We investigate the roles of (1) social capital and (2) firm type (formal versus informal) in shaping the relationship between entrepreneurial behavior and firm performance. To further investigate entrepreneurial behavior and its effect on firm performance, we develop two research themes based on two types of entrepreneurial behaviors - assertive behavior and nonassertive behavior. The first research theme focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurs' assertive behavior and firm performance. Taking entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior as an assertive behavior into account, we identify the conditions under with entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior results in better firm performance. In Model 1 (detailed in Chapter 2), we investigate whether and how firm type and social capital influence entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior and its effect on firm performance. Through a field study covering 300 entrepreneurs and the same number of employees, we found that firm type and social capital moderate the relationship between entrepreneurs'risk-taking behavior and firm performance. We further found that entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior is only beneficial for the firm if entrepreneurs have more social capital in their formal firms. The second research theme focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurs' humility as a nonassertive behavior and firm performance. In Model 2 (detailed in Chapter 3), we conceptualize and investigate the relationship between entrepreneurs' humility and firm performance via social capital in different firm types. Through the same field study, we found that social capital mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs' humility and firm performance. We further found that the indirect effect of entrepreneurs'humility on firm performance via social capital is stronger in informal firms. The theoretical and practical implications of the two studies are then discussed.

Compensation structures with relatively high levels of contingent pay encouraged managers to engage in excessive risk-taking behavior at financial institutions, which contributed to the global financial crisis of 2008. The purpose of this study, guided by the theory of the firm, was to explore compensation strategies that some executives in Uganda used to support effective risk-management practices. This multiple case study was an in-depth inquiry into compensation strategies that encouraged prudent risk-taking behavior. The target population comprised 5 risk-management executives from 5 separate commercial banks who had successfully implemented compensation strategies that supported risk management practices. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Data were analyzed using Yin’s approach and involved data coding, sorting, filtering, identifying relationships, confirming and linking emerging themes to the research question. Methodological triangulation and member checking were applied to ensure the credibility, validity, accuracy, and transferability of the results. Four themes emerged from data analysis: compensation challenges, financial and nonfinancial compensation, the effectiveness of compensation, and effective implementation of compensation strategies. The findings from the study may contribute to positive social change by driving the adoption of compensation strategies that motivate leaders to focus on the long-term objectives of the firm, including investing in socially responsive projects that improve the welfare of the communities in which the banks operate.

El presente trabajo de investigación, consiste en determinar la personalidad en la gestión de los ejecutivos de mando medio en el sector empresarial, basados en el análisis del riesgo en la toma de decisiones. Se analizó a los ejecutivos de mando medio, ya que cuentan con autonomía para la toma de decisiones que impactaran directamente en el destino de la organización. El problema de investigación fue analizar la relación directa entre los rasgos de personalidad y el riesgo en la toma de decisiones ( asunción o aversión al riesgo) , orientados a la gestión y rendimiento empresarial de un ejecutivo de mando medio. Dicho análisis, ayudará a las organizaciones a implementar los rasgos de personalidad dentro del perfil laboral en el proceso de selección de personal. Se analizaron cuatro criterios: (i) Existe una relación directa entre los rasgos de personalidad y el riesgo en la toma de decisiones, (ii) Los rasgos de personalidad de los ejecutivos del mando medio orientados a su gestión y rendimiento en el sector empresarial, (iii) Existen diferentes investigaciones como el indicador tipo Myers-Briggs que nos permite identificar los rasgos de personalidad más importantes y por ultimo (iv) Demostrar la relevancia de los rasgos de personalidad que tienen los ejecutivos de mando medio en su gestión empresarial. Nuestra investigación pretende recomendar la implementación de un perfil laboral (rasgos de personalidad) más idóneo con los rasgos de personalidad de los ejecutivos de mando medio que aseguren un buen clima laboral dentro de la organización. / The present research work, consists of determining the personality in the management of middle management executives in the business sector, based on risk analysis in decision making. Mid-level executives were analyzed, as they have autonomy to make decisions that directly impact the destiny of the organization. The research problem was to analyze the direct relationship between personality traits and risk in decision making (assumption or aversion to risk), aimed at the management and business performance of a middle management executive. This analysis will help organizations to implement personality traits within the work profile in the personnel selection process. Four criteria were analyzed: (i) There is a direct relationship between personality traits and risk in decision-making, (ii) The personality traits of middle management executives oriented to their management and performance in the business sector, (iii) There are different researches such as the Myers-Briggs type indicator that allows us to identify the most important personality traits and finally (iv) Demonstrate the relevance of the personality traits that middle management executives have in their business management. Our research aims to recommend the implementation of a profile (personality traits) best suited to the personality traits of middle management executives that ensure a good working environment within the organization. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional

In cognitive entrepreneurship research one main question is: Do entrepreneurs think differently than others in various ways? Especially in the area of risk perception cognition is thought of as information processing. In later streams of cognitive science it has developed from a state where cognition is seen as information processing to a state where cognition is mainly seen as an effective act, where experiences play an important role. We use risk perception as an indicator for information processing and self perception as an indicator for past experience. We found that past experience explains starting a real venture whereas risk information processing explains starting a case study venture.

Background Nowadays the amount of research regarding the family business context has improved meaningfully. However, the field of family business could still be considered immature and with existing gaps in its literature. Thereby, several studies in the family business context have discussed the topic of risk-taking, which establishes its crucial importance as a topic within in the field. Thus, risk-taking is a topic of the utmost importance for any given organization in terms of growth regardless if it is a family firm or non-family firm. However, in order to enact such levels of growth, the firms’ CEOs are required to engage in managerial risk-taking behaviors. Here, managerial risktaking is explained through the lens of the upper echelons theory which aids to understand the different perspectives (e.g., age, tenure, education and prior work experiences) CEOs utilize to take risk in their daily activities. Purpose Through the identified fundamental experiences affecting the managerial risk-taking behaviors of CEOs, the purpose of this thesis, through the lens of the upper-echelons theory, is to research how CEOs experiences influence their managerial risk-taking behaviors inside family businesses. Method This thesis followed a quantitative research approach, by analyzing a sample of 100 family firms and their CEOs across Scandinavia. Here, the data was collected via the public database “Amadeus” and complemented with supporting sources such as “LinkedIn” and companies’ websites. Lastly, multiple statistical tests were performed to further asses and explore the collected data. Findings The final results of this thesis were unable to determine to what degree the independent variables of CEOs’ experiences (age, tenure, education and prior work experiences) influence the dependent variable of managerial risk-taking behaviors. In our case, the controlling variables of firm size and CEOs being part of the board showed to have a significant effect on the managerial risk-taking behaviors of CEOs.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between teachers' or principals' effectiveness and their risk tendency. The population consisted of 57 principals and 115 teachers from the state of Texas from average and exemplary campuses. The exemplary campuses were those nominated by Texas Education Agency to participate in the National Exemplary School Recognition Program for the past four years. Data was generated by sending a survey packet to the 57 campuses requesting that the principal and two teachers (one who had been recently been recognized as teacher of the year and one who had never been so honored) complete the instruments. Teachers responded to a 16 item Risk Tolerance Questionnaire and principals responded to the Risk Tolerance Questionnaire and a Styles of Leadership Survey. The hypothesis that exceptional teachers will not take more risks was not upheld. It was determined that exceptional teachers do take more risks; however, there was no significant difference in scores on the Risk Tolerance Questionnaire of principals from average and exemplary campuses. The findings were that 1) exceptional teachers do take more risks, 2) age and years of experience of teachers was not significant, 3) principals from average and exemplary campuses did not score significantly different on the risk instrument, 4) principals' years of experience was not significant, 5) sex of principals was significant in determining style of leadership, and 6) there was no relationship established between principals' risk tendencies and styles of leadership. It may be concluded that leadership style may be reflective of the work situation and its people, while the tendency to take risks is an independent attribute.

<p>I start with a sample of 26,998 CEOs from the Compustat Executive Compensation (ExecuComp) database starting January 1, 1991 and ending January 1, 2009. I then match the sample with the FAA’s Airmen Certification database using the CEO’s first name, middle initial, and last name. Names with a match are coded as pilots and names without a match are coded as non-pilots. Following Roychowdhury (2006) I remove all firms in regulated industries (SIC codes between 4400 and 5000) as well as banks and financial institutions (SIC codes between 6000 and 6500). The resulting sample consists of 255 pilot-CEOs and 3,935 non-pilot-CEOs. I then merge the CEO dataset to the Compustat Fundamentals Annual database to obtain a final sample consisting of 1,038 CEO-pilot firm-years and 18,455 CEO-non-pilot firm-years. All variables are winsorized at the 1% and 99% levels.</p><p><a></a> </p><div><br><div><p><br></p></div></div>

We investigate the roles of (1) social capital and (2) firm type (formal versus informal) in shaping the relationship between entrepreneurial behavior and firm performance. To further investigate entrepreneurial behavior and its effect on firm performance, we develop two research themes based on two types of entrepreneurial behaviors - assertive behavior and nonassertive behavior. The first research theme focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurs' assertive behavior and firm performance. Taking entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior as an assertive behavior into account, we identify the conditions under with entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior results in better firm performance. In Model 1 (detailed in Chapter 2), we investigate whether and how firm type and social capital influence entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior and its effect on firm performance. Through a field study covering 300 entrepreneurs and the same number of employees, we found that firm type and social capital moderate the relationship between entrepreneurs'risk-taking behavior and firm performance. We further found that entrepreneurs' risk-taking behavior is only beneficial for the firm if entrepreneurs have more social capital in their formal firms. The second research theme focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurs' humility as a nonassertive behavior and firm performance. In Model 2 (detailed in Chapter 3), we conceptualize and investigate the relationship between entrepreneurs' humility and firm performance via social capital in different firm types. Through the same field study, we found that social capital mediates the relationship between entrepreneurs' humility and firm performance. We further found that the indirect effect of entrepreneurs'humility on firm performance via social capital is stronger in informal firms. The theoretical and practical implications of the two studies are then discussed.

African-born residents of the United States have a higher incidence of HIV than African Americans. Factors such as lifestyle, habits, behavior practices, and activities may predispose African-born residents to behave sexually in ways that place them at risk of becoming infected with HIV. This study used a qualitative narrative approach to understand the lived experiences first generation Sub-Saharan African-born men who are U.S. residents to analyze the behaviors that expose them to HIV. To analyze data, the study used the health-belief model as the conceptual framework and NVivo for data analysis to assist in identifying, categorizing, and analyzing common themes and grouping unstructured data. The study used a purposive convenience sampling of 14 first generation Sub-Saharan African-born men who are U.S. residents residing in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and discovered that they engage in sexual risk taking behaviors which include: having multiple sexual partners, preferring heterosexual relationships without a condom, have limited knowledge of HIV prevalence in the United States, and preferring to have sex with both African born females and American born women who are thought to be healthy. Their tendency to visit strip clubs, visit sex houses, and to abuse alcohol was also apparent in the study. Social change implications include adding new relevant knowledge in the understanding of how HIV spreads among Sub-Saharan African-born male U.S. residents by discovering the risk behaviors in which Sub-Saharan African men engage to expose themselves to contracting HIV disease. This knowledge can influence future health education efforts and target culture specific behaviors.

Adolescent risk-taking behaviors, both negative and positive, continue to be a point of interest for researchers and of concern for society. Negative risk-taking behaviors threaten healthy adolescent development and may have deleterious effects on the remainder of the adolescent's life. Positive risk-taking behaviors promote healthy development and can aid in pro-social outcomes. Mentoring has been an established means of assisting adolescents through this sometimes difficult stage of life. Researchers have identified those elements which tend to make the greatest impact in mentoring programs. Among those known elements are adults who are found in "naturally" occurring settings. Teachers in schools, religious leaders in church, coaches from athletic teams, rather than programmed or structured mentoring organizations, are most effective at having a lasting impact on adolescent risk-taking behaviors. This study examined grandparents as potential adolescent mentors who could be utilized to make significant and important differences in adolescent risk-taking behaviors. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study compared adolescents who self-reported not having any adult mentors in their life against adolescents who self-reported having a grandparent mentor in their life on various negative (i.e., sexual attitudes and behaviors, cigarette, marijuana, and alcohol use) and positive (i.e., popularity and educational issues) risk-taking behaviors. Differences between male and female adolescents were also explored as well as differences observed when looking at maternal and paternal grandparents. Results indicated that overall, adolescents with a grandparent mentor had better mean scores on risk-taking outcomes than adolescents without any mentors. Several differences were observed between males and females when comparing those without mentors to those with a grandparent. Few differences were observed in outcomes between males and females when comparing maternal and paternal grandparents. Discussion addressed results, theoretical implications, study limitations, and directions for future research related to grandparents as mentors of adolescents.