Psychological Traits and Business Performance of Entrepreneurs in Small Construction Industry in Malaysia

Abstract

The research investigates the relationship between entrepreneur’s psychological traits and their business performance among Class F entrepreneurs in civil construction industry in Malaysia. The result concluded that all three selected psychological traits are significant to the business performance of the class F entrepreneurs in Malaysia where the most successful class F entrepreneurs have the highest level of need for achievement, risk taking propensity and internal locus of control while the lower performers have lower scores in all three psychological traits. It is suggested that every class F contractors should possess confidence which able them to maintain their business performance. Due to the fact that psychological trait is vulnerable to several factors such as experience and knowledge, it is important to maintain the entrepreneur’s level of motivation and self confidence at high level. The Government and other related agencies should play their roles to organize courses and trainings which will increase the level of motivation, self confidence and risk assessment knowledge of the class F contractors throughout Malaysia. Key words: Psychological traits; Business performances; Class F entrepreneurs