In India, small firms contribute considerably to economic growth and employ a very large number of people, second only to agriculture. The concentrations of these firms are mostly in the urban areas while rural areas have failed to seize the opportunities unleashed by economic reforms. Different models are being attempted by various government and private agencies to tap the potential of human sources as an engine of growth. However, little is know about the characteristics of rural leather entrepreneurs who take up entrepreneurship mostly because they do not have a better opportunity and only incidentally due to their interest. This paper investigates what determines entrepreneurial success by studying the characteristics of unorganized rural leather entrepreneurs of Uttar Pradesh in India. A questionnaire was constructed to collect data on various psychological factors from existing unorganized rural leather entrepreneurs of Uttar Pradesh (UP). We related these factors and questions to performance measured by log sales of the Leather entrepreneurs. A significant degree of performance variation can be explained by psychological characteristics, in particular, self efficacy, achievement motivation and average psychological aptitude for entrepreneurs in Uttar Pradesh. Performance variation of UP’s entrepreneurs is explained by age and prior experience in borrowing in addition to the psychological characteristic of achievement motivation. We identify specific questions as well and find that performance is significantly related to the questions relating to self efficacy and locus of control. Finally, we employ these findings to build a model for the selection strategy of Leather entrepreneurs.

Author Name: Vivekanand Pandey

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Keywords: Leather entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial success factors, psychological characteristics, Uttar Pradesh

ISSN: 2249-0892

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