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Home › Topics › Contemplating Entrepreneurship › Case: Self Evaluation for Entrepreneurship

Case Examples, Leslie Bowen

Case Example: Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

Topics Contemplating Entrepreneurship Case: Self Evaluation for Entrepreneurship Case Example: Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Assessment

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (McGee, 2009)

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) is considered by many to be an important variable that predicts becoming an entrepreneur. If ESE is low, it can be improved through experience, education, training, and following business and entrepreneurship process models (Brändle et al, 2018; Wei et al., 2020).

Sources

Brändle L, Berger E, Golla S, Kuckertz A. “I Am What I Am—How Nascent Entrepreneurs’ Social Identity Affects Their Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy.” Journal of Business Venturing Insights. June 1, 2018: 9. doi:10.1016/j.jbvi.2017.12.001.

McGee J, Peterson M, Mueller S, Sequeira J. “Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy: Refining the Measure.” Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. July 1, 2009: 965–988.

Wei J, Chen Y, Zhang Y, Zhang J. “How Does Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Influence Innovation Behavior? Exploring the Mechanism of Job Satisfaction and Zhongyong Thinking.” Frontiers in Psychology. 2020: 11. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00708.

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Self-Check

Learn your entrepreneurial self-efficacy level by completing the entrepreneurial self-efficacy self-check questionnaire.

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Assessment

Case: Leslie Bowen, PhD

Description: 41-year-old Leslie Bowen is an associate professor and neuroscientist with a research idea she thinks is marketable. Her university Technology Transfer Office (TTO) asks her to take an assessment of her confidence in being an entrepreneur so that they can help her decide if starting a business is right for her and can learn how best to help her.

Scenario, Part 3: Leslie evaluates her entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the following assessment. Her answers are shown with checkmarks below.


Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Assessment

Leslie Bowen, PhD

Question: How much confidence do you have in your ability to. . .

3 questions on searching 1
Strongly Not Confident
2
Not Confident
3
Neutral
4
Confident
5
Strongly Confident
Brainstorm (come up with) a new idea for a product or service? ✔
Identify the need for a new product or service? ✔
Design a product or service that will satisfy customer needs and wants? ✔
4 questions on planning 1
Strongly Not Confident
2
Not Confident
3
Neutral
4
Confident
5
Strongly Confident
Estimate customer demand for a new product or service? ✔
Determine a competitive price for a new product or service? ✔
Estimate the amount of startup funds and working capital necessary to start your business? ✔
Design an effective marketing/advertising campaign for a new product or service? ✔
3 questions on marshaling 1
Strongly Not Confident
2
Not Confident
3
Neutral
4
Confident
5
Strongly Confident
Get others to identify with and believe in your vision and plans for a new business? ✔
Network—i.e., make contact with and exchange information with others? ✔
Clearly and concisely explain verbally and in writing your science/business idea in everyday terms? ✔

5 questions on implementing people

Leslie skipped these questions on supervising, recruiting, delegating, and inspiring employees since she has developed these skills from having supervised graduate students in a university lab for over ten years.

3 questions on implementing financial aspects 1
Strongly Not Confident
2
Not Confident
3
Neutral
4
Confident
5
Strongly Confident
Organize and maintain the financial records of your business? ✔
Manage the financial assets of your business? ✔
Read and interpret financial statements? ✔

Leslie’s average scores

Searching: 4.3 – A little more than Confident

Planning: 2.75 – Nearly Neutral

Marshaling: 3.67 – Neutral to Confident

Implementing Financial: 2 – Not Confident


Interpretation

Leslie is most confident in working with people and searching for new ideas, identifying needs, and designing a product or service to meet those needs.

She needs more confidence in planning, including determining customer demand, competitive pricing, and how much startup funding she needs.

She is nearly confident in her ability to marshal others to believe in her vision, develop a network, and explain her business idea.

She needs more confidence about financial matters, including maintaining and interpreting financial records and managing financial assets.

Recommendation: She may be able to develop confidence in the areas most needed by learning more about these areas. Alternatively, she could partner with someone or hire someone she trusts who has experience and skill in these areas. If


View Case Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

Tips for developing entrepreneurial self-efficacy

  1. Ask what is holding you back. What’s the worst that could happen? If you have a strong fear of failure, it may be more difficult to go into entrepreneurship because some businesses do fail.
  2. Choose to create something you care about. A sense of excitement will help override your fears.
  3. Make fast decisions, knowing that most will be right. There will be lots of changes in the product to make all stakeholders happy.
  4. Work at appearing confident. Brag more. Own your accomplishments.
  5. Have tenacity and persevere. Think of obstacles as mazes instead of walls. View a challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow. Change proactively.
  6. Support other women scientist entrepreneurs. There’s enough room for many successful businesses.
  7. Draw from your childhood and any family business experiences.

From Gascoigne Adriana. Tech Boss Lady: How to Start-up, Disrupt, and Thrive as a Female Founder. Seale Press. October 9, 2018. Book written by the founder of Girls in Tech.

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This project is funded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (Grants 1R43 GM131458-01 & 2R GM131458-02)


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