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: In this assessment, Leslie evaluates her entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Her answers are shown with checkmarks below.
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.
Her confidence is low 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 is not confident about financial matters, including maintaining and interpreting financial records and managing financial assets.
Tips for developing entrepreneurial self-efficacy
- 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.
- Choose to create something you care about. A sense of excitement will help override your fears.
- Make fast decisions, knowing that most will be right. There will be lots of changes in the product to make all stakeholders happy.
- Work at appearing confident. Brag more. Own your accomplishments.
- Have tenacity and persevere. Think of obstacles as mazes instead of walls. View a challenge as an opportunity to learn and grow. Change proactively.
- Support other women scientist entrepreneurs. There’s enough room for many successful businesses.
- 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.
