Comparative Analysis of Entrepreneurial Characteristics of Large, Medium, Small and Micro Scale Businesses in Sri Lanka

Abstract

There are many studies carried out in many countries about entrepreneurial characteristics over a long period of time. However, there is no consensus among the scholars on a common set of characteristics of successful entrepreneurs in the world. Therefore, in this study it is expected to explore common characteristics that may affect entrepreneurial success. In this study, thirty-one characteristics were taken from literature and they were investigated through 121 entrepreneurs who are into micro, small, medium and large-scale businesses in Sri Lanka. In the hundred and twenty-one sample the entrepreneurs are from micro, small, medium and large. Almost all seminal articles related to entrepreneurial characteristics and traits were taken into consideration in doing the literature survey. The questionnaire of this research has been developed by taking pretested questionnaires on the same phenomenon and a few questions were developed by the researcher. Some modifications were done to the questions in the questionnaire before administering it to the Sri Lankan context. There was more than one question asked in the questionnaire to test one variable. A reliability test had been carried out to see the internal consistency among them and Cronbach's Alpha value was calculated for each variable separately. At the end of the research, it is expected to have two outcomes. They are: first, to see the common list of characteristics which are needed for entrepreneurs to be successful and second; to see the characteristics which are important for micro, small, medium and large-scale businesses to be successful. In deriving the previously mentioned outcomes two types of analytical tools were used. They are: first, to see the common list of characteristics which are needed for entrepreneurs to be successful, One-Way ANOVA technique has been used and second; to see the characteristics which are important for micro, small, medium and large-scale businesses to be successful, descriptive statistics (mean values) were used. Finally, it was found that there are many characteristics which affect the success of entrepreneurs out of the thirty-one characteristics taken for investigation and also different characteristics affect micro, small, medium and large-scale entrepreneurs to be successful.