Running a business involves constant pressure and uncertainty. Entrepreneurs frequently face stressful situations, and the way they handle these challenges can affect their mental health and their companies. In the past, business owners have often been studied for their positive economic contributions, like job creation and innovation.
At the same time, the news frequently highlights instances of business misconduct, such as fraud or manipulative practices. This duality makes the entrepreneurial personality an interesting subject of study. To understand how personality shapes these different outcomes, a recent investigation set out to examine the character traits of business owners.
The study explored how different personality characteristics influence the ways entrepreneurs cope with challenges and maintain their happiness. The results showed that darker personality traits were tied to emotional reactions to stress, while lighter traits were linked to practical problem-solving and higher life satisfaction. The findings were published in the journal Strategic Change.
Exploring the Dark and Light Triads
In recent years, researchers have spent a lot of time studying the negative side of entrepreneurial personalities. This focus left a knowledge gap regarding how positive traits might also play a role in managing business challenges. Leonie Baldacchino from the University of Malta and Sara Sassetti from the University of Pisa designed a study to address this question.
The researchers wanted to see how a combination of opposing personality traits affects stress management and psychological well-being. Psychological well-being refers to a person’s general happiness. It includes a person’s life satisfaction and the balance of positive to negative emotions they experience on a regular basis.
To measure personality, the researchers looked at two specific groupings of traits. The Dark Triad includes Machiavellianism, which is a tendency to manipulate others for personal gain. It also includes psychopathy, characterized by antisocial behavior, and narcissism, which involves extreme self-centeredness.
On the other hand, the Light Triad is a newer concept meant to capture positive orientations toward others. It includes Kantianism, or the belief that people should be treated as ends rather than means. It also features humanism, which values the dignity of individuals, and a general faith in the fundamental goodness of humanity.
The study also examined how these business owners deal with adversity. The researchers categorized coping into three distinct habits. Task-based coping involves tackling a problem directly. Avoidance-based coping means temporarily stepping away or disengaging from the issue. Finally, emotion-based coping involves reacting primarily with feelings, such as blaming oneself or becoming visibly upset.
Measuring Traits and Stress Responses
To investigate these concepts, the researchers gathered data from 179 self-employed individuals and business owner-managers in Malta. They collected this information through an anonymous online survey conducted over four weeks in March 2021. The participants answered a series of standardized questionnaires to measure their personality traits, coping habits, and overall happiness.
For example, the researchers used a twelve-item questionnaire called the “Dirty Dozen” to measure dark traits and a similar twelve-item “Light Triad Scale” to measure positive traits. The survey asked respondents to reflect on business problems they had faced over the previous year and report how they reacted. The researchers also gathered demographic information, such as age, gender, education level, and business size.
Because the survey took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers also asked participants how the global health event had affected their businesses. They included this information to account for outside sources of stress. The researchers then used statistical software to analyze the survey responses and look for mathematical patterns.
The analysis revealed clear links between specific personality traits and coping habits. The study showed that entrepreneurs with higher Dark Triad scores were more likely to use emotion-based coping when faced with stress. The researchers did not find a direct link between these dark traits and the entrepreneurs’ overall psychological well-being.
The analysis found that Light Triad traits were tied to a different chain of events. Entrepreneurs with higher Light Triad scores were more likely to use task-based and avoidance-based coping strategies. This specific process, utilizing practical problem-solving and knowing when to step back, was linked to higher levels of positive emotions and greater life satisfaction.
Practical Takeaways and Study Limitations
The findings offer practical insights for business leaders and educators. Programs that train new entrepreneurs could benefit from focusing on Light Triad characteristics like empathy and respect for others. Developing these positive traits is linked to better stress management and higher life satisfaction.
Educators and mentors could also help business owners replace emotion-based coping habits with more constructive problem-solving techniques. Mental health interventions, such as cognitive behavioral strategies, can help individuals process stress without resorting to emotional outbursts. Organizations that support new businesses, such as incubators, can use this information to build healthier work environments.
Investors might also look at how founders handle stress and treat others when evaluating the long-term potential of a founding team. Promoting ethical behavior and practical stress management can create a healthier culture for the entire business ecosystem. The researchers noted that individuals do not just have entirely dark or light traits, but rather a complex mix of both operating at the same time.
The researchers noted a few limitations to their investigation. The data came from self-reported surveys, which means participants might have adjusted their answers to appear more favorable. The survey also captured information at a single point in time from a single country.
This specific survey design makes it difficult to establish a strict timeline of cause and effect between the personality traits and the coping behaviors. Future investigations could track business owners over longer periods to see how these habits evolve. Researchers could also use daily diary entries to capture how entrepreneurs react to stress in real time.
