Entrepreneurial Motivation and Competencies

ENT/ETR300 – FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ENTREPRENEURIAL MOTIVATION & COMPETENCY
ENTREPRENEURIAL
MOTIVATION AND
COMPETENCIES
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the session, students should be

able to:
• Explain and demonstrate the key entrepreneurial

motivation and;
• Explain and demonstrate competencies of
successful entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurial Motivation
• What make people responsive to opportunity?

• What drive them to entrepreneurship?
• Answering these question entail the
examination of entrepreneurial motivation
• Motivation is defined as a drive that cause a
person to take some goal oriented action.
• Motivational theories are based on the idea that

behavior is essentially purposeful and directed
towards the attainment of certain goal.
• Thus entrepreneurial motivation is viewed as the
willingness of an entrepreneur to sustain his or
her entrepreneurial behavior.
Motivation theorists have pointed out that at

least three general categories of social motives
as important determinant of human behavior:
•The need for achievement (n Ach)
•The need for Power (n Pow)
•The need for affiliation (n Aff)
The need for achievement (n Ach)
 Achievement motive - drive to do well, strive for excellence
and overcome challenges and obstacles in the pursuit of goal.
The need for Power (n Pow)

 Power motive - drive to control, influence and to have impact
on others and change the situations.
The need for affiliation (n Aff)

 Affiliation motive - drive to establish, maintain or renew
affective relationship with others.
 All three motives may exist together in a person

 But one usually more dominant than the other motives for
most of the individual’s actions.
HIGH NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT

(HIGH N ACH)
 High need for achievement (high n Ach) has
been identified as the critical motive that
influence for most of venture creation and
entrepreneurship.
 Individual with high need for achievement found
in most good business founder.
 Need for achievement also known as urge to
improve.
HIGH NEED FOR POWER

(HIGH N POW)
 Individual with High need for power (high n Pow)
normally seek position of leadership.
 They potentially to be good managers, executive
or supervisors.
HIGH NEED FOR AFFILIATION

(HIGH N AFF)
 High need for affiliation (n Aff) has mostly
been associated with individual whose desire
in life is to establish, maintain or renew
affective relationship with others.
 They potentially to be good social workers
 As an entrepreneur the need for affiliation to
certain extent may contribute to the drive for
maintaining effective business networking.
Common characteristics associated with

achievement oriented entrepreneurs
1. Drive to achieve
Internally driven self starter with strong desire to:
• To compete with others
• To excel with self imposed standard
• To pursue and attain challenging goal


2. Calculated risk taking
High achiever tend to take moderated or
calculated risk
 Examining the situation and determine how to increase the
chance of winning a business situation
 They make their effort to get the odds in their favor
 They do not take unnecessary risks

3. Internal locus of control
• They belief that success or failure is determined by their
own effort.
• They belief in themselves
• They do not belief that success or failure of their ventures
were determined by fate or luck
• This behavior is consistent with self confidence and desire
to take personal responsibility

4. Tolerance for failure
 High achievers take failure as a learning
experience.
 Do not easily become disappointed, distress
or discouraged by any setback or difficulties
faced in the mist of business competition.
 Many successful entrepreneurs belief that
they learn more from their earlier failure
than from their earlier success.

5. Seeking Feedback
• They have strong desire to actively seek and used feed
back to know how well they are doing and how to improve
their performance.
• Most successful entrepreneurs are quick learners


6. Integrity and reliability
• Integrity and reliability help to build and sustain
trust and confidence
• This helps to endure the relationship between

entrepreneurs, partners, customers, suppliers
and stakeholders.
Competence motivation
Besides the three social motives, a
successful entrepreneur should also have
the competence motivation
• Competence motivation is a drive to do high
quality work.
Competence motivation
 Competence motivated entrepreneur
 seek mastery in job or tasks that they are undertaking,
 develop problem solving skill and
 strive to be innovative
 In general they tend to perform good work

because the inner satisfaction they feel and
esteem they gain from others due to their
competence.
PERSONAL ENTREPRENEURIAL
COMPETENCIES (PECs)

The term "ENTREPRENEURIAL
COMPETENCIES" refers to the key
characteristics that should be possessed
by successful entrepreneurs in order to
perform entrepreneurial functions
effectively
Entrepreneurial Competencies
McClelland and McBer (1985)
1. Initiative
The entrepreneur should be able to take actions that go
beyond his job requirements and to act faster. He is always
ahead of others and able to become a leader in the field of
business.

Examples
 Does things before being asked or compelled by the
situation.
 Acts to extend the business into new areas, products or
services
2. Sees and acts on opportunities

An entrepreneur always looks for and takes action on
opportunities.

Examples
 Sees and acts on new business opportunities
 Seizes unusual opportunities to obtain financing,
equipment, land, work space or assistance
3. Persistence
An entrepreneur is able to make repeated efforts or to
take different actions to overcome an obstacle that get
in the way of reaching goals.
Examples
 Takes repeated or different actions to overcome an
obstacle
 Takes action in the face of a significant obstacle
4. Information Seeking
An entrepreneur is able to take action on how to seek
information to help achieve business objectives or clarify
business problems.
Examples
 Does personal research on how to provide a product or service
 Consults experts or experienced persons to get relevant
information
 Seeks information or asks questions to clarify a client's or a
supplier's need
 Personally undertakes market research, analysis or investigation
 Uses contacts or information networks to obtain useful information
5. Concern for High Quality of Work

An entrepreneur acts to do things that meet certain
standards of excellence which gives him greater
satisfaction.

Examples
 States a desire to produce or sell a top or better quality
product or service
 Compares own work or own company's work favorably
to that of others
6. Commitment to Work Contract
An entrepreneur places the highest priority on getting a
job completed.

Examples
 Makes personal sacrifice or expends extraordinary effort
to complete a job
 Accepts full responsibility for problems in completing a
job for customers
 Pitches in with workers or works in their place to get the
job done
 Expresses a concern for satisfying the customer
7. Efficiency Orientation
A successful entrepreneur always finds ways to do things
faster or with fewer resources or at a lower cost.

Examples
 Looks for or finds ways to do things faster or at less cost
 Uses information or business tools to improve efficiency
 Expresses concern about costs vs. benefits of some
improvement, change, or course of action
8. Systematic Planning
An entrepreneur develops and uses logical, step-by-
step plans to reach goals.

Examples
 Plans by breaking a large task down into sub-tasks
 Develops plans that anticipate obstacles
 Evaluate alternatives
 Takes a logical and systematic approach to activities
9. Problem Solving
Successful entrepreneur identifies new and potentially
unique ideas to achieve his goals.

Example
 Switches to an alternative strategy to reach a goal
 Generates new ideas or innovative solutions
10.Self-Confidence
A successful entrepreneur has a strong belief in self
and own abilities.

Examples
 Expresses confidence in own ability to complete a task
or meet a challenge
 Sticks with own judgment in the face of opposition or
early lack of success
11.Assertiveness
An entrepreneur confronts problems and issues with
others directly.

Examples
 Confronts problems with others directly
 Tells others what they have to do
 Reprimands or disciplines those failing to perform as
expected
12.Persuasion
An entrepreneur can successfully persuade or influence
others for mobilizing resources, obtaining inputs, organizing
productions and selling his products or services.

Examples
 Convinces someone to buy a product or service
 Convinces someone to provide financing
 Convinces someone to do something else that he would like
that person to do
 Asserts own competence, reliability, or other personal or
company qualities
 Asserts strong confidence in own company's products or
services
13.Use of Influence Strategies

An entrepreneur is able to make use of influential
people to reach his business goals.

Examples
 Acts to develop business contracts
 Uses influential people as agents to accomplish own
objectives
 Selectively limits the information given to others
 Uses a strategy to influence or persuade others

Entrepreneurial Motivation and Competencies

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ENT/ETR300 – FUNDAMENTALS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

ENTREPRENEURIAL MOTIVATION & COMPETENCY

By the end of the session, students should be

• Explain and demonstrate the key entrepreneurial

• What make people responsive to opportunity?

• Motivational theories are based on the idea that

Motivation theorists have pointed out that at

The need for Power (n Pow)

The need for affiliation (n Aff)

 All three motives may exist together in a person

HIGH NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT

HIGH NEED FOR POWER

HIGH NEED FOR AFFILIATION

Common characteristics associated with

Internally driven self starter with strong desire to:

• To compete with others

• To excel with self imposed standard

• To pursue and attain challenging goal

Common characteristics associated with

Common characteristics associated with

Common characteristics associated with

Common characteristics associated with

• Most successful entrepreneurs are quick learners

Common characteristics associated with

• This helps to endure the relationship between

 In general they tend to perform good work

2. Sees and acts on opportunities

5. Concern for High Quality of Work

13.Use of Influence Strategies

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