Rediscovering the craft entrepreneur : a personality approach

Personality is a key driver of self-employment decisions. For this reason, the personality traits of entrepreneurs or business owners have been repeatedly studied in previous research. This paper extends this literature by focusing on the craft entrepreneur - as a classic form of strategic entrepreneurship. Based on a large, representative German household panel data set, we show that the entrepreneurial type mediates the effect of broad (Big Five) and narrow personality traits (locus of control, risk tolerance) on the likelihood of being self-employed. Our results support the conventional distinction between craft entrepreneurs from other types of entrepreneurship. The paper concludes with implications for policy and research.