Personal characteristics influence entrepreneurial inclination: a case study of students of Islamic Azad University of Ardabil Branch

Economists believe entrepreneurs are one of the main actors in economic development in that they use their experience to eliminate inefficiencies and replace them with new ways of working, rendering the economic system dynamic. Since universities are the main suppliers of the skilled manpower required for economic development, the training of entrepreneurs in universities is an important issue. This study compares key personality characteristics associated with entrepreneurship in different groups of students and investigates whether there is a significant relationship between entrepreneurial skills and personal characteristics including risk-taking, locus of control, need for achievement, tolerance of ambiguity and creativity. A questionnaire was used to collect data and univariate t-test and multivariate Logit regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The results show that of the five characteristics, need for achievement, tolerance of ambiguity and creativity differ among students who are entrepreneurially inclined and those who are not. Multivariate Logit model results also indicate that these three variables are significantly associated with entrepreneurial inclination.