An Exploration of Factors Affecting the Entrepreneurial Decision: Personal Characteristic vs. Environmental Conditions.

Measures of locus of control, risk-taking, satisfaction with previous jobs, and demographic data were obtained from groups of managers who recently had been promoted within an organization or moved to another organization and from a group of individuals who had recently opened their own businesses. Discriminant analysis revealed that education, fear of dismissal and perceived promotional opportunities on previous jobs, years of residence in the local area, and number of previous places of employment, were useful in distinguishing among the three groups.