Psychological Tests for Entrepreneurs Research Paper

Part 1

Psychological tests are very helpful in determining one’s traits of character, inclinations, basic skills and other features, which are important for the adequate assessment of one’s personality or specific field, which the tests intend to reveal. In this regard, there are many tests in the field of entrepreneurship which intend to show whether respondents have entrepreneurial inclinations or not. At the same time, the effectiveness of such tests in the field of entrepreneurship is questionable, because entrepreneurial success depends on multiple factors, which do not always depend on one’s personal features or professional skills. Nevertheless, tests may be helpful in determining basic inclinations or readiness of individuals to become entrepreneurs. Tests play the indicative role that means that people, who pass tests, may determine whether they are ready to become entrepreneurs and whether the efforts are worth taking or they would better abandon the idea of becoming entrepreneurs. Therefore, psychological tests that attempt to uncover entrepreneurial skills and inclinations are not always effective and accurate, but they are helpful in the basic assessment and inclinations of individuals to entrepreneurial activities, although such tests cannot show whether individuals will succeed in their entrepreneurial activities or not.

Various psychological tests intend to reveal entrepreneurial inclinations of individuals but the problem is that they cannot always identify individuals, who may be really successful in their entrepreneurial activities (Sharpe, 1965). The long history of testing in the field of entrepreneurship still fails to offer universal, ideal tests, which can help to determine one’s entrepreneurial skills and chance of success to the full extent. In this regard, it is worth mentioning such tests as GET or GET2 and many others, which focus on the key features of entrepreneurs, which are really important, but which are not always determinant (Gitlow, 2015). At any rate, such tests give the general overview of one’s inclinations to entrepreneurial activities, but their results are not always reliable and accurate. Moreover, the large scale assessment of one’s skills requires a more complex approach to the assessment than merely passing a test or two.

As a rule, psychological tests focus on some key features that are characteristics of good and successful entrepreneurs, like achievement, autonomy, control, risk taking, concerns with teamwork, ambitions, and others (Shane, 2003). Developers of such tests probably determine the relevance of those features on the ground of their personal experience, or study of the contemporary business environment, or the study of the relevant literature, or whatsoever. Psychological tests focus on the key features because they tend to generalization and they cannot take into consideration individual peculiarities of every person, who passes the tests. For example, one may be a potentially successful entrepreneur but he/she has such a unique blend of features, which are exceptional and not common for the average people. Tests can hardly identify such people because they focus on the average audience. Therefore, they are destined for the average person, who has basic features tested in the course of those tests. The development or under-development of specific features shows whether one should try becoming an entrepreneur or not. Entrepreneurial tests focus on what their developers believe to be the most important features of entrepreneurs, such as achievement, autonomy, control, risk taking, concerns with teamwork, ambitions, and others. However, these features are not always essential and determinant for true entrepreneurs, who have already reached success in their entrepreneurial activities.

In this regard, it is possible to distinguish the core features which are virtually always essential for entrepreneurs and which may be traced from test to test and which remain in psychological tests dedicated to entrepreneurship throughout the time. Such features are focus on achievement, autonomy, control, risk taking, and learning. These features are definitely pivotal for the contemporary entrepreneur because the ability of an individual to work autonomously and take decisions fast and effectively, in spite of risks, can determine the overall success of the individual in his/her entrepreneurial activities (Chambers & Wedel, 2005). The achievement is essential because entrepreneurs should be success-oriented and focus on the achievement of their business goals. Otherwise, they will face substantial difficulties with achieving success in their business. The autonomy helps entrepreneurs to take decisions autonomously, regardless of their environment or pressure from the part of other stakeholders because today the right decision is not always the one that is taken by the majority of stakeholders (Reynolds, 2007). The control is another important feature, which many psychological tests include and which is really important for the successful entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs should be able to keep their business under control but they should also be able to keep their emotions under control too (Volti, 2005). They should have well-developed organizational skills to be able to perform well in their entrepreneurial activities. Risk taking is another important feature included in contemporary entrepreneurial tests, which are essential for the successful entrepreneurial development. In fact, an entrepreneur cannot succeed, if he/she does not take risks.

Psychological tests are not static. Instead they are extremely dynamic in their development. In fact, psychological tests mirror changes in the contemporary business environment which may affect the key features, which are essential for entrepreneurial success. For example, today, innovations are imperative for the successful business development. This is why many contemporary tests include innovativeness and inclinations to innovations as important features of good and successful entrepreneurs.

The major strengths of psychological tests oriented on the revelation of entrepreneurial skills and preparedness or inclinations of individuals include the strife of individuals for entrepreneurial activities and their basic features, which are essential for entrepreneurial activities (Lintner, 1965). The adequate analysis of one’s features helps to determine whether one can develop entrepreneurial skills successfully or not. One should be certain that he/she has at least some basic entrepreneurial skills and inclinations before launching any entrepreneurial projects.

However, the major drawback of such tests is that they do not prepare people to the real entrepreneurial world. They rather reveal their potential but they fail to prepare people for the hard work and challenges, which entrepreneurs face in their regular work on the daily basis. Moreover, psychological tests have little to do with the real entrepreneurial world, where entrepreneurs have to deal with new and unexpected challenges and find respectively original and unconventional solutions to those challenges (Block, 2009). In fact, existing entrepreneurial tests rather help to reveal whether people have a basis on the ground of which they can construct their entrepreneurial activities or start their business. However, these tests will never show whether people, who start their business, will succeed or not.

The overall success of entrepreneurs depends on so many factors, which are not always possible to foresee, while sometimes, the business success it is just a lucky strike which brings people to success (Heilbroner & Milberg, 2000). Nevertheless, psychological tests keep progressing and offering more and more complicated system of scoring and assessment of entrepreneurial skills. However, whatever sophisticated psychological tests are they will never tell whether one will succeed in his/her business or one will fail.

Thus, the development of psychological tests is important for the assessment of individual skills and inclinations in target fields. However, such tests are not always effective. At this point, the case of psychological tests in the field of entrepreneurship are helpful but they are not very effective because they cannot predict whether one will be a successful entrepreneur or not because entrepreneurial success depends on multiple factors, which do not always depend on individual skills, abilities or traits of character. In this regard, individuals passing psychological tests should be aware of the fact that tests are not always reliable. Even though tests change in the course of time to mirror profound changes in society and social or economic relations, but they cannot take into consideration all factors that influence one’s life and entrepreneurial activities. This is why results of entrepreneurial psychological tests are indicative and they can just show whether one should try oneself in the field of entrepreneurship or not.

Part 2

GET 2 test was quite simple to pass but it seems to fail to reveal the full potential of the person, who passes the test. At any rate, questions of the test obviously focus on one’s strife for autonomy, risk taking inclinations, and control skills, since questions concerning these issues are obvious and prevail over the test (Duening, et al., 2009). The test is efficient as long as one wants to know, whether he/she has basic entrepreneurial skills or not. Such evaluation may be helpful to make decisions concerning the further career development but it cannot really tell whether one will succeed in entrepreneurial activities or not. Any business project is a big challenge and tests like GET 2 cannot tell one whether those projects will be a success or a failure.

For example, my GET 2 test results show that I have the high level of creativity but I rely on others, to a significant extent and I may need support of others to develop and my entrepreneurial projects. In addition, I need to enhance my self-confidence to develop my entrepreneurial skills. In such a way, I have inclinations to entrepreneurship but I still need to work hard to become a successful entrepreneur. To put it more precisely, I have to pay more attention to my independent work and decision making process without relying on others. Also I need to become bolder to take risks, when they are reasonable and necessary to take since any entrepreneurial activity is related to risks and I have to learn how to take risky steps and succeed. The results of my GET 2 test show that I have the potential as an entrepreneur but I have to develop basic entrepreneurial skills so far.

In fact, there is also a substantial drawback of the test because it seems to have a very poor verification of respondents’ truthfulness and sincerity scale. To put it more precisely, they test should control whether the respondent gives true or sincere answers, which mirror his/her inner world and beliefs (Schein, 2013). However, GET 2 is unlikely to have such control or this control is inconsistent. This is why individuals passing the test can never be certain that they have not slipped to subjective responses, which rather reveal their ideal vision of themselves than they reveal their actual skills and inclinations in the field of entrepreneurship (Peters, 2002). Therefore, the lack of sincerity and truthfulness of responses’ control is a substantial drawback of GET 2 test, which limits its applicability and overall reliability substantially. Even a number of questions is insufficient to obtain the large scale data to conduct the effective and accurate analysis of one’s entrepreneurial skills and abilities. Therefore, the sincerity of respondents is pivotal for the adequate assessment of their entrepreneurial skills and inclinations in GET 2 tests.

Also, it is possible to distinguish another drawback of the test, which is the lack of questions about team work and managerial skills of individuals, who pass the test. In fact, being entrepreneur does not mean to have strife for being a boss or of being autonomous in one’s work. Instead, being entrepreneur also means to be able to collaborate with other people, to create teams and make people follow the entrepreneur’s lead (McKenzie & Lee, 2006). The entrepreneur should be able to create the healthy organizational culture and positive workplace environment but there are no such questions dedicated to these issues in GET 2.

On the other hand, the test is not intrinsically bad in its essence. In fact, the test is good to determine one’s basic entrepreneurial skills and abilities. The test helps to understand whether one is ready to take risks, innovate, control one’s work and development, and perform other functions, which are very important for the adequate understanding of basic entrepreneurial skills and abilities one has or has not. Such test is helpful for the decision that one may take concerning his/her further professional development because the lack of entrepreneurial skills may discourage one from pursuing this path.

Therefore, GET 2 test is a helpful, but not very reliable tool that may help to determine whether one has inclination to entrepreneurship. In such a way, the development of GET 2 intended to make the test more effective compared to GET test, but this test is still imperfect as is not any other test in this field.

 

References:

Block, P. (2009). Community: The structure of belonging. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Chambers, D.E. and K.R. Wedel. (2005). Social Policy and Social Programs: A Method for the Practical Public Policy Analyst. New York: Allyn and Bacon, pp. 141-171.

Duening, T. et al. (2009). Technology Entrepreneurship, Academic Press.

Gitlow, H. S. (2015). The Deming guide to quality and competitive position. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Heilbroner, R. L. and W. Milberg. (2000). The Making of Economic Society. New York: New Press.

Lintner, J. (1965). “The Valuation of Risk Assets and the Selection of Risky Investments in Stock Portfolios and Capital Budgets.” The Review of Economics and Statistics, 47 (1), 13-39.

McKenzie, R. & D. Lee. (2006). Microeconomics for MBAs: The Economic Way of Thinking for Managers. Cambridge University Press.

Reynolds, P. D. (2007). Entrepreneurship in the United States. New York: Springer.

Peters, T. J. (2002). In search of excellence: Lessons from America’s best-run companies. New York: Harper & Row.

Schein, E. H. (2013). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Shane, S. (2003). A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: the Individual-Opportunity Nexus. New York: Edward Elgar.

Sharpe, W. F. (1964). “Capital asset prices: A theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk.” Journal of Finance, 19(3), 425-442.

Volti, R. (2005). Society and Technological Change. New York: Random House.

 

Appendix

Test Score

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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