The fit between entrepreneurs' personalities and the profile of the ventures they manage and business success: An exploratory study

Person-Organization fit, the match between individuals and the organizations in which they work, has been extended to the fit between entrepreneurs' personalities (EP) and the profiles of ventures (VP) they manage (EP-VP fit), and its relationship to the venture's success. Eighty eight Israeli entrepreneurs working in new ventures responded to a specially designed questionnaire that included the following parts: (A) provided general data about the new venture; (B) assessed the venture type along two dimensions: Novelty and Technological uncertainty; (C) assessed the entrepreneurs' personality traits and (D) assessed the ventures' success. Findings revealed that entrepreneurs in high Novelty and high Technological uncertainty ventures had higher education, they love challenges, and they are more committed, entrepreneurial, dreamers, creative, risk-takers, intuitive, investigative, and ambitious than those in low Novelty and low Technological uncertainty ventures. Entrepreneurs in low novelty and low technological uncertainty ventures were found to be more likely to exhibit behaviors characterizing Type A personality. In addition, high novelty high technological uncertainty ventures were found to be significantly more successful on measures reflecting potential for building the future when compared to the low novelty and low technological uncertainty ventures, while on measures reflecting short-term success (meeting economic and budget goals) the results are in favor of the low novelty, low technology groups. These findings suggest that entrepreneurs are more attracted to ventures that fit their personality and the way they manage the new ventures is affected by their personality traits.