Psychological success factors of small and micro business owners in Southern Africa [Elektronische Ressource] : a longitudinal approach / vorgelegt von Stefanie Isabel Krauss

Sujets

• Psychologie

Informations

• Publié par: justus-liebig-universitat_giessen
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2003
• Nombre de lectures: 24
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 16 Mo

Extrait

PSYCHOLOGICAL SUCCESS FACTORS OF SMALL
AND MICRO BUSINESS OWNERS IN SOUTHERN
AFRICA: A LONGITUDINAL APPROACH






Inaugural-Dissertation
zur
Erlangung des Doktorgrades
der Philosophie des Fachbereiches 06 Psychologie
der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen






vorgelegt von

Stefanie Isabel Krauss
aus Gießen





2003






































Dekan: Prof. Dr. Joachim Stiensmeier-Pelster
1. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Michael Frese
2. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Christian Korunka
Tag der Disputation: Mittwoch, 10. September 2003






TO MY SON BEN TO MY FATHER
AND
The greatest ‘result’ of my time in Who taught me to pursue my dreams
Zimbabwe






ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all my thankfulness goes to my mother and to Clive for all their support and for
bearing with me when times (and my mood) became difficult.
Special thanks also go to Michael Frese and Christian Friedrich for making the project in
Zimbabwe possible and for guiding, supporting, and motivating me throughout the research
process.
Furthermore, my work benefited greatly from discussions with Andreas Utsch, Hans-Georg
Wolff, Nina Keith, Doris Fay, Eric Bloch, Andreas Rauch, Ruth Kanfer, Winfried Hacker,
Benjamin Schneider who provided inspirational suggestions and ideas.
I also want to thank David Harrison, Sarah Campbell, Admire Chirowodza, and Mufaro
Chinyanga from Human Resources (Pvt.) Ltd., Harare, Zimbabwe as well as Klaus Martin
Nickel, Susanne Escher, Rafal Grabarkiewicz, Jens Unger, and Simone Rief who were all of
great help in collecting the data. I am especially grateful to Jens Unger for detecting
interviewer cheating thus preventing me from seriously biased data.
Furthermore, I appreciatively acknowledge the funding of this research through the Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Community, project no.: FR 638/13-2).
Last but not least, I want to thank all interview participants who shared their business
experiences with me. This research would not have been possible without the friendly and
patient cooperation of numerous business owners in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE I
CHAPTER 1
Introduction 1
1.1 Entrepreneurial Orientation 1
1.2 Strategy Process Characteristics 3
1.3 Informal and Formal Businesses 6
1.4 Research Objectives 7
1.5 References 8
CHAPTER 2
Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Psychological Model of Success
Among Southern African Small Business Owners 11
2.1 A Psychological Concept of Entrepreneurial Orientation 11
2.1.1 Learning Orientation 15
2.1.2 Achievement Orientation 16
2.1.3 Autonomy Orientation 16
2.1.4 Competitive Aggressiveness 17
2.1.5 Innovative Orientation 17
2.1.6 Risk-Taking Orientation 18
2.1.7 Personal Initiative 18
2.1.8 Overall Entrepreneurial Orientation 19
2.2 Studying Small Scale Business Owners in Southern Africa 20
2.3 Method 21
2.3.1 Sample 21
2.3.2 Procedure 23
2.3.3 Operationalization 24
2.3.4 Statistical Analyses 28
2.4 Results 29
2.5 Discussion 36
2.5.1 Strengths and Limitations 38
2.5.2 Practical Implications and Conclusion 41
2.6 References 41
CHAPTER 3
Entrepreneurial Orientation, Psychological Action Strategy Characteristics,
and Business Performance: A Longitudinal Analysis among Zimbabwean
Small Business Owners 47
3.1 The Theoretical Model 48
3.1.1 Psychological Strategy Process Characteristics 50
3.1.2 Strategy Process Characteristics and Business Performance 53
3.1.3 The Psychological Concept of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) 57
3.1.4 EO and Business Performance 58 3.1.5 EO, Strategy Process Characteristics, and Business Performance 59
3.2 Studying Small Scale Enterprises in Zimbabwe 60
3.3 Method 61
3.3.1 Sample 61
3.3.2 Procedure 63
3.3.3 Operationalization 63
3.3.4 Statistical Analyses 69
3.4 Results 70
3.5 Discussion 80
3.5.1 Strengths and Limitations 85
3.5.2 Implications for Future Research 86
3.5.3 Conclusion 86
3.6 References 87
CHAPTER 4
A Longitudinal Analysis of Employment Development in Zimbabwean
Informal and Formal Sector Small Enterprises and a Sector-Specific
Classification of Their Owners 93
4.1 Informal and Formal Sector: Conceptual Issues 94
4.1.1 Contradictory Views on the Informal Sector 95
4.1.2 Advantages of the Informal Sector 95
4.1.3 Advantages of the Formal Sector 97
4.1.4 Distinguishing Formal from Informal Business Owners 98
4.1.5 The Transition from the Informal into the Formal Sector 102
4.2 Method 102
4.2.1 Sample 102
4.2.2 Procedure 105
4.2.3 Operationalization 105
4.2.4 Statistical Analyses 107
4.3 Results 108
4.4 Discussion 112
4.4.1 Strengths and Limitations 114
4.4.2 Future Research and Practical Implications 114
4.4.3 Conclusion 115
4.5 References 115
CHAPTER 5
Conclusion 118
5.1 Measuring Psychological Determinants of Entrepreneurial Performance 118
in Southern Africa
5.2 Psychological Determinants of Entrepreneurial Performance 120
5.2.1 The Unitary Concept of Entrepreneurial Orientation 121
5.2.2 Entrepreneurial Orientation, Strategy Process Characteristics,
and Business Performance 122
5.2.3 Informal and Formal Businesses 123
5.5 References 124
APPENDIX Preface I




PREFACE


The research for this dissertation was conducted within the project ‘Psychological
1Success Factors of Small Business Owners in Zimbabwe: The Role of Goals and Strategies’ .
2 3Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Michael Frese and Prof. Dr. Christian Friedrich , the pro-
ject started in May 1998 and ended in December 2002. While entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe
was the main research focus, smaller studies were carried out in South Africa and Namibia.

SMALL BUSINESSES IN ZIMBABWE
An entrepreneur is “[…] the revolutionary of the economy — and the involuntary
4pioneer of social and political revolution ”.
Zimbabwe became independent from the former colonial power Great Britain in 1980.
Since then, indigenous entrepreneurship increased tremendously. Entrepreneurs who started
out small with the vision of leading Zimbabwe into the next millennium facilitated the coun-
try’s economic as well as social prosperity. Zimbabwe’s probably best known representative
of this new generation of entrepreneurs is Strive Masiyiwa, the founder of Econet Wireless
5Telecommunications . In 1993, Econet Wireless was one of many small start-ups in Harare.
After four years of legal battles with the Zimbabwean government, in 1998 Strive Masiyiwa’s
persistence secured the first private-owned GSM mobile telephone network license in Zim-
6babwe . In 2000, Econet moved their headquarters to South Africa and are presently (2003)
7the third largest Pan-African telecommunications provider . Econet Wireless operates in 15

1 Funded by the German Research Community (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, project no.: FR 638/13-2).
2 Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany; Visiting Professor at the London Business School, United
Kingdom.
3 University of Applied Sciences, Giessen, Germany; Visiting Professor at the University of the Western Cape,
Cape Town, South Africa.
4 Schumpeter, J. A. (1934). Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung (Theory of economic development). (4th
ed.). Berlin, Germany: Duncker & Humblot, p.130.
5 http://www.econetwireless.com/
6 Wachira, N. (2001, 15 March 2001). One man's fight to wire Africa, [online article]. Wired News. Available:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,41407,00.html [2003, June].
7 Staff Reporter. (2002, 21 February 2002). Econet names new boss for Zimbabwe, [newspaper article]. Financial
Gazette, Zimbabwe. Available: http://www.africaonline.com/site/Articles/1,3,45786.jsp [2003, June]. Preface II
countries in Africa, Europe, and the East Asian Pacific Region. The achievements of entre-
preneurs like Strive Masiyiwa do not only foster economic development directly through the
advancement of innovative technologies and the attraction of foreign investments; successful
entrepreneurs also model the path and encourage others to follow. Many small business own-
ers I interviewed explicitly named Strive Masiyiwa (as well as Nigel Chanakira from King-
8dom Securities and Kingdom Financial Holdings, Harare ) as their role model, as a person
who influenced their decision to become and/ or remain a business owners.
Almost simultaneously to my first research sojourn in 1998, Zimbabwe headed into an
economic depression which continues to this date (2003). While Zimbabwe