Entrepreneurial Motivating Factors: Internal and External

Factors!
Let us address to the larger question what factors motivate
entrepreneurs to start enterprises. Many researchers have tried to
understand and answer this question by conducting research studies
to identify the factors that motivate people to take all the risk and start
a business enterprise (Kamraj and Muralidaran 2005, Manimala and
Pearson 1998, Maslow 1954, Mitchell 2004, Saxena 2005, Khanka
2009).

While some researchers have classified the factors

motivating entrepreneurs into ‘push’ (compulsion) and ‘pull’
(choice) factors, most of the researchers have classified all
the factors motivating entrepreneurs into internal and
external factors as follows:
Internal Factors:
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These include the following factors:

1. Desire to do something new.

2. Become independent.

3. Achieve what one wants to have in life.

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4. Be recognized for one’s contribution.

5. One’s educational background.

6. One’s occupational background and experience in the relevant field.

External Factors:
These include:
1. Government assistance and support.

2. Availability of labour and raw material.

3. Encouragement from big business houses.

4. Promising demand for the product.

One research study (Murthy et. al. 1986) reports that

entrepreneurs are motivated to start business enterprises
due to the following three types of factors:
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1. Ambitious factors.

2. Compelling factors

3. Facilitating factors.

The present author also conducted a study on “Entrepreneurship

Development in Assam” financially supported by the All India Council
for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi. The study found the
following motivational factors for the entrepreneurs. The study chose
the 15 statements on motives on the basis of prior research on human
motives.
It measured the keenness i.e., the degree of response of the
entrepreneurs on each of the 15 statements using a Likert-
type five-point scale as follows:

Degree of Numerical Value of the

Response Degree

Not at all 1

A Little Bit 2

To Some Extent 3

To a Large Extent 4

To Full Extent 5

The entrepreneurs’ responses to the 15 motivating factors

are presented in the following Table 10.1:
Table 10.1: Motivating Factors for Entrepreneurial Plunge:

The Statements Mean Scores

1. Money motive 4.52

2. Independence/one’s 4.47
own boss

3. Provide greater comfort 4.39

 to family

4. Do something new and 4.32

path-breaking

5. Reputation and 4.16

recognition

6. Preside over a big 4.05

business

7. Take family business to 3.93

new heights

8. Do business because it is 3.85

one’s duty

9. Express one’s creativity 3.76

and ingenuity

10. Make optimum 3.66

utilization of one’s
ability

11. Temperament fit 3.61

between self and
 business

12. Contribute to the good 3.50

of the society

13. Desire to give financial 3.21

security to one’s kins

14. Flexibility of balancing 3.07

work and family life

15. Enjoyable work 2.85

When we asked our respondent entrepreneurs to check the motivating

factor(s) for their entrepreneurial plunge or initiation, each of them
checked more than one factors, of course, some of them in the same
and other in varying degrees. On an overage, out of 15 close-ended
statements, a respondent checked 11 of them (see Table 10.2).

Table 10.2: Average Response to Statements on

Entrepreneurial Motivation:

Type of Response Average Number of the

Statements Checked by
the Respondents

No Response 4
Some Response 11

Noticing more than one motivating factor checked by the respondents

is not unlikely. The reason being except in extreme cases of
deprivation, human beings seek simultaneous satisfaction of different
desires. This finding is enough evidence to believe that there is more
than one motivating factor for an individual’s entrepreneurial plunge.

Rather than interpreting each of the 15 statements

individually, for the convenience of analysis, we have
grouped all these statements into six major factors as shown
in Table 10.3:
Table 10.3: Factor-wise Classification of Entrepreneurial
Motives:

Motivating Factors Mean Score

I. Self-Actualization

1. Money / Economic 4.52

Motive

4. Do something new and 4.32

path-breaking

9. Express one’s creativity 3.76

and ingenuity
10. Make optimum use of 3.66
one’s ability

II. Nature of Work

Motive

12. Contribution to the 3.50

good of society

15. Enjoyable work 2.85

III. Autonomy and

Power Motive

2. Desire of Independence 4.47

6. Preside over a big 4.05

business

11. Temperament fit 3.61

between Self and business

14. Flexibility of balancing 3.07

work and family life

IV. Status Motive

5. Reputation and 4.15
Recognition

7. Take family business to 3.93

new heights

V. Affiliation Motive

3. Provide greater comfort 4.39

to family

13. Desire to give financial 3.21

security to one’s kins

VI. Deontic Motive

8. Do business because it is 3.85

one’s duty