Artisan entrepreneurship: a question of personality structure?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of culture in artisan entrepreneurship. It is argued that culture plays a critical role in entrepreneurial behaviour as culture is a key determinant of what it means to be a person. The concept of culture is explored from a micro level of analysis therefore, conceptualising culture from the perspective of the individual entrepreneur’s personality. The main research question being investigated within this paper is: whether artisan entrepreneurs share common personality traits with other entrepreneur groups, using the five factor model (FFM) of personality as the basis of the conceptual model presented herein.

A literature review on the emerging field of artisan entrepreneurship, followed by a review of the literature on personality theory and entrepreneurship. Then, drawing upon the FFM of personality, a conceptual framework is introduced which proposes a relationship between the Big Five personality traits and four dimensions of artisan entrepreneurship such as cultural heritage, community entrepreneurship, craftsmanship and innovation, developed from concepts derived from extant literature.

The theoretical contribution is in the form of propositions. Four propositions have been formulated around the entrepreneurial personality of artisan business owners for each of the four dimensions: cultural heritage, community entrepreneurship, craftsmanship and innovation.

The paper is the first to propose a relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and the likelihood of starting and/or running a business among an entrepreneur group rather than explaining personality differences among entrepreneur and non-entrepreneur groups. The focus of the paper is specifically on artisan entrepreneurs and it has been proposed that the personality trait of agreeableness is important in the decision to start a cultural-based business. It has also been proposed that artisan entrepreneurs possess personal characteristics of openness to newness and openness to innovation that are integral to regional development.