Entrepreneurial Curiosity, Innovativeness of the Entrepreneur, and Company Growth

Abstract

Researchers have studied entrepreneurial curiosity and innovativeness as determinants of entrepreneurial behavior but have not linked them with company growth in a model. The intention of this enquiry was to examine the associations between the entrepreneur’s psychological constructs of entrepreneurial curiosity and innovativeness and business growth, as examined by the conceptualization and analysis of hypotheses. For this research, data were obtained via a survey questionnaire. The sample consisted of 851 entrepreneurs of companies in three European countries. Each company had 250 workers or fewer. This study contributes to the entrepreneurship knowledge base by presenting empirical testimony on the associations between entrepreneurial curiosity, entrepreneurial innovativeness, and firm growth, as well as presenting advanced cross-nationally analogous measurement instruments of entrepreneurial curiosity and innovativeness. The entrepreneur’s curiosity is important for their innovativeness, and this innovativeness is essential for business growth.

Keywords

• entrepreneurial curiosity
• innovativeness
• entrepreneur
• growth
• entrepreneurship
• SMEs