ABSTRACT
Much entrepreneurship literature in the 60s, 70s and 80s tended to emphasize particular psychological traits as key to ‘the’ entrepreneurial identity. Notions about autonomous, innovative, creative and achievement oriented personality types are often emphasized in such discussions of people’s predilection for entrepreneurialism (Ketz de Vries 1977; McClelland 1987; Thomas and Mueller 2000). Risk-taking and individualistic behaviour are also commonly eulogized in this literature as desirable features of ‘the’ entrepreneurial identity. More contemporary literature however has tended to move away from a focus on behavioural or personality characteristics and towards analyses which look more closely at social context (Donnellan, Ollila and Middleton 2014; Douglas and Grant 2014; Rigg and O'Dwyer 2012; Sheth 2010) and self-narration (Boje and Smith 2010; Down and Warren 2008; Harmeling 2011; Johansson 2004; Steyaert 2007) for example. This trend has enabled the development of more nuanced understandings of entrepreneurial characteristics.
