Do You Have an Entrepreneurial Mindset?
New ideas, calculated bets and moving before you are asked
Starting a company is not the only way to be entrepreneurial. The research on entrepreneurial orientation, first built to describe firms, was later adapted to individuals, and it describes three habits: looking for new ways of doing things, being willing to commit to uncertain outcomes, and moving before the future arrives. You can have any mix of the three, and the mix says more about which kind of venture - or job - would suit you than a single score ever could.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about how you actually behave at work, in studies or in your own projects - not about the entrepreneur you imagine being one day.
What it measures
The three dimensions of individual entrepreneurial orientation: innovativeness (seeking new ways of doing things), risk-taking (committing to uncertain ventures) and proactiveness (acting ahead of future needs). It describes how you approach opportunities, as a founder or inside an organisation. It differs from the site's risk-taking test, which covers risk in every area of life, and from the career-interest test, which covers what kind of work you enjoy.
Based on: Individual entrepreneurial orientation (Bolton & Lane, 2012)
Possible results
Innovativeness
Looking for new and better ways of doing things.
Risk-taking
Willingness to commit time, money or reputation to uncertain outcomes.
Proactiveness
Acting ahead of problems and opportunities instead of waiting for them.
Common questions
Do you have to be a risk-taker to be an entrepreneur?
Less than people think. The research treats risk-taking as one of three separate dimensions, and plenty of founders score modestly on it while being highly innovative or proactive. What matters in practice is managing risk - testing small, limiting losses, keeping a fallback - rather than enjoying it.
Is an entrepreneurial mindset useful in a normal job?
Yes. The construct was first developed to describe organisations, not founders, and the same three habits - improving how things are done, backing uncertain projects, anticipating needs - are valued in employees. In a very rule-bound role, though, a high score can feel like constant friction.
Can entrepreneurial orientation be developed?
Partly. Bolton and Lane presented their scale as a tool for entrepreneurship education and training decisions, which assumes these orientations can shift with experience. Proactiveness and calculated risk-taking in particular are habits you can practise in small projects where failing is cheap.
Sources
- Langkamp Bolton, D., & Lane, M. D. (2012). Individual entrepreneurial orientation: Development of a measurement instrument. Education + Training. doi:10.1108/00400911211210314
- Lumpkin, G. T., & Dess, G. G. (1996). Clarifying the entrepreneurial orientation construct and linking it to performance. Academy of Management Review. doi:10.2307/258632
- Rauch, A., Wiklund, J., Lumpkin, G. T., & Frese, M. (2009). Entrepreneurial orientation and business performance: An assessment of past research and suggestions for the future. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2009.00308.x
An honest note The statements are Quinthea's own wording, adapted from Bolton and Lane's individual entrepreneurial orientation scale, so your scores are not comparable to published norms. The scale was developed with American university students, and most evidence linking entrepreneurial orientation to success comes from studies of companies, where the effect is real but moderate. A high score does not mean you should start a business, and a low one does not mean you cannot: money, timing, skills and luck matter at least as much.