Starting an entrepreneurial career: Young entrepreneurs’ profiles.
Starting an entrepreneurial career: Young entrepreneurs’ profiles.

Author(s): Zuzana Kožárová, Denisa Fedáková
Subject(s): Psychology, Organizational Psychology
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Young entrepreneurs; career beginnings; individual career profiles; focus group;
Summary/Abstract: Objective. The first aim of this paper is to identify the important features of five entrepreneurial career categories: reasons for pursuing entrepreneurship, preparing for entrepreneurship, launch of entrepreneurship, risks and family background. The second aim of the paper is to describe the profiles of young entrepreneurs using the five entrepreneurial career categories. Method. An 80-minute focus group session with 7 young entrepreneurs aged 26 to 30 years led by 2 moderators. The discussion focused on launching the business and its subsequent development. The discussion was audio recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were processed using Atlas.ti software. Results. The qualitative content analysis of the transcriptions revealed the building blocks of the five entrepreneurial career categories. Seven entrepreneur profiles were created. The findings show various elements and factors affect decisions about entrepreneurial careers. Conclusions. The paper contributes to knowledge relating to the content of the five categories, and specifically to beginning an entrepreneurial career. The individual profiles of the young entrepreneurs reveal the diversity, peculiarities and similarities of the beginnings of an entrepreneurial career. The aim behind the young entrepreneur profiles is to provide effective stimuli for university students attending career planning courses. Limitations. The findings presented here are based on a single focus group discussion, and so cannot be generalized. The size and composition of the focus group (age, gender and region) could be considered a limitation, or conversely as a strength.

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