Numerous papers relating ¡§the motives of entrepreneurs¡¨ have been published, yet literally few discussed ¡§why do others don¡¦t¡¨. Based on the phenomenon, this study aims at discussing whether significant cognitive differences about entrepreneurial activities exist between entrepreneurs and others and to find key factors causing these behaviors in order to test the hypotheses derived from the concept that ¡§everyone could be an entrepreneur¡¨. This research applies the theory of planned behavior (TPB) as the foundation and categorizes study objects into two groups by ¡§entrepreneurial activities¡¨ ¡V ¡§entrepreneurs¡¨, and ¡§non-entrepreneurs¡¨. Results of the thesis are: I. The two groups possess no significant difference in the ¡§attitude¡¨ category of TPB: The ¡§attitude¡¨ part aims at measuring the importance of certain entrepreneurial motives cognized by people involved, such as: realizing dreams, feeding back to the society, increasing wealth and so on. The results indicate that both ¡§entrepreneurs¡¨ and ¡§non-entrepreneurs¡¨ address significant importance on the category, i.e. this might not be a key distinguishing factor of entrepreneurial activities. II. The two groups possess significant differences in the ¡§subjective norms¡¨: The ¡§subjective norms¡¨ part aims at measuring how one¡¦s decisions are influenced by others, such as whether parents¡¦, spouse¡¦s and others¡¦ support matter when one considering starting a business. The results indicate that ¡§entrepreneurs¡¨ paid significantly less importance on the category than ¡§non-entrepreneurs¡¨, which indicating that this might be a critical factor affecting entrepreneurial activities¡¦ appearance. III. The two groups possess significant differences in the ¡§perception behavior control¡¨: The ¡§perception behavior control¡¨ part aims at measuring one¡¦s concept of the importance of resources when considering starting a business, such as practicability, possession of capital and information, etc. The results indicate that ¡§entrepreneurs¡¨ paid significantly more attention on the category than ¡§non-entrepreneurs¡¨, thus this might also be a critical factor affecting entrepreneurial activities¡¦ appearance. In addition, this study categorizes the ¡§non-entrepreneurs¡¨ into four categories by their willingness of starting a business, they are: ¡§never thought of / not-willing¡¨, ¡§thought of / not-willing¡¨, ¡§might-be / willing¡¨ and ¡§desperately want to / willing¡¨ in order to examine the differences between ¡§non-entrepreneurs¡¨ who possess different levels of willingness and the ¡§entrepreneurs¡¨. It is expected that this thesis could be served as an important source of information for domestic entrepreneur-related groups and to address the problems, for the sake of boosting the entrepreneurship of citizens and the economy as a whole.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T13:53:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoaoMO_DISSERT.pdf: 668942 bytes, checksum: f54d85b828cc53f2dae477cc05bc9551 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-09-10 / Entrepreneurs are individuals who can transform economic and social realities by promoting development, so it became important tools in generating externalities in regions where they operate. In Brazil, 59.9% of new ventures do not reach the fourth year of life, the mortality rate of new ventures is high. The causes of mortality are numerous, and within the behavioral aspects, one is the locus of control. This study determines the degree of association between internal locus of control and achieving business success of entrepreneurs in Rio Grande do Norte who participated in the workshop EMPRETEC. The approach that studies the behavior entrepreneurs agreed that there are psychological characteristics associated with a set of values, attitudes and needs that determine the behavior and induce the entrepreneur to achieve success. Among these features is the locus of control, a skill that individuals must identify in their actions, or lack of them, the causes of their successes and failures. The locus is external when the individual attributes to factors outside themselves as causes of their results, and is built in when you can identify the actions that led to success. We surveyed 223 entrepreneurs statewide who answered the questionnaire for assessing the scale of locus of control, selfassessment questionnaire of entrepreneurial characteristics of EMPRETEC and a questionnaire assessing the business success. 71.9% were identified as having success. Among the behavioral characteristics strongest in the group of entrepreneurs are setting goals and commitment. Was found for locus of control mean value of 7.35, confidence interval between 7.05 and 7.66. Showing that the locus of control group is predominantly internal. We also found a correlation between the locus and commitment, between setting goals and commitment; calculated risks and information search; search of information and commitment, and between commitment and independence and self confidence. Dependence was not identified among the set of features and business success, determining the absence of an ideal profile. However, logistic regression significant association was found indicating that the smaller the individual's locus of control increased the likelihood of it achieving business success / Os empreendedores s?o indiv?duos que podem transformar realidades econ?micas e sociais promovendo desenvolvimento, por isto tornaram-se pe?as importantes na gera??o de externalidades nas regi?es onde atuam. No Brasil 59,9% dos novos empreendimentos n?o chegam ao quarto ano de vida, esta taxa de mortalidade de novos empreendimentos ? alta. As causas a mortalidade s?o in?meras, e dentro dos aspectos comportamentais, uma delas ? o locus de controle. Este estudo determina o grau de associa??o entre o locus de controle interno e a obten??o de efetividade empresarial em empreendedores do Rio Grande do Norte que participaram do workshop EMPRETEC. A abordagem que estuda os comportamentos empreendedores preconiza que existem caracter?sticas psicol?gicas associadas a um conjunto de valores, atitudes e necessidades que determinam o comportamento e induzem o empreendedor ? obten??o de efetividade. Dentre estas caracter?sticas est? o locus de controle, capacidade que os indiv?duos t?m de identificar em suas a??es, ou na aus?ncia delas, as causas de seus sucessos e fracassos. O locus ? externo quando o indiv?duo atribui a fatores fora de si como causas de seus resultados, e ? interno quando consegue identificar dentro si as a??es que o conduziram ao sucesso. Foram pesquisados 223 empreendedores em todo estado que responderam o question?rio de avalia??o da escala do locus de controle, o question?rio de autoavalia??o das caracter?sticas empreendedoras do EMPRETEC e um question?rio de avalia??o da efetividade empresarial. 71,9% deles foram identificados como tendo efetividade. Dentre as caracter?sticas comportamentais mais fortes no grupo de empreendedores est?o o estabelecimento de metas e o comprometimento. Foi encontrado para o locus de controle o valor m?dio de 7,35, com intervalo de confian?a entre 7,05 e 7,66. Mostrando que o locus de controle do grupo ? predominantemente interno. Tamb?m foi encontrada correla??o entre o locus e comprometimento; entre estabelecimento de metas e comprometimento; correr riscos calculados e busca de informa??es; busca de informa??es e comprometimento; e entre o comprometimento e independ?ncia e autoconfian?a. N?o foi identificada depend?ncia entre o conjunto das caracter?sticas e a efetividade empresarial, determinando assim a n?o exist?ncia de um perfil ideal. No entanto, atrav?s de regress?o log?stica significante foi encontrada associa??o que indica que quanto menor o locus de controle do individuo maior a probabilidade dele alcan?ar a efetividade empresarial