Personality Characteristics, Attitude Toward Risk, and Decisional Orientation of the Small Business Entrepreneur: A Study of Hospitality Managers

Abstract

Decision choice, risk attitude, and uncertainty have all been developed in numerous research works. A large amount of literature has been dedicated to decisional orientation within the context of firm management. Most of the articles and theories present choice behavior as rather rational and exclusively geared toward business. Few authors highlight the effects of individual characteristics and the influence of psychological factors on choice behavior within the context of managerial decisions. The first objective of this article is to present the literature based on the managers’individual characteristics. In the second part of the article, we study the influence of individual characteristics on the decision making of entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. Research data were obtained from a survey of hotel/restaurant managers of small- and medium-sized firms.