lead to start-ups that guarantee employment
for the business owner but generate no growth.
158 11 Hacia una macroteoría de la creatividad empresarial

It is worth noting that the impact of total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) may not
be quite so dire for some types of economies. Wennekers et al. (2005) used GEM
data to provide evidence for a U-shaped relationship between the economic impact
of the number of people in an economy starting businesses, on the one hand, and per
capita income and an innovative capacity on the other – all under three levels of
economic development. According to the researchers, TEA is a positive economic
force in factor-driven economies – ones in which production is driven by mobiliza-
tion of the primary production factors of land, primary commodities and unskilled
labor. In an investment-driven economy, characterized by more developed labor and
capital markets and foreign direct investment, TEA is a less effective, and poten-
tially negative, contributor to economic growth. In a knowledge or innovation-driven
economy, TEA once again becomes a more positive contributor to economic growth.
Ultimately, entrepreneurship must be both a cause and an effect of economic
development. At any time, the growth entrepreneur is likely a productive contributor
to economic development and as such, a causal contributor. Some growth entrepre-
neurs generate exports that produce increased wealth for a country. A growth of
national wealth, in turn, creates effective demand for goods and services to which
other entrepreneurs can more easily react.

A Macro-Model of Entrepreneurial Creativity

So the growth segments of the economy are those whose products and services have
relatively short half-lives; the stagnant and declining ones feature products with longer
ones. Anyway you look at it, innovation remains the basic theme. Short product half-lives
and high innovation rates are, of course, simply different ways of saying the same thing.
Both depend upon creativity, which is the hallmark of those small entrepreneurial compa-
nies we have been discussing. (Birch 1987, p. 63)

Birch (1987) argued that the variation in the proportion of high-growth entrepre-
neurs across regions was driven by five factors: the general level of education of the
population in the region; the presence of quality research universities; the amount of
money spent by local government; the quality of telecommunications infrastructure;
and, the attractiveness of the area to well educated people.
The research efforts undertaken since Birch’s findings have supported and/or
added to his key criteria. A reasonable amount of research shows that scientific and
technological creativity is important to entrepreneurial activity. There is a mixed
evidence base underlying the proposition that artistic creativity in a region contrib-
utes to the amount of creative entrepreneurship. There is mixed evidence regarding
how community values may direct creativity towards or away from entrepreneur-
ship. There is also evidence indicating the relevance of the supports and barriers to
the entrepreneurial process provided or imposed by local institutions.
The macro-model of economic development in Exhibit 11.1 represents an
attempt to modify Schumpeter’s notion of economic development to include the
aforementioned factors that influence growth entrepreneurship. Each factor of the
macro-model is discussed in the following sections.
Scientific and Technological Creativity159

Scientific and
Technological Entrepreneurial
Creativity Culture / Values

Education for
Creative Entrepreneurial Economic
Development Creativity Development

Spill-over and High Support-to-

Artistic Barriers Ratio
Creativity

Exhibit 11.1 A macro-model of economic development

Scientific and Technological Creativity

According to Rosenberg (1976, p. 189), “The rate at which new techniques are
adopted and incorporated into the productive process is, without doubt, one of the
central questions of economic growth.” A number of empirical studies suggest that
a link does exist between the implementation of scientific and technological creative
outputs and entrepreneurial creativity. Dean and Meyer (1992) found that the new
firm formation rate in manufacturing industries was positively influenced by
research and development intensity. Dean and Brown (1995) and Dean et al. (1998)
also found a similar effect across a number of industries. Eckhardt and Shane (2011,
p. 412) also found that new venture opportunities are positively influenced by tech-
nological innovation: “…increases in the proportion of employment of scientists
and engineers in industries are positively associated with counts of fast-growing
new firms.”
There is also some evidence indicating that small firm innovation influences new
venture formation rates. Acs and Audretsch (1989) examined small firm entry rates
in 247 industries and found that the new firm entry rate was higher in industries
characterized by relatively higher small firm innovation rates.
Finally, there is indirect evidence that post-secondary activities may impact new
venture rates. Goldstein and Drucker (2006) found that knowledge-based activities
at US-based universities, particularly teaching and basic research, exhibited
substantially positive effects on regional earnings gains.
160 11 Hacia una macroteoría de la creatividad empresarial

Spill-Over Creativity and Entrepreneurship

The idea that some communities might be more creative than others is not a new
idea. The further notion that this creativity might spill-over and separately impact
the creativity in specific fields is more formative. The idea that the artistic commu-
nity might impact the entrepreneurial community is one such relationship that has
received current attention from a number of researchers.
In 2002, Richard Florida presented evidence for the relevance of artistic creativ-
ity to entrepreneurship. His proxy for artistic creativity in a city, the Bohemian
Index (BI), was defined using proportional employment in artistic and creative
occupations. Gertler et al. (2002) found strong relationships between the bohemian
index and high-technology industrial output in both US-based and Canadian cities.
Lee et al. (2004) found that the overall rate of new firm formation is directly
impacted by cultural creativity. According to the authors (p. 881), their thinking was
drawn from an intellectual tradition of thinking about cities and regions as incuba-
tors of innovation:
An influential line of research suggests that cities and regions function as ‘incubators’ of
creativity and innovation and that human capital factors in particular play an important role
in spurring regional growth (Park et al. 1925; Jacobs 1961; Thompson 1965; Lucas 1988).
Park et al. initially called attention to the role of cities in concentrating and spurring human
creativity. Jacobs later explained how cities function as ‘open systems’ to attract talented
people from various backgrounds and stimulate their creative capacities. Lucas formalized
the insights of Jacobs to provide a basic theory, arguing that cities function as collectors of
human capital, thus generating new ideas and economic growth.

The data that Lee et al. (2004) used covered both cities and economic zones
constituting the US. The creativity index coefficients were all significant at the 0.01
level and they successively explained 26.2 % of start-ups overall (45.4 % of manu-
facturing start-ups and 20.7 % of service start-ups). The authors (p. 887) conclude
that, “…there is a close and positive relationship between entrepreneurship and
creativity in a region.”
The relationship between artistic creativity and economic growth is not nearly as
straightforward as that for entrepreneurship. Marlet and van Woerkens (2004) found
that the BI only predicted employment growth in one (Amsterdam) of the 50 largest
Dutch cities. Rausch and Negrey (2006, p. 482) investigated US-based metropolitan
statistical areas (MSA) and found that, “…it does not appear that merely adding
creative class individuals in an MSA will lead to a stronger economy in terms of
GNP.” Donegan et al. (2008, p. 189) also focused research on the US and found that
the BI was not relevant to job growth.
Reese et al. (2010) examined midsized Canadian metropolitan areas and failed to
find a relationship between the BI and overall economic health and growth. Polèse
(2012) examined 135 Canadian cities and did not find a consistently significant
relationship between arts-related employment and subsequent employment growth.
Finally, Marrocu and Paci (2012) found no impact of the presence of bohemians on
Barriers to and Supports of Creative Entrepreneurship161

regional development across 257 regions in the 27-member countries of the

European Union. All of these non-supportive findings are taking some of the bloom
off the idea that the relative numbers of employed artists in total in a city would
positively impact entrepreneurial creativity.

Entrepreneurial Culture and Economic Development

In his 1961 book, David McClelland empirically examined the differences in

economic development amongst cities and regions. He used per-capita growth in
electricity production as his measure of economic development and found that a
culture of achievement with many entrepreneurs produced a vibrant economy. The
need for achievement (nAch) culture was fostered in early childhood via the types
of stories communicated to children. In 1980, Tekiner retested and replicated
McClelland’s thesis through content analysis of elementary school textbook stories.
He used more conventional economic development measures – national income
growth and national average rates of investment.
Since McClelland and Tekiner, a number of scholars have attempted to refine and
redefine what an entrepreneurial culture is for the purposes of theoretical develop-
ment and empirical research. Recently, Hayton and Cacciotti (2013) reviewed
extant entrepreneurial culture research and noted substantial progress. However,
they (p. 708) concluded that there is much work to be done before any definitive
arguments can be made:
…work that connects culture to individual motives, beliefs and values has not built signifi-
cantly upon earlier work on entrepreneurial cognition. Evidence for the mediating pro-
cesses linking culture and behavior remains sparse and inconsistent, often dogged by
methodological challenges. Our review suggests that we can be less confident, rather than
more, in the existence of a single entrepreneurial culture

Barriers to and Supports of Creative Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship researchers have long been interested in the institutional environment,

both because the institutional context appears to influence entrepreneurial activity, and
because it is amenable to the policy levers that government officials can use to influence the
amount and form of entrepreneurial activity. (Shane 2003, p. 145)

Shane (2003, p. 145) argues that an entrepreneur’s institutional environment is

composed of three contexts: economic, political and cultural: “…the institutional
environment includes both the ‘rules of the game’ that economists believe gener-
ates incentives for certain types of action, and the social setting that sociologists
believe determines legitimate and acceptable behavior.” The relevant economic
162 11 Hacia una macroteoría de la creatividad empresarial

environment factors are societal wealth, economic stability, capital availability and
marginal tax rates. There is supporting evidence for the influence of societal wealth
on new venture rates (c.f. Audretsch and Acs 1994; Shane 1996). There is mixed
evidence for the impact of economic stability, as measured by the inflation rate (c.f.
Djankov et al. 2010; McMillan and Woodruff 2002). There is mixed evidence
regarding the influence of capital availability (c.f. Pennings 1982; McMillan and
Woodruff 2002; Kreft and Sobel 2005). There is also mixed evidence for the impact
of marginal tax rates (c.f. Gentry and Hubbard 2000; Schuetze and Bruce 2004;
Bruce and Mohsin 2006).
Political environment factors include political freedom, property rights and the
degree of centralization of power. There is very limited evidence regarding the
influence of political freedom on new venture rates. The existing evidence is
focused on economic development, which may be a proxy for entrepreneurial activ-
ity (c.f. Ali and Crain 2002; Roll and Talbott 2003). There is indirect evidence
regarding the influence of property rights. Weymouth and Broz (2013, p. 230)
report that, “…transitions to more right-wing governments are associated with
improved perceptions of property rights among firm owners.” There is as yet no
direct evidence regarding the influence of degree of centralization of power on new
venture rates.
The socio-cultural environment factors are general attitudes and beliefs about
entrepreneurial activity and the presence of entrepreneurial role models. The exist-
ing evidence for attitudes and belief is suggestive that pro-entrepreneurial attitudes
and beliefs impact economic growth at the regional level (Beugelsdijk and
Noorderhaven 2004; Sternberg and Litzenberger 2004; Tamásy 2006; Bosma and
Schutjens 2011). There is a small amount of evidence supporting the efficacy of
role models and new venture intentions (van Auken et al. 2006).

Education

Birch (1987) found that the general level of education in a region and the pres-
ence of quality research universities promoted economic development. There is a
substantial body of evidence indicating the importance of education to macro-
economic development (Becker 1993). There are also a number of studies which
indicate a positive relationship between general education levels and rates of new
venture initiation (c.f. Schell and David 1981; Bull and Winter 1991; Grant 1996;
Black and Strahan 2002; Guesnier 1994). The evidence for the role of universi-
ties as regional engines of economic growth is mixed (see Anselin et al. 1997 for a
review).
Conclusion163

Conclusion

A number of key scholars have sought to understand the relevance of the

entrepreneur to economic development. It would appear that the various models and
related research agendas result in a view of entrepreneurship as both a cause and an
effect of economic development. In this chapter, a macro-model that focuses on the
former is proposed and discussed. The model, an extension of Schumpeter’s thinking
about economic development, includes a series of factors that appear to influence
the extent of growth entrepreneurship in an economy. Importantly, despite our
increasingly sophisticated understanding of economic progress in the years since
Schumpeter, the role of the creative entrepreneur remains central to both innovation
and economic development.
Chapter 12
Some Implications and Conclusions

Abstract So what are the implications of this general social science theory of
entrepreneurship? How might it affect the behavior of entrepreneurs, education pro-
gramming, research agendas, and the future redesign of the entrepreneurship
discipline?

Three General Theories

This book might be described as a tale of three general theories. The first is an
implicit theory – the small business theory of entrepreneurship. The second is
Shane’s (2003) general theory – an organizing framework for empirical findings
impacting opportunity identification and execution. The third theory is the general
scientific theory of entrepreneurial creativity, to which the bulk of the book has been
dedicated. Each theory has some peculiar strengths and weaknesses. They may be
viewed as both complementary and competitive.
The implicit small business theory of entrepreneurship is strong in the sense that
it is tied to a sizeable body of knowledge in the field of business. The theory is weak
in that it is not well explicated, leaving open fundamental questions. Should one
expect business knowledge in general to be relevant or only select aspects of
business knowledge that have been screened for usefulness in a new venture setting?
Are all management tools appropriate? Does the usage of each tool provide a
positive return on investment? There does not appear to be any general way of
knowing what business knowledge will be most relevant at what stage of business
development. The field may have to empirically test all of the various permutations
and combinations within myriad possible entrepreneurial contexts to discover the
answers unless some intelligent theorizing is forthcoming.
Shane’s (2003) general theory of entrepreneurship is for the most part a frame-
work for organizing empirical entrepreneurship findings. It may encourage the
extraction of more pragmatically promising findings from the growing abundance
of empirical research. However, one cannot expect Shane’s theory to be true or
predictive in any scientifically testable sense. Although the theory may be useful
to help compile the findings of scholars, one cannot expect it to provide direction
to researchers, other than to suggest further elaboration of earlier findings.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 165

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creatividad y rendimiento empresarial: A
General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3_12
166 12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones

Practitioners will be puzzled as to how to weigh the relative importance of the

various propositions. Most of the cited findings are difficult to generalize. Further,
the great majority of the findings demonstrate statistical significance, but not prac-
tical significance, begging questions of usefulness and cost-effectiveness.
The theory of entrepreneurial creativity is arguably the most advanced model of
the three from a scientific standpoint, in the sense that it provides core hypotheses
to test. Its primary strength may be the multitude of evidence that is both directly
and indirectly supportive of the theory. Moreover, this theory is useful for explain-
ing and making sense of a sizeable number of otherwise unrelated findings in the
field. The theory is also generally tied to the discipline of creativity from which it
can expect to receive both general inspiration and more specific testable hypotheses
over time. However, creativity theory is not easy to understand or utilize, and thus
it imposes additional demands upon entrepreneurship practitioners, scholars and
educators. The theory of entrepreneurial creativity may also be regarded as an
under-socialized theory because it relies rather heavily on one central individual.
The theory of entrepreneurial creativity is difficult to apply. Developing one’s
entrepreneurial creativity is clearly substantially more demanding than writing a
business plan.
The general theory of entrepreneurial creativity has important implications for
the entrepreneurship field. Arguably it is time to formally recognize entrepreneur-
ship as different from management in that it is a creative discipline, and that
developing a successful entrepreneur might be as problematic as developing any
other type of creative artist. A more unusual, and potentially most unexpected,
implication of defining more accomplished entrepreneurs as creative may be to
ennoble the entrepreneurial discipline. Artists who may be committed to the
crassest of social purposes can still look upward and see a De Vinci, a Shakespeare
or a Bach, and feel enriched. The inspirations and role models of creative artists
may provide meaningful sustenance and direction. Seeing some entrepreneurs as
markedly creative people may focus attention on creative outcomes. Of course,
one should not expect miracles. After all, the existence of a Shakespeare does not
automatically lead to many more – his work simply encourages other writers to
raise their sights. Ultimately, the first step for the field of entrepreneurship will be
to clarify its understanding of a creative contribution, and next to treat it more as
a sacred obligation.

General Principles from the General Theory

of Entrepreneurial Creativity

The overarching general principle resulting from this book is: an entrepreneur’s
need for creativity is proportional to an entrepreneur’s aspirations. This prin-
ciple is derived from the theory and scientific findings that appear to support it.
General Principles from the General Theory of Entrepreneurial Creativity167

A series of additional, distinct principles can be drawn from the book. They are
provided below with some brief, related remarks.
1. Entrepreneurship is a major challenge if your aspiration is to develop a success-
ful growth company.
(a) Many entrepreneurship enthusiasts (educators and advisors) encourage all
their students to believe that entrepreneurial success is a distinct likelihood
for everyone. How much value such enthusiasm provides should be care-
fully considered.
2. Entrepreneurs should not expect to extract much value from a business school
education until their firms becomes mid-sized or larger.
(a) The concepts and techniques of the management disciplines do not appear,
at this time, to much increase the odds of new venture success. The applica-
tion of some concepts and techniques may even reduce the odds of success
by putting additional uneconomical demands on a business.
3. Potential and existing entrepreneurs might derive value from relevant social
science findings if they are more frequently exposed to them.
(a) It is not easy to develop an appreciation of social science research.
Nonetheless, exposure to the body of theory and scientific findings repre-
sents the best means of acquiring reasonably robust knowledge.
4. Schumpeter’s insight into the creative character of entrepreneurial growth ven-
tures is an important inspiration for our times.
(a) There is little doubt that Schumpeter’s ideas continue to exert a tremendous
influence on the entrepreneurship field. It is impressive that scholars con-
tinue to appreciate and utilize his ideas so many decades later.
5. Entrepreneurial creativity may explain a sizeable range of existing findings in
the field of entrepreneurship.
(a) There is little doubt that there are complexities contained in the notion of
entrepreneurial creativity. Nevertheless, it appears useful and straightfor-
ward relative to the alternative of hundreds of free-standing propositions
attempting to explain entrepreneurial performance bit by bit.
6. As a general social science theory, the theory of entrepreneurial creativity
compares favorably to existing standards.
(a) The general theory of crime (Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990) greatly influ-
enced its field, generating thousands of academic citations since its publica-
tion in 1990. It would appear that the general theory of entrepreneurial
creativity can influence substantially both the entrepreneurship and
creativity fields.
168 12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones

7. In order to be entrepreneurially creative, rigorous demands are placed upon an

entrepreneur’s intellect, personality, motivation, knowledge acquisition, and
thinking style.
(a) The multi-dimensional nature of entrepreneurial creativity, as well as the
complexities associated with thresholds and interactions are intriguing.
8. There are a number of competing explanations of entrepreneurial activity
beyond that of the functional disciplines of business.
(a) It may be useful to view the entrepreneurial process as the development of
commitments to ideas and to people through time.
9. It may take a substantial number of particular types of life experiences over
many years, starting from early childhood, to foster high levels of entrepreneur-
ial creativity.
(a) It may be that the development of a competent, creative entrepreneur is no
less difficult than the development of any other successful creative artist or
scientist.
10. There is evidence which suggests that variations in the levels of economic
development may in substantial portion be credited to the presence or absence
of creative, growth entrepreneurs.
11. Given current evidence, it is plausible that entrepreneurial creativity may be
useful for predicting up to half of the performance variance of entrepreneurial
ventures.
(a) Given the uncertainty and uncontrollability of many aspects of the entre-
preneurial process, and the myriad of other factors that might be competing
predictors, the evidence behind creativity as the prime determinant of entre-
preneurial performance is truly impressive at this point in time.
It is intriguing that the theory of entrepreneurial creativity may be supported at a
macro level as well as at a micro level.

Some Points on Methodology

According to Machlup (1978, p. 54, brackets in original), methodology is:

…the study of the principles that guide students of any field of knowledge and especially any
branch of higher learning (science) in deciding whether to accept or reject certain propositions
as a part of the body of ordered knowledge in general or of their own discipline (science).

Further (p. 55),

…although methodology is ‘about’ methods, it is not ‘a’ method, nor a set of methods, nor
a description of methods. Instead, it provides arguments, perhaps rationalizations, which
support various preferences entertained by the scientific community for certain rules of
intellectual procedure, including those for forming concepts, building models, formulating
hypotheses and testing theories.
Some Points on Methodology169

In addition to propositions about content, this book offers a number of ideas

about methodology.
1. Be vigilant for and wary of both dogma and tautology – they are still widespread
in the entrepreneurship discipline. Each promises much, but delivers little. Karl
Popper heightens our awareness of such types of non-scientific thinking.
2. A theory must be refutable, to be scientific in a Popperian sense. Theories with
broad explanatory power but no predictive power may be viewed as pre-
scientific or pseudo-scientific. In any case, one need be more suspicious about
their claims because they cannot be tested for truth.
3. It would appear that social science can provide knowledge despite its bewilder-
ing complexity. One should be prepared for both the slow accumulation of
evidence and the element of surprise.
4. Induction is not deduction. We can only know things about the world by degree
and not absolutely.
5. Scientific definitions are sometimes more about scientific measures and less
about formal dictionary definitions. Sometimes, as Karl Popper describes it,
definition is really more an after-the-fact labeling process. Definitions based on
other definitions is really an exercise in infinite regression. Scientific definitions
often depend directly on the measures that are used to test them even more than
on the terms that are used to characterize them.
6. Whether one seeks understanding or is generalizing from experience, one is (at
least) implicitly theorizing. Theorizing is unavoidable. It occurs all the time.
7. All of our findings and facts contain theory implicitly or, as Karl Popper puts it,
are theory laden.
8. Scientific conjectures have many roots but they are all risky by definition
according to Karl Popper.
9. One should appreciate formally constructed theory for its internal consistency
and for its pragmatic usefulness, and for its external consistency. Here, external
consistency means its fit with formal scientific evidence.
10. Scientific theory is not only tested for its predictive accuracy but also for its verisi-
militude. In the case of the GTEC verisimilitude is tested indirectly by various and
sundry propositions that flow from entrepreneurship being a creative discipline.
11. One should also appreciate formally constructed theory by its purpose: descrip-
tion, explanation, prediction and/or control.
12. One might think of scientific theory as micro, mid-range or general depending
mostly on its explanatory power. General theories typically add very few predic-
tive tenets to a field but those that are added tend to define the character of the field.
Much of the knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship at this time is primarily
and overwhelmingly propositional, as demonstrated by Shane (2003). Accordingly,
the philosophy of science of the field has been one of verificationism (Gorton 2006).
One possible explanation for the dominance of verificationism in entrepreneurship
research might be the prevalence of Kuhnian orthodoxy. Most modern researchers
may feel that they are involved in ‘normal science’ in which their jobs are to support,
rather than challenge, prevailing knowledge paradigms (Kuhn 1962). If such be the
case, entrepreneurship researchers should rebalance their operational philosophies
170 12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones

of science towards a more Popperian framework of conjectures and refutations.

Theories languish when they are not critically tested.
One advantage of thoroughly integrating a Popperian framework within the
methodology of the entrepreneurship discipline would be to increase the efficiency
of the research process. Scientists will be encouraged to critically test predictive
theory, and in doing so, engage in more intelligent constructive replication research
than is currently common. Theories and not propositions will inevitably be moved
into the driver’s seat of the discipline. Entrepreneurship scientists will more often be
forced to redraft existing theories to keep them current with the evidence – in con-
trast to verificationist protocol, under which theoretical reformulation is typically a
very slow or even irrelevant process.

Normative Implications of the General Theory

of Entrepreneurial Creativity

Some theorists view only some types of entrepreneurship as socially desirable.

Baumol (1990) developed a theory in which entrepreneurship was strictly defined as
the accumulation of wealth. In a theory that spans various eras of history, Baumol
(p. 893) argues that if the accumulation of wealth is the sole criterion, a large range
of activities can constitute entrepreneurship including political/bureaucratic oppor-
tunism and even warfare for economic gain.
The basic hypothesis is that, while the total supply of entrepreneurs varies among societies,
the productive contribution of the society’s entrepreneurial activities varies much more
because of their allocation between productive activities such as innovation and largely
unproductive activities such as rent seeking or organized crime. This allocation is heavily
influenced by the relative payoffs society offers to such activities. This implies that policy
can influence the allocation of entrepreneurship more effectively than it can influence its
supply.

Baumol (2004) envisages the allocation of entrepreneurs either to productive or

unproductive tasks to be a function of the rules of a society. In advanced modern
economies, Baumol (p. 11) argues that the rules tend to favor either innovation or
rent-seeking1 behavior.
Today, criminal activity aside, the primary type of effort that competes with production as
an attraction to entrepreneurs is something far less dramatic than military violence, but
nevertheless of critical importance. This alternative is rent-seeking, that generalization of
Henry George’s focus – the pursuit of earnings primarily through redistribution in one’s
own favor, rather than in return for any productive accomplishment…The rule of law, along
with rights of property and its protection from arbitrary confiscation, the enforceability of
contracts and a variety of other protections have made productive activities less risky and
more effective avenues to wealth than they were before.

1
The search for economic gain without reciprocal value.
Normative Implications of the General Theory of Entrepreneurial Creativity171

Baumol’s alternative to the innovative entrepreneur is the non-productive seeker

of rents. Rent seeking in economic terms refers to a variety of socially non-productive
activities that shift wealth to the entrepreneur. A common type of rent seeking
behavior comes from manipulating regulatory agencies in favor of business inter-
ests. From this perspective both types of entrepreneurs may be financially successful
but only one makes a social contribution in line with his/her returns.
Whether Schumpeter (1911) intended it or not, casting entrepreneurial activity in
terms of new business combinations, imbued entrepreneurship with a fundamen-
tally moral character – his entrepreneur meaningfully assisted the economic devel-
opment process. Schumpeter’s entrepreneurs constructively contributed through an
innovation that is not only substantial but real, unlike the aforementioned business-
men, who might only be enriching themselves through monopolistic rent-seeking
behavior. His entrepreneurs were heroic figures, directly and meaningfully contrib-
uting to the social well-being. The intentions of innovative entrepreneurs were
something other than narrowly self-serving, though personal enrichment might be a
distinct outcome of their actions.
In order to understand the dynamics of entrepreneurship, it is necessary to under-
stand entrepreneurial purpose and method as something other than simply personal
enrichment through independent business. The dominating idea of personal achieve-
ment distinctively positions Schumpeterian entrepreneurship vis-à-vis other charac-
terizations of entrepreneurship. In this sense, the profit maximization model of the
management disciplines is too narrow for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are
drawn by a vision of larger purpose, by seeing the possibility of something new and
important being brought into existence. Hence, these Schumpeterian entrepreneurs
are people of large mind and large purpose.
From a social perspective, even new venture failures can be socially desirable
when the enterprises are creative. There is no particular reason to believe that
creative contributions will always, or even usually, be well-received by the market-
place. Developing products that are both novel and useful does not of necessity
result in commercial success. Sometimes bold failures become the basis of future
economic successes.
Sarasvathy (2001, pp. 9–10) notes that:
…‘entrepreneurs’ do not fail. Only the firms that they endeavor to create may fail. And even
they may not fail in any ultimate sense if they serve as a means for the economy to discover
what works and what does not work in a world of changing human imagination and aspira-
tions. More precisely, the terms ‘successful entrepreneur’ and ‘failed entrepreneur’ are
pragmatically bankrupt in their meaning…We need to move away from the vision of the
‘market’ as a monolithic construct that rides roughshod over vast farmlands of homogenous
commodities, relentlessly separating the wheat from the chaff, and start researching ‘mar-
kets’ as groups of individuals and communities developing a variety of gardens and parks
based on their particular tastes in landscaping and architecture.

Ultimately, creative entrepreneurship may imply social contribution or a moral

imperative through productive innovation irrespective of a major accumulation of
wealth.
172 12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones

A Hierarchic Model of Moral Entrepreneurial Imperatives

As a concluding note, it is useful to ask, “What are the real moral imperatives
behind entrepreneurship and is it reasonable to expect them to be similar for all
entrepreneurs?” Some would advocate profit maximization and wealth creation, as
is emphasized by the logic of economics. Some would advocate the introduction
and diffusion of new technology. Others might suggest service to people, as empha-
sized by many religions. Ultimately, there are a mix of values and potential purposes
lying behind the institution of entrepreneurship.
As Baumol (2004) made clear, entrepreneurship has to be about something more
than self-enrichment or we would have to include a substantial range of socially
undesirable activities into the subject. Crime that makes money would be
entrepreneurship. Political corruption that is profitable might be a really advanced
form of entrepreneurship. Even war can be interpreted in entrepreneurial terms.
If entrepreneurship is to be viewed as a socially-responsible social institution,
however, it is necessary to appreciate what constitutes entrepreneurial contributions.
Some people create sole enterprises that only partly provide for their families. Those
who create profitable businesses may more typically hire people and pay taxes into
the public coffers. Providing employment can be construed as an important social
goal, given that psychological well-being is markedly affected by employment
status (e.g. Payne and Jones 1987). The maintenance and growth of the tax base
represents an opportunity to improve public infrastructure and social services.
At increasingly demanding levels of entrepreneurial contribution, there are con-
cerns that entrepreneurs not create shoddy or dangerous products, or that they mis-
represent their products to the public. There are concerns that entrepreneurs manage
their employees with some minimal level of humanity. There are concerns that they
not con or manipulate investors. There are also concerns about the treatment of all
other parties to whom entrepreneurs may be contractually bound, such as suppliers
and buyers.
A still higher level of challenge and social contribution is that of creativity and
innovation. Entrepreneurs can be judged against the quality and significance of the
innovations (technological, managerial and otherwise) that they bring forth, given
that entrepreneurship is the main avenue for introducing innovation. Further, entre-
preneurs can be judged by the extent to which they conduct business in an environ-
mentally sustainable fashion.
It is entirely possible that at some point in the not too distant future, entrepre-
neurs will be judged by the extent to which their contributions maintain or foster
well-being and happiness. Increasingly, we are becoming aware that material con-
sumption does not add in a substantial way to happiness. Peiro (2006, p. 349) finds
that, “Today, there exists a certain consensus in that: (i) over time, happiness does
not increase significantly with per capita income, at least in developed countries
(Easterlin 1995; Blanchflower and Oswald 2004) and (ii) people in richer countries
are happier than people in poorer ones, though the relationship does not seem to be
linear.” Such findings should not be taken lightly because measures of subjective
A Hierarchic Model of Moral Entrepreneurial Imperatives173

Environmental Responsibility
and
Contribution to Happiness

Creating, Modifying and Diffusing

Innovations

Providing Quality to Various Stakeholders

Providing Jobs for Others and Paying Taxes

Making a Job for Oneself and providing for one’s Family

Fig. 12.1 A hierarchy of entrepreneurial social contributions

well-being may be surprisingly robust. Here, Peiro (2006, p. 349) finds that, “…
people who call themselves happy are more likely to be rated as happy by friends
and less likely to suffer from psychosomatic illnesses, to attempt suicide or to seek
psychological counseling (Frank 1985, 1997).”
Recent evidence suggests that happiness is brought about by certain circum-
stances and accomplishments, things such as being married, employed and edu-
cated – things not easily purchased with money (Blanchflower and Oswald 2005).
Social and economic policy may begin to change to meet the growing understanding
of personal well-being. Entrepreneurs will need to make adjustments, accordingly.
What emerges for them is a hierarchy of social contributions (see Fig. 12.1 above).
Behind this Maslovian-style pyramid is the notion that the entrepreneur will
enrich her or himself by ascending the hierarchy. The entrepreneur moves from
basic survival needs on the first two levels towards being and becoming needs on the
last three (Maslow 1968). Those who are most enlightened and the most financially
successful will have most to offer, and at the highest reaches of the pyramid they
will find a way to make their offering real to the people around them without undue
damage to the environment. That entrepreneurs appear to be largely intrinsically
motivated may indicate that if they internalize such values as part of their living and
education, they will be more willing to strive towards them.
174 12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones

Possible Implications upon Education

Perhaps, it does not make sense to think of entrepreneurship education as a way to

effectively educate most people wanting to consider a career as an independent
businessperson. Though we have accepted the idea that a general management edu-
cation is good preparation for all intelligent would-be middle managers, maybe one
should not have similar expectations for entrepreneurship education. One would
never expect to replace veterinary medicine with entrepreneurship education for
future independently employed veterinarians. Should one expect that restaurateurs
or hoteliers are better prepared by entrepreneurship education than by education
directly related to their industries? Perhaps the future small business person’s edu-
cation should be topped up with some small business training. Perhaps real entre-
preneurship education should be retained for those who are best suited to undertaking
growth ventures – for those possessing exceptional entrepreneurial creativity.
The unexceptional performance of graduates of entrepreneurship education pro-
grams has been recorded elsewhere in this book. Apparently the current state of
entrepreneurship education at many universities leaves a lot to be desired. The cor-
nerstone of most entrepreneurship education is the new venture business plan. As
discussed in Chap. 3, existing research behind new venture planning is still only
marginally compelling. As Vesper (1996, p. 230) suggested, “…it may be that the
small improvement in performance is not worth the effort involved in strategic plan-
ning.” But even as one meta-analysis suggests that business plans tend to work with
modest success in real life situations, it doesn’t mean the artificial construction of a
business plan in a classroom situation is a productive learning experience.
Perhaps entrepreneurship education depends so much on learning from the
dubious plans that students typically produce because it is a type of educational
programing that adjunct professors can conduct without much difficulty. Since
adjuncts are typically business educated at the level of an MBA, they are well pre-
pared to handle the functional level knowledge contained in a business plan. They
are much less prepared to handle the science of the discipline because their degree
is usually a professional degree and not an academic degree. It is more than possible
that under-resourcing entrepreneurship departments with MBA-level educators is
holding back the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education. It is also more than
possible that entrepreneurship education is being held back by the immaturity of its
supporting science.
Advancing entrepreneurship education is neither an unimportant nor a trivial
problem. Chapter 11 provides mounting evidence regarding the relative centrality of
the entrepreneurial role in economic development. For those exceptional people that
have appropriate capabilities it is likely a big mistake not to attempt to better edu-
cate them. If we find it justifiable to educate people in the creative arts with all the
accompanying difficulties, should we not also attempt to educate them in entrepre-
neurship? Over the next couple of decades many changes will be needed. First, the
science of the field needs to be advanced. Second, the educators need to be appro-
priately educated. Third, programs that target the development of innovative, growth
Possible Implications upon Education175

entrepreneurs must be designed and implemented. Fourth, ancillary entrepreneurial

education must be provided to entire campuses and not just to business school
students. Outreach programming needs to be prepared for would-be entrepreneurs
not connected with universities. Fifth, effective community outreach programming
might also be integrated into entrepreneurship education to enable a lot of contact
between students and practicing entrepreneurs. Finally, entrepreneurship education
needs to be given sufficient autonomy to be largely independent of business school
culture. As long as entrepreneurship programs are part of business schools they will
be dominated by their content and values.
The biggest weakness in entrepreneurial education at the current time is likely
the lack of available education at the doctoral level. As Brush et al. (2003) indicate,
only a fraction of entrepreneurship educators (11 %) in their sample are PhD
educated in entrepreneurship. Given that the sample probably dramatically over-
represented full-time faculty and under-represented adjunct faculty, the proportion
of those actually teaching entrepreneurship courses who are properly PhD educated
in this field is likely much smaller still. The number of credible PhD programs in
entrepreneurship is questionable at this time since some of those who are qualified
to teach at this level move around. It may be that the best education in entrepreneur-
ship is still derived from understudying a single professor who is solely committed
to entrepreneurship research and PhD education. High quality PhD programing is
needed so that students can learn from a number of different scholars with differing
perspectives and from a collectivity of similarly motivated students.
With properly educated faculty, the field can learn how to offer degree programs
in entrepreneurship worthy of the professional weight that it deserves. A potential
starting point might be to develop an MBA-equivalent program such as that
described by McMullan and Long (1987), which focuses on developing entrepre-
neurial creativity as a central component. It is not a matter of modifying the MBA
for entrepreneurs but of designing a program to specifically meet the needs of entre-
preneurs. With respect to educators, programs not only need PhD-educated faculty
but also a number of successful role models. The terminally-educated will be more
aware of the science of the discipline; the practitioner academics will be more aware
of the relevant institutions and networks that facilitate new venturing. Desired stu-
dents will be something other than typical high-IQ students with high GMAT scores
demanded by business schools. They may be older than typical MBA students and
more entrepreneurially experienced (McMullan and Gillin 1998), as well as ready
and willing to venture. In such a program, the goals may be as much or more about
generating quality new ventures in the short-term as they will be about the produc-
tion of post-secondary degree holders.
The program may contain management subjects. However, with the possible
exceptions of accounting and information systems, the related courses will be taught
from an entrepreneurial perspective. The course content may vary dramatically,
including the use of disciplinary innovations such as industrial design courses. Law
courses may be necessary. Courses in creativity, innovation and emerging markets
might provide value. It may be useful to include some history including selective
economic and business history, and some history of innovation. The program might
176 12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones

also incorporate biographies of entrepreneurs as well as include the regular presence

of successful guest entrepreneurs. An applications orientation is probably desirable
in a field still largely bereft of meaningful theory and with few important empirical
findings. Students may learn about the ethnography of business or about business
institutions from quality case studies. Case studies may also facilitate the apprecia-
tion of common entrepreneurial problems.
The program might involve substantial opportunity identification with some
screening, the odd feasibility analysis, and possibly, even a business plan for a
sophisticated new venture idea that requires external capital. The teaching method-
ology would emphasize skill development as well as knowledge acquisition.
Experiential learning would be utilized. Special resources for connecting with the
business community would be in place. An integrated or optional development
study would be conducted on a mid-sized, growth firm. Further, more experienced
and more advanced students might offer counseling assistance to entrepreneurs,
especially those in start-up mode (c.f. Chrisman and McMullan 2000; Chrisman et
al. 2012).

Research Implications

A general scientific theory can provide substantial focus for scholarly research. The
general theory of crime, for example, has elicited thousands of academic citations
and a meta-analysis (Pratt and Cullen 2000) since its publication in 1990. This is an
astounding impact for a scholarly work in any field.
Questions remain about the character of the impact of the various creative
resources upon new venture success. Many areas, such as the creative aspects of
intelligence and of thinking styles, have not been well studied as of yet. Relevant
models of entrepreneurial knowledge will need to be developed. In addition to better
understanding the individual resources and their respective subscales, it will be nec-
essary to understand their relative impacts as well. Further, scholars will need to
discover resource thresholds, and the nature and extent of resource confluence.
Entrepreneurship scholars may be encouraged to conduct studies of great entre-
preneurs in a similar fashion to how creativity scholars have examined the back-
ground, character, behavior and accomplishments of great contributors in other
creative fields. Such work may lead to insights brought forth by examining similari-
ties and differences amongst the various types of highly creative individuals.
Along the way, entrepreneurship scholars may struggle with some of the same
problems encountered by creativity scholars (Mayer 1999).
• What are the distinctive characteristics of entrepreneurially creative people?
• How do we measure someone’s creative entrepreneurial potential?
• What are the biological and evolutionary bases of entrepreneurial creativity?
• Which cognitive resources and processes are most germane to entrepreneurial
creativity?
Research Implications177

• What motivates the entrepreneurially creative beyond what we know about

achievement motivation?
• Which life experiences most influence the development of entrepreneurial
creativity?
• How does entrepreneurial creativity influence a new venture over time?
• How do social and cultural contexts meaningfully affect entrepreneurial creativity?
• How common or rare is entrepreneurial creativity?
• To what degree is entrepreneurial creativity domain specific or domain general?
• Can people learn to become more creatively entrepreneurial? If so, how and how
best?
In spite of the fact that creativity scholars generally agree on the nature of
creative outcomes, they often disagree on how to approach the subject and on what
to place greatest emphasis – people, products or processes. According to Mayer
(1999, p. 450):
Authors who view creativity as a property of people tend to focus on individual differences
in people’s creativity…or on the distinctive characteristics of creative people…Authors
who view creativity as a property of products tend to focus on case studies of creative
production…or on computer simulations of creative production…Authors who view cre-
ativity as a property of cognitive processing tend to focus on analyzing the steps involved
in creative thinking…or in teaching creative cognitive processing…

In creativity research, as in entrepreneurship research, scholars are divided over

whether to view their subject as a personal or a social phenomenon. Here, Mayer
(1999, p. 450) states that, “According to the personal view, creativity involves
producing something new and useful with respect to the person doing the creating…
According to the social view, creativity involves producing something new and
useful with respect to the social or cultural environment…”
In creativity, scholars are also divided over the frequency of creative outcomes.
According to Mayer (1999, p. 451), “On the one side, some creativity researchers
view creative thought as a common aspect of everyday cognition so that all humans
are capable of creativity…On the other side, some researchers view creative thought
as a rare event that occurs only within a very small group of unique individuals…”
Interestingly, entrepreneurship scholars may be viewed as similarly uncertain. For
example, Brazeal and Herbert (1999, p. 34) argues that, “Radical innovations…and
their exploitation are defined as classically entrepreneurial events; it is not so clear-
cut that stand-alone incremental innovations and their exploitation also may be
labeled as entrepreneurial activities.”
In creativity research, scholars also debate whether or not the subject is domain-
specific (e.g. to music) or domain-general (e.g. to music, painting and physics). The
most recent perspective on the argument leans in the direction of domain-specificity.
Baer (2012, p. 337) finds that: “…being highly creative in just two domains is
indeed extraordinary, and it is almost impossible to find an example of anyone being
creative at the very highest level in three or more domains.” With respect to entre-
preneurship research, it is not yet known if high levels of entrepreneurial creativity
can be coupled with high levels of other types of creativity.
178 12 Algunas implicaciones y conclusiones

Many of the questions faced by the creativity and entrepreneurship fields are
similar. It appears reasonable that the insights and knowledge generated by the for-
mer field could be meaningfully imported into the latter field with potential syner-
gies for both fields, particularly given the empirical support demonstrated in this
book. It does, however, make sense to draw distinctions between entrepreneurship
and creativity. First, in contrast to creativity, the field of entrepreneurship is not
centered on psychology. Second, creativity is not domain-specific but is a general
concept common to all creative domains. When creativity is applied, the elements
of the domain need to be emphasized. Musical creativity, for instance, will probably
emphasize the music more than the creativity. In the case of entrepreneurship, the
many domain specific issues around the identification and exploitation of opportu-
nities will also be expected to play a large role in this creative discipline.
In the case of the creativity discipline, entrepreneurship might be viewed as a
finalizing part of the creative process – the part, where creative people promote and
sell their ideas, and the part where innovation takes over from basic creativity. In
any case, this general theory of entrepreneurial creativity is a relatively comprehen-
sive, applied theory of creativity. The creativity discipline may need to encourage
related scientific theorizing in other applied creative domains.
Ultimately, at least some scholars have been advocating a more complete con-
nection between entrepreneurship and creativity. Here, Brazeal (1999, p. 34) argues,
“The importance of studying entrepreneurship through the solidification of broader
parameters that encase complementary fields cannot be overstated. At a minimum,
the conceptual exploration of a rudimentary process model may facilitate studies
within and across the three arenas of entrepreneurship – innovation, change and
creativity…”

In Summary

The entrepreneurship field needs broad scientific theories that not only predict size-
able amounts of performance variance but also explain a broad swath of existing
findings. The general theory of entrepreneurial creativity has the potential to be such
a theory. It should be added to the existing spectrum of general theories used to
guide understanding of this relatively new field. If the relative advantages of the
GTEC persist in subsequent research then our understanding of entrepreneurship
should shift accordingly. We should adjust not only our research emphasis but also
our education programming in this direction. However our understanding evolves,
creative entrepreneurs should continue to be an inspiration to us all.
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Index

A scientific and technological creativity,

Ambiguity tolerance, 123 158, 159
Analogical thinking, 127 socio-cultural environment factors, 162
Solow model, 156
spill-over creativity, 160–161
B Wennekers model, 158
Bohemian index (BI), 160 Wong model, 157
Entrepreneurial Attitude Orientation, 78
Entrepreneurial creativity
C applicability range, 133–134
Cognitive style index (CSI), 105–106 business development and performance,
Confluence theory, 11, 60, 132–133 68–69
explanatory power, 102 confluence, 132–133
intellectual abilities, 66 contingencies, 134
ITC, 65, 67 development, 13
Conjectures and Refutations, 2 career choices, 153–154
Contingencies, 22, 34, 37, 41, 104, 134 economic (see Economic development)
Contrary thinking, 126 parents and family, 149–151
CSI. See Cognitive style index (CSI) post-secondary education, 153
primary and secondary education,
152–153
E direction of causation, 134–135
Economic development discovery, self-expression and design, 117
Birch model, 157, 158 domain specificity, 69–70
Blanchflower and Oswald model, 155–156 economic development, 155–158
economic environment factors, 161–162 environment, 67–68
education, 162 environmental moderator, 70–71
entrepreneurial culture, 161 holistic and analytic examination, 132
macro-model, 158–159 independent variable, 68
political environment factors, 162 innovation, 69
Schumpeter’s theory, 13 intelligence (see Intelligence)
innovative entrepreneurs, 155 intuitive vs. analytic entrepreneur, 117
new combinations, 157 ITC, 65, 67

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 203

W.E. McMullan, T.P. Kenworthy, Creativity and Entrepreneurial Performance:
A General Scientific Theory, Exploring Diversity in Entrepreneurship,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-04726-3
204
Entrepreneurial creativity (cont.)
knowledge requirements (see Knowledge
requirements)
measurement instruments, 131–132
motivation (see Motivation)
need for, 116–117
negative side, 116
personality (see Entrepreneurial
personality)
research implications
entrepreneurship scholars, 176–177
entrepreneurship vs. creativity, 178
thinking styles (see Entrepreneurial
thinking styles)
thresholds, 133
Entrepreneurial development process
commitments, 144
creative process, 142
deal-making under adversity, 144–145
dynamic entity, 142
empirical research, 146–147
entrepreneurial vision, 142–144
goal and strategy envisioning, 143
new combination, 142–143
opportunity identification, 141, 143
scores, 142
improvisation, 141, 145–146
Entrepreneurial dynamics, 12–13
entrepreneurial development process
(see Entrepreneurial development
process)
small business model
functional disciplines, 140
management discipline, 8, 140–141
strategic rationality
(see Strategic rationality)
Entrepreneurial performance, 7, 59,
115, 132
achievement motivation, 123
entrepreneurial imagination, 119
GTEC, 6, 71–72, 102
and knowledge acquisition, 107, 130
need for achievement, 95
personality variables, 132
perspectives, 1
Shane’s general theory, 9, 45
Entrepreneurial personality, 12, 66
ambiguity tolerance, 123
entrepreneurs and creative people, 121
explanatory power, 102–103
extraversion, 123–124
perseverance, 122
risk propensity, 122–123
self-efficacy, 122
Índic
e
Entrepreneurial thinking styles, 12, 66
analogical thinking, 127
contrary thinking, 126
deferred judgment and ideation, 126–127
explanatory power, 105–106
innovation orientation, 125–126
intuition, 126
problem focus orientation, 126
Entrepreneurship education, 13
advancement, 174–175
business ethnography, 176
disadvantage, 175
experiential learning, 176
graduates performance, 174
growth ventures, 174
knowledge acquisition, 176
MBA-level educators, 174
opportunity identification, 176
PhD programs, 175
skill development, 176
small business training, 174
Entrepreneurship education and training
(EET), 108
Explanatory power, 2, 3, 11–12, 98
confluence theory, 102
environment, 109–110
intelligence, 106–107
knowledge, 107–109
motivation, 103–104
personality, 102–103
thinking styles, 105–106
Explicit theory, 28
G
General theory of crime (GTC), 99–102
General theory of entrepreneurial creativity
(GTEC), 1, 11
attributes, 6
complex variables, 10
contemporary creativity theories, 9
definitions, 57–58
development process, 58–59
empirical evidence (see Personal
creativity (PC))
entrepreneurial creativity and outcomes, 3–4
entrepreneurial performance, 6
entrepreneurship and creativity, 60
(see also Schumpeter’s theory)
explanatory power
environment, 109–110
intelligence, 106–107
knowledge, 107–109
motivation, 103–104
Índic
e
personality, 102–103
thinking styles, 105–106
financial performance, 4
vs. formal model, 71
GTC
difference, 100–102
similarities, 99–100
hypotheses, 72
implications, 7
McMullan and Long formal
theory, 4
new combinations, 10
normative implications, 170–171
outcome variance range, 5
principles, 166–168
scientific model, 71, 72
self-sustaining enterprise, 4
strategic and tactical decisions, 4
structure elements, 5
venture plan and organization, 4
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM),
15–16
GTC. See General theory of crime (GTC)
GTEC. See General theory of entrepreneurial
creativity (GTEC)
H entrepreneurial judgment, 119
High-performance work systems (HPWSs),
36–37
Hofer and Bygrave’s model, 58
Homo economicus, 138
HPWSs. See High-performance work systems
(HPWSs)
Human resource management (HRM)
evolving and dynamic nature, 35
higher performance and higher
wages, 36
HPWSs, 36–37
labor productivity, 37
performance effects, 36
recruiting practices, 35, 36
self-reported job quality, 36
I (KAI), 74, 105, 117, 131
Implicit small business theory of
entrepreneurship, 165
assumptions, 28, 29
business school terminology, 29
contingency theory, 41
current thinking disadvantages
educational disadvantages, 39–40
entrepreneurial experience, 40–41
205
descriptive phenomena, 28
entrepreneurship courses, 28
explicit development and rigorous
testing, 29
management education
criticism, 37–38
education backgrounds, West German
entrepreneurs, 38
failure, 38
university degree, 38
US Small Business Development
Center Program, 39
management tools
accounting, 32
HRM (see Human resource
management (HRM))
marketing promotion, 34–35
market research, 32–34
strategic planning, 31–32
new venture success, management
knowledge, 29–30
Intelligence, 12
analytic ability, 66
collaborative ability, 120
components, 121
conceptual models (Sternberg,
Robert), 118
explanatory power, 106–107
improvisational ability, 120
multiple intelligences (Gardner,
Howard), 118
opportunistic imagination, 118–119
persuasive ability, 119–120
practical–contextual ability, 66
synthetic ability, 66
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 118
Intrinsic Motivation Principle of
Creativity, 103
Investment theory of creativity (ITC), 65
K
Khan’s decision-making study, 147
Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory/Index
Knowledge requirements, 12, 66, 128
competition, 130
core technology, 130–131
definitions, 129
explanatory power, 107–109
industry knowledge, 130
negotiations, 129–130
selling, 129
206
M innovation, achievement, personal
Machlup method, 168–170
Management discipline, 3
implicit theories, 28–30
profit maximization model, 171
small business model, 8–9, 140–141
McMullan and Long model, 143
Miner Sentence Completion Scale T
(MSCS-T), 90–92
Moral entrepreneurial imperatives, 172–173
Motivation, 12, 67
credible goals, 126
desire for success, 125
elements, 124–125
explanatory power, 103–104
intrinsic motivation, 125
legacy, 125–126
Schumpeter’s theory, 63
MSCS-T. See Miner Sentence Completion
Scale T (MSCS-T)
Muddling through approach. See Successive
limited comparisons (SLC) approach
N limitations, 64
New Venture Development: The
Entrepreneurial Option, 4
New venture outcomes
employment growth, 85, 86
entrepreneurs vs. small business owners,
83, 84
financial performance, 85, 87–89
cognitive complexity, 85, 90
entrepreneurial orientation scale, 91
lead entrepreneur’s PC, 85
MSCS-T, 90–92
personal innovation, 92
risk avoidance, 92
self-achievement, 92
task motivation theory, 90
innovativeness, 92–95
need for achievement (nAch), 95–96, 104
survival, 82–83
O implicit theory (see Implicit
Organized inventory, venture success, 3
P Smaller-than-big (STB) business, 8
Personal creativity (PC), 13
independent variable, 74
new venture, 10, 96–98
entrepreneurs vs. non-entrepreneurs,
78–81
Índic
e
control and self-esteem, 78
outcomes (see New venture outcomes)
pre-venturing, 11
entrepreneurial intentions, 74–77
growth/creativity factor, 74, 78
population effect size, 78
search methods, 73–74
Philosophy of science (Popper, Karl), 2–3
R
RC approach. See Rational-comprehensive
(RC) approach
Refutable theory, 2
S
Schumpeter’s theory, 58–59
economic development, 61–62
energetic entrepreneurs, 63
entrepreneurial motivation, 63–64
hedonistic economic beings, 63
intellectual endeavors, 61
macro theory, 13
innovative entrepreneurs, 155
new combinations, 157
Shane’s general theory, 9, 165–166
advantages, 50–51
entrepreneurial performance, 45
opportunity execution
entrepreneurial psychology, 49
entrepreneurial strategy, 46
financial resource acquisition, 48
industry choice, 47
new venture organizing
process, 47
sociology of entrepreneurship, 50
opportunity identification, 45–46
potential limitations, 51–52
Small business entrepreneurship (SME)
Campbell theory, 28
explicit theory, 28
functional disciplines, 9, 140
small business theory of
entrepreneurship)
management discipline, 8, 140–141
SME. See Small business entrepreneurship
(SME)
Social science
empirical propositions (see Shane’s general
theory)
Índic 207
e
scientific knowledge, post-secondary V
classroom, 52–53 Venture capitalist (VC), 147
theories Venture capitalist firms (VCFs), 19
endogenous and exogenous, 44
guiding, 44
human capital, 44–45 W
hypotheses, 44 Weick’s model, 59
Spill-over creativity, 160–161 Work experience
Strategic rationality financial outcomes, 21–22
improvisation, 139 funding sources, 19–20
model, 138 high-growth rate, 24
RC approach, 138 high-quality business idea, 18–19
SLC approach, 138–139 industry and business knowledge, 20
trial and error, 139 new business venture
Successive limited comparisons (SLC) development difficulties, 21
approach, 138–139 reasons for, 20–21
non-financial outcomes, 22–23
opportunities, 8, 16
T survival and growth rate, 21–22
Total entrepreneurial activity (TEA), 15–16, 158 TEA, 15–16