Entrepreneurial Potential Scale: evidence on confirmatory factor validity, dimensional structure and predictive effectiveness

Souza, Gustavo Henrique Silva de; Santos, Paulo da Cruz Freire dos; Lima, Nilton Cesar; Cruz, Nicholas Joseph Tavares da; Lezana, Álvaro Guillermo Rojas; Coelho, Jorge Artur Peçanha de Miranda

doi:10.1590/0104-530X3038-16

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Articles • Gest. Prod. 24 (2) • Apr-Jun 2017 • https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-530X3038-16 copy

Entrepreneurial Potential Scale: evidence on confirmatory factor validity, dimensional structure and predictive effectiveness

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

Researches worldwide show that entrepreneurs share idiosyncratic characteristics compared with the rest of the population, which have stimulated specific studies on measurement of this behaviour. Among the most relevant and recent measurement approaches to the area of entrepreneurship in Brazil, there was the Entrepreneurial Potential Scale. Nevertheless, the original presentation of this instrument failed to find psychometric properties of stricter validation, and the related studies are not yet sufficient. This article aimed to check evidence of confirmatory factor validity, parameters of dimensional structure and criterion validity (predictive efficacy) of the Entrepreneurial Potential Scale. Two studies were conducted for this purpose. Study 1 (one) included the participation of 455 university students to carry out the construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS). In turn, study 2 (two) included the participation of 654 college students and 148 entrepreneurs to perform the criterion validity by Student’s t test and effect size (Cohen’s d). Results show that the Entrepreneurial Potential Scale presents a factorial design with good quality adjustment and high levels of precision, indicating that it is a tool which converges reliably to predict the entrepreneurial behaviour.

Keywords:
Entrepreneurial potential; Psychometrics scale; Confirmatory factor validity; Criterion validity

Attribute	Characteristics
Opportunity	Individual must show that he/she has sense of opportunity, i.e., is aware of what happens around him and then, when identify the needs of people or of the market, be able to take advantage of unusual situations to start new activities or business.
Persistence	Individual’s capacity to remain steadfast in the pursuit of success, demonstrating persistence to achieve its objectives and goals, overcoming obstacles along the way. Capacity to distinguish persistence from stubbornness, admit mistakes and know how to redefine goals and strategies.
Efficiency	Individual’s capacity to do things on the right way and, if necessary, quickly make changes to adapt itself to changes occurred in the environment. Capacity to find and achieve to operationalize ways of doing things better, faster and cheaper. Capacity to develop or use procedures to ensure that the work is completed on time.
Goals	Individual’s capacity to show determination, sense of direction and set objectives and goals, defining clearly where he/she plans to arrive. Capacity to set directions and measurable objectives.
Information	Individual’s availability to learn and demonstrate thirst for knowledge. Interest in finding new information in his area or beyond. Attention with all the internal and external factors related to his organization/company/business. Interest in how manufacture products or provide services. Availability to seek expert help on technical or commercial matters.
Planning	Individual’s availability to plan his activities by setting objectives. Capacity to detail the tasks and being able to work with planning, execution and control.
Control	Individual’s capacity to monitor the implementation of the elaborated plans, keep records and use them in the decision making process, check the reach of the results obtained.
Persuasion	Individual’s ability to influence people for the execution of tasks or actions that enable the achievement of his goal. Capacity to convince and motivate people, lead teams and encourage them using the words and actions appropriated to influence and persuade.
Network	Individual’s capacity to establish a good network of relationships with acquaintances, friends and people who may be helpful to him, making possible the achievement of his objectives.
Entrepreneurial Intention	Foreshadows the individual’s intention to have, either by acquiring or from scratch, his own business.

Factor	Items	Factorial Loads (range)	Cronbach’s Alpha
Opportunity	5	0.515-0.733	0.776
Persistence	6	0.481-0.770	0.851
Efficiency	3	0.610-0.831	0.783
Goals	7	0.481-0.799	0.888
Information	5	0.626-0.745	0.793
Planning	4	0.517-0.754	0.803
Control	5	0.567-0.852	0.878
Persuasion	6	0.648-0.841	0.915
Network	4	0.685-0.842	0.886
Entrepreneurial Intention	4	0.825-0.866	0.902

Indices	Results
Chi-Square (χ²)	39.24
Degrees of Freedom (df)	27
P	0.060
χ²/df ratio	1.453
RMR	0.07
GFI	0.983
AGFI	0.965
CFI	0.992
RMSEA (90% CI)	0.032 (0.00-0.05)
CAIC	238.6

Factors	Entrepreneurs (n=148)		College Students (n=654)		Statistics
Factors	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	t	df	p	Mean difference (CI95%)	d
Entrepreneurial Intention	8.85	1.607	7.22	2.209	10.328	287.7	0.000	1.630 (1.31-1.94)	0.77
Opportunity	8.20	1.169	7.64	1.234	5.067	800	0.000	0.564 (0.34-0.78)	0.46
Persistence	8.94	0.925	8.26	1.154	7.676	261.5	0.000	0.678 (0.50-0.85)	0.61
Efficiency	9.17	0.837	8.43	1.185	8.976	296.7	0.000	0.744 (0.58-0.91)	0.66
Information	9.20	0.787	8.72	1.061	5.130	800	0.000	0.474 (0.29-0.65)	0.47
Planning	8.25	1.182	7.42	1.444	7.369	256.5	0.000	0.828 (0.60-1.05)	0.59
Goals	8.49	0.982	7.61	1.319	9.129	280.9	0.000	0.875 (0.68-1.06)	0.69
Control	8.34	1.373	7.38	1.443	7.337	800	0.000	0.955 (0.70-1.21)	0.67
Persuasion	8.48	1.027	7.51	1.166	9.299	800	0.000	0.966 (0.76-1.17)	0.85
Network	8.82	1.096	8.14	1. 114	6.578	800	0.000	0.678 (0.47-0.88)	0.60
Full Scale	8.68	0.707	7.84	0.943	12.207	279.1	0.000	0.840 (0.70-0.97)	0.93

Factors	Entrepreneurs (n=148)		Successful Entrepreneurs (n=50)^*		Statistics
Factors	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	p	Mean difference (CI95%)	d
Entrepreneurial Intention	8.85	1.60	8.87	1.57	0.990	-0.02 (-0.53-0.49)	0.01
Opportunity	8.20	1.16	8.07	1.03	0.490	-0.130 (-0.24-0.50)	0.11
Persistence	8.94	0.92	8.92	0.83	0.890	0.020 (-0.27-0.31)	0.02
Efficiency	9.17	0.83	9.10	0.86	0.610	0.070 (-0.20-0.34)	0.08
Information	9.20	0.78	8.96	0.79	0.060	0.240 (-0.01-0.49)	0.31
Planning	8.25	1.18	8.24	1.21	0.960	-0.010 (-0.37-0.39)	0.01
Goals	8.49	0.98	8.53	0.88	0.999	-0.040 (-0.35-0.27)	0.04
Control	8.34	1.37	8.31	1.16	0.890	0.030 (-0.40-0.46)	0.02
Persuasion	8.48	1.02	8.36	0.93	0.460	0.120 (-0.20-0.44)	0.12
Network	8.82	1.09	8.62	1.09	0.260	0.200 (-0.15-0.55)	0.18
Full Scale	8.68	0.70	8.58	0.57	0.360	0.100 (-0.12-0.32)	0.15

Universidade Federal de São Carlos Departamento de Engenharia de Produção , Caixa Postal 676 , 13.565-905 São Carlos SP Brazil, Tel.: +55 16 3351 8471 - São Carlos - SP - Brazil
E-mail: gp@dep.ufscar.br

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[1] Source: Santos (2008Santos, P. C. F. (2008). Uma escala para identificar potencial empreendedor (tese de doutorado). Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis., p. 197-198).