Hope for the East: Entrepreneurial Attitudes of MBA Students in Two Transition Economies Relative to Those in the USA

Abstract

This paper examines whether a proactive personality instrument, designed to assess whether an individual possesses personality traits often linked to entrepreneurship, is robust to international applications. We present the instrument to three cohorts of MBA students: a group in Michigan, another in Armenia, and a third in Poland. While internationally different, the student cohorts are similar otherwise. We find no meaningful differences on students' overall average scores; all groups appear equally suited to entrepreneurship. Therefore we find the instrument to be internationally robust. We also examine whether the form of each group's proactive personality varies internationally. We find evidence that cultural (whether social or economic) differences lead to different kinds of high scores – i.e., an international treatment effect. An important implication is that different kinds of 'entrepreneurial' students might want to consider working alongside others with proactive personalities, especially if a potential partner would bring a complementary set of attributes.

Keywords: entrepreneurs, centrally planned economies, socialist enterprises, entrepreneurial attitudes, MBA students, transition economies, MBA programmes, master's degrees, business administration, central planning, new business ventures, new firms, business start ups, Armenia, Poland, USA, United States

JEL Classification: P1, P2, P3, L26