Driving Forces Of Motivation To Become An Enterpreneur

The foundation of understanding motivation has been written by Maslow (1943). He describes the theory of motivation based on the foundation of the well renowned psychologists like Goldstein, Freud and Adler. Maslow argued that human needs sets the foundation of motivation. Maslow's five-stage hierarchy of needs starts with physiological needs, followed by safety, belongingness and love, esteem, and self actualization. Motivation increases when the stages are met. While there are a number of such characterizations of entrepreneurial motivation, there is no doubt that psychological inclinations of the entrepreneur can be decomposed into several dimensions accounting for the entrepreneur’s motivation to start the business.

Personal motivation and entrepreneurship

According to Hessels (2008), the motivation to become an entrepreneur derives from three different sources distincted in pull and push factors, which is described below. The first type of start-up motivation is the independence motive and it is the main motive for creating a start-up. Entrepreneurs with this kind of motivation have often an innovative orientation. The second type of start-up motivation is the increase-wealth motive, entrepreneurs with this kind of motivation have often high ambitions and a focus on growth and innovation. This relationship is also observed by Cessar (2007). The last type of start-up motivation is the necessity motive. Whereas the other two types of motivation are often observed in high-income regions, Hessels (2008) observed that necessity motivated entrepreneurs originate in lower-income countries. The entrepreneurs are depending on their business to provide for the first stage of Maslow's hierarchy, the physiological need. Not all motives to become an entrepreneur can be found in these categories. One can also argue that the need of achievement or need for power are also compelling motives to become an entrepreneur, but since the majority of the entrepreneurs are falling in the three above mentioned groups, we will discriminate on these motives.

Family support

Family tradition and their supports as a motivator is a crucial role in starting up a business. One area that has received relatively less attention in the entrepreneurship literature is the role played by the family in young people's entrepreneurial initiatives. This is surprising, when we consider that families are an important source of early stage funding, information and contacts, mentoring, and moral support and often perform important incubation functions in the new venture creation process. L. P. Steier and H. E. Aldrich (2003), in their work on the family embeddedness of entrepreneurship, suggest the lack of attention paid to the family in entrepreneurship, is more due to academic institutional arrangements, where family and business are studied in different departments or colleges, than to practice.

The impacts of family on entrepreneurship has been overlooked in a number of literatures: social network research, family business research, or intergenerational transfer of entrepreneurship. However, there appears to be a “missing link” in the literature regarding the relationship between the family support provided to nascent entrepreneurs and the realization of their entrepreneurial initiatives.

Business development

Much attention has been focused on the need for sustainable business development, development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. As a factor business development has more concentrated on different motivational variables such as sale and profit maximization, increment in business expansion and facing the challenges.

Income

Few decades before many countries have experienced increasing income inequality and stratified unemployment. Despite these two parallel economic trends, studies that probe the direct relationship between entrepreneurship and overall workforce inequality remain scant in the still largely separate literatures on entrepreneurship and inequality. Income as a factor has relatively consistent on the following motivational variables; secure standard of living, increment in income and equity build up for future.

Push-pull theory (motivation to become an entrepreneur)

Gerry Segal, Dan Borgia and Jerry Schoenfeld, quote the Gilad and Levine (1986) theory which which is closely related to the entrepreneurial motivation: the push and pull theories. The first one argues that people are pushed into entrepreneurship by negative external forces. We can see that all of them are closely related to their job: job dissatisfaction, difficulties in finding one or insufficient salary. The pull theory is the contrary: people are attracted into entrepreneurship seeking independence, self-fulfillment, wealth, and other desirable outcomes. According to research we know that the “pull” factors motivated most of people to become entrepreneurs rather than “push” factors.