ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the main traditional theories on the entrepreneur, and these have included psychological/trait, social/demographic and behavioural approaches. Beginning with some modern definitions of entrepreneurship-related terms, the chapter examines the various ways entrepreneurs have been conceptualised by economists and researchers over the years. The risk-taking function draws on the entrepreneur's ability to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity, and concerns an individual's willingness to take economic and psychological risks. The entrepreneurial decision making characteristic is strongly linked to that of judgement and risk taking. Studies have shown that, in the past, entrepreneurs received very little formal education. Researchers adopting the behavioural approach tend to do so because they perceive the trait and social approaches as failing to provide a complete and accurate picture of the entrepreneur. The importance attributed to leadership in a range of contexts, is evidenced by the fact that it is one of the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences.
