The entrepreneurial traits of a “Prince”

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The entrepreneurial

traits of a “Prince”

Master thesis:

MSc in BA, Specialization: Small business and

entrepreneurship

University of Groningen

Faculty of Economics and Business

2016

ENTERPRENEURIAL TRAITS ACCORDING TO “THE PRICE”

FROM MACHIAVELLI.

Word count: 10406 Student number: S2755971

Supervisor: dr. A.J. Rauch

Co-assessor: dr. ir. H. Zhou

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Abstract

The name of Niccolo Machiavelli is highly associated with the framework of personality traits. The majority of researchers which use the Maciavelism approach define Machiavelli and his work “The prince” with goal oriented intentions, manipulative trends and regulation of emotions. (Ali et al., 2009) Although we identify a gap of the Maciavelism approach through the fundamental work of Lisch (2013) which indicated the avoidance of the consideration of time and space limitations. The careful interpretation of Machiavelli’s original script taking in consideration the limitations of space and time, reveal some crucial relationships with the governor of the Republic of Florence that Machiavelli refers, with the modern entrepreneur. Hence we conclude to our main research goal which is to examine if the derived traits are able to distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs in a multifactorial model. For the seven personal traits which derived from “The prince”, thirteen measuring items used and developed, strictly according to Machiavelli’s description for our test. Our research conducted in the city of Kastoria in North-West Greece among 50 entrepreneurs and 94 non entrepreneurs. The results emerged from the cluster analysis are able to correctly classify 75% of our sample through the two working states. Furthermore through an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) for each separate trait variable we examine the difference through our two groups, in order to identify if the variables can separately be entrepreneurial traits. Three of the seven which are balance of interest, decisiveness and justice, and locus of control indicate strong statistical significant difference between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. The openness variable indicate weak significant difference and partially can be recognized as personal trait. As a result these variables have the major effect in our multivariate prediction. To conclude through our research we are able to empower an emerging theoretical stream which redefine Machiavelli’s research purposing an entrepreneurial association. Finally we have to mention the existence of a series of limitation in our research where negatively affect the validity and reliability. Although new opportunities for promising future researches derive, which can create a disruption into the poor analysis of the philosopher’s work which preserve for the last 500 years.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial traits-characteristics, Personal traits, Entrepreneurial behavior,

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Introduction

Through the modern literature in the field of phycology and business studies we observe the use of Machiavellianism as personal trait construct. The Big five personality trait theory was the baseline for the definition and consolidation of Machiavellianism is the modern theory. (Jensen, 1960) Machiavellianism defined by the majority of researchers as goal oriented intentions, manipulative trends and regulation of emotions. (Ali et al., 2009) Moreover is important to highlight that the use of Machiavellianism from the researchers is based on the definition which is already given, as a result there is unilateral perspective for the Machiavelli’s original script and thoughts.

Furthermore through an analysis of the book “The Prince” and the historical facts about Machiavelli and his era, we can mark the “Machiavellianism” approach as questionable. The arguments of this realization will developed in detail in the literature part. The major analysis which indicate the gap of capturing the nature of Machiavelli’s book with Machiavellianism is from Lisch (2013). In his analysis of The Prince Lisch (2013) highlight the similarities of the leader’s behavior described by Machiavelli with the modern business leader. Machiavelli’s observations made in a framework of a medieval republic, although Lisch (2013) indicate similarities of organizational structure of the republic of Florence with the modern business structure.

In the book of Machiavelli’s is distinguishable that his observations describe the behavior of a successful leader. Although the successful leader behavior framed by particular habitual patterns which have to possessed by the leader. Therefore Machiavelli’s description of leader’s behavior concur with the personality theorists, which emphasize in the use of personality traits for the description and prediction of a specific behavior. (Mischel's, 1977; Guilford, 1959; Monson et al, 1982) The personality traits defined by Caprara and Cervone (2000) as dispositions to exhibit a response to a specific situation. Additionally traits identified as stable but not unchanged characteristics across time, which makes them capable to use as variables in order to distinguish and understand the exhibition of various behaviors.(Roccas et al., 2002)

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to mark them as crucial for modern business leadership without the restriction to the CEO position or the organization’s size.

Furthermore to conduct our research we decide to use the predictive ability of personality traits which derive from Machiavelli’s description, in order to identify possible distinction power between a group with leadership behavior and without leadership behavior, in a modern framework. The group which selected to represent leader’s behavior in a modern business environment for our study is entrepreneurs. There is an open debate in the academic literature about leadership and entrepreneurial context differences and similarities. Although for our research we will consider entrepreneurs as a modern business leaders based on theoretical framework common areas of, leadership vision, social inﬂuence, and leading in the context of risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity. (Cogliser and Brigham, 2004; Daily et al., 2002; Vecchio, 2003) Additionally the group which will represent the individuals without leadership behavior are the non-entrepreneurs. As a result the entrepreneurial behavior namely the choice to be an entrepreneur, can possibly reveal the existence of the leadership behavior in modern business context, in terms of the observations of Machiavelli half a millennium ago. (Gartner, 1989) Therefore the research question expressed as follows: “How can the personal traits that derived from “The Prince”, are used as a predictive model for modern entrepreneurial behavior?”

If our research results manage to demonstrate a significant predictive ability of entrepreneurial behavior through the personal traits from Machiavelli, we will be able to create a disruptive contribution into the literature about the philosopher. First of all we will reveal significant gaps of the mainstream interpretation and conceptualization of Machiavelli’s script into personality traits. Secondly we will have the opportunity to validate the theoretical arguments of Lisch (2013) about the correlation of leadership behaviors of 16th century’s state leader with a modern business leader. Additionally our test results will be able to contribute to the literature of entrepreneurial traits, if they successfully reveal significant distinction between the two groups. Hence we have the opportunity to highlight ancient personality traits as modern entrepreneurship predictors and simultaneously business leadership predictors according to the entailment between them.

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importantly we will describe and develop complimentary hypothesis through the emerging literature in the field of traits which derived from Machiavelli, in a try to interpret “The Prince” based on space and time limitations which indicated by Lisch (2013).

Theoretical background

Machiavelli’s experience

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The Prince

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Machiavelli as a business consultant

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Perceptions, Criticisms and Ethics

Until Anno Domini era (21st_{century) the term Machiavellian person is a synonym of vicious and}

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The personal traits observed by Machiavelli

As we already describe the foundation of our analysis is Lisch’s (2013) identification of the successful leadership behavior described by Machiavelli as identical to business leader behavior. With a moderating role Lisch’s (2013) pair Machiavelli’s observations to modern leadership framework, avoiding to confuse with the unpleasant interpretations of manipulative intentions, devious moves and egocentric perspective which can characterize leadership in a provocative perspective. Therefore with the use of cross reference from “The Prince” we will identify the personality traits which frame the successful leader behavior as indicated by Machiavelli. At last is crucial to highlight that the titles of each personal trait are indicative to serve the central meaning, although the conceptualization aim is to clearly capture the key habitual patterns of the leader according to Machiavelli.

Balance of interests

The interests about the organization are different from an entrepreneur’s perspective and an employ’s, an example used by Lisch (2013) refers to Karl Marx and his observations of the big gap between superiors and subordinate interests which led to an explosive revolution. Moreover Machiavelli has a deep understanding of the gap of interests and reports:

“And above all things, a prince ought to live amongst his people in such a way that no unexpected circumstances, whether of good or evil, shall make him change; because if the necessity for this comes in troubled times, you are too late for harsh measures; and mild ones will not help you, for they will be considered as forced from you, and no one will be under any obligation to you for them.” (The Prince, chapter VIII)

There is a perspective based in the difficult circumstances which are periods that the true intentions and loyalty revealed. Although the focus is on the ability of the leader to be approachable and communicate with his employs in order to understand their needs and beliefs for a greater trust and development of teamwork environment.

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“Therefore, to make this point clearer, I say that the nobles ought to be looked at mainly in two ways: that is to say, they either shape their course in such a way as binds them entirely to your fortune, or they do not.” (The Prince, chapter IX)

The first category is about the employees that impressed from the skills and the position of the leader and devotes to their career to his fortune.

“Those who so bind themselves, and are not rapacious, ought to be honoured and loved; those who do not bind themselves may be dealt with in two ways; they may fail to do this through pusillanimity and a natural want of courage, in which case you ought to make use of them, especially of those who are of good counsel; and thus, whilst in prosperity you honour them, in adversity you do not have to fear them.” (The Prince, chapter IX)

Secondly there are employs that have higher personal ambitions and they are not satisfied by the leader’s fortune. Additionally their ambitions are not linked to entrepreneurship which implies possibility of competition. The leader have to provide appreciation and meet their ambitions and interests also to observe their behavior and contribution in critical times. (Lisch, 2013)

“When for their own ambitious ends they shun binding themselves, it is a token that they are giving more thought to themselves than to you, and a prince ought to guard against such, and to fear them as if they were open enemies, because in adversity they always help to ruin him.” (The Prince, chapter IX)

At last if the ambitions exceed the teamwork and an employ focus more in personal motives in order to achieve his personal goals for limitless power, then the employee is highly dangerous to exceed his power in a crisis period and harm the organization and the leader.

To conclude we can observe two dimensions in which Machiavelli indicate for balance of interest. First the ability to identify the true intentions of other individuals in order to create strong team work and at the same time avoid the unprecedented reveal of the others true intentions. Secondly the ability of behavioral flexibility mention as crucial in order to provide motives according to the subordinate needs.

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Avoid hatred

Avoid hatred is a key principle for Machiavelli in order to achieve stable and efficient environment. Hatred described a powerless emotional reaction to hurt feelings and distressing situations which is perceived as hostile attack. (OED, 2015) Moreover for Machiavelli this emotions are distractive for the trustworthiness and teamwork oriented environment which is his desirable outcome. “It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor their honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.” (The Prince, chapter XIX) Furthermore Machiavelli’s orientation is to provide practical examples for hatred avoidance and not only analyze further the philosophical aspect of it. More specifically mention the rapid inefficiency and the feeling of hate when their honor and income is decreased without serious and fair offences. Additionally the aspect of erotic personal relations marked as important source of hatred, this aspect is very contemporary and critical threat for entrepreneurs and modern businesses, although there is not enough focus in the managerial literature.

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Balance of dependency

Furthermore Machiavelli try to highlight the importance of active, supportive and highly indolent of the leader. The initiatives for vision, efficient teamwork and productivity mentioned as leader’s responsibilities and in any case this initiatives are not expected from the employs.

“And do not let any one impugn this statement with the trite proverb that “He who builds on the people, builds on the mud,” for this is true when a private citizen makes a foundation there, and persuades himself that the people will free him when he is oppressed by his enemies or by the magistrates; wherein he would find himself very often deceived” (The Prince, chapter IX)

The above quotation mention that, the responsibility of support is one way form the leader to the employs and not in reverse. As a result there is a dependency of employees to their leader but not the reverse one.

“Granted a prince who has established himself as above, who can command, and is a man of courage, undismayed in adversity, who does not fail in other qualifications, and who, by his resolution and energy, keeps the whole people encouraged – such a one will never find himself deceived in them, and it will be shown that he has laid his foundations well. There will always be in doubtful times a scarcity of men whom he can trust. For such a prince cannot rely upon what he observes in quiet times, when citizens have need of the state, because then everyone agrees with him; they all promise, and when death is far distant they all wish to die for him; but in troubled times, when the state has need of its citizens, then he finds but few. And so much the more is this experiment dangerous, inasmuch as it can only be tried once. Therefore a wise prince ought to adopt such a course that his citizens will always in every sort and kind of circumstance have need of the state and of him, and then he will always find them faithful.” (The Prince, chapter IX) At last the successful leader indicated by the trust to his personal decisions and control and not reeling blindly on support from the employs. In addition the realist approach of Machiavelli is obvious from his indications of “give and take” motives to the administrative relations, something that is more noticeable to the modern societies based in a capitalistic government and economic system. In addition Di Zhang and Bruning (2011) indicate that the logical and pragmatic levels of an entrepreneur affect results to the solution of a complex problem. The variables which triggered by logical and pragmatic orientation are innovativeness, proactiveness and understanding of market demand.

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Methodicalness

Naturally Machiavelli in his quest for improved efficiency and productivity did not omit to report the importance of rules and procedures. Although his observations are very deep with similar parts from the modern entrepreneurship. The use of the title methodicalness is according to the fist English definition of Ralph Cudworth, and most importantly according to ancient Greek’s from the word “μέθοδος” which implies the order and the sequence. (Cudworth and Hutton, 1996)

“The chief foundations of all states, new as well as old or composite, are good laws and good arms; and as there cannot be good laws where the state is not well armed, it follows that where they are well armed they have good laws.”(The Prince, chapter XII.)

The description of good laws and good arms can be translated in a business perspective to good procedures and comprehensive knowledge and experience. As a result the extensive procedures are useless without certain amount of experience and knowledge of the employees in order to follow this procedures. Additionally the importance of respect the rules and the procedures especially from their creators is highlighted.

“Nothing honours a man more than to establish new laws and new ordinances when he himself was newly risen. Such things when they are well founded and dignified will make him revered and admired, and in Italy there are not wanting opportunities to bring such into use in every form.” (The Prince, chapter XXVI)

Furthermore the improvements and the changes to rules and procedures are crucial, we can observe similarities of the Machiavelli’s perspective of well-designed procedures and the careful improvement, with the operational strategy literature. (Lisch, 2013)

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Openness

It is clear that the teamwork environment and the improved productivity are unachievable if we do not develop a strong communication networks through knowledge and information. Hence the management of knowledge is crucial for Machiavelli in order to create strong staff with cohesion and trust. (Lisch, 2013)

“here never was a new prince who has disarmed his subjects; rather when he has found them disarmed he has always armed them, because, by arming them, those arms become yours, those men who were distrusted become faithful, and those who were faithful are kept so, and your subjects become your adherents.” (The Prince, chapter XX.)

More specifically the script referring to the armoring of subjects, arms was the most valuable tool for success at the time. In the modern business environment the arms replaces with knowledge and information which are the most crucial tool for the employs in order to fulfill an achievement. (Lisch, 2013)

“And whereas all subjects cannot be armed, yet when those whom you do arm are benefited, the others can be handled more freely, and this difference in their treatment, which they quite understand, makes the former your dependents, and the latter, considering it to be necessary that those who have the most danger and service should have the most reward, excuse you.” (The Prince, chapter XX.)

The knowledge sharing have to carefully managed, for instance the amount of information and the judgment of the individual receiver. Additionally is essential to focus on the specific knowledge which is essential for the task fulfillment and do not exceed this limit. Hence according to Chandler and Lyon (2009) the knowledge gained through venture development and relevant problem solving is more viable for growth than the congenial knowledge of an individual.

“when you disarm them, you at once offend them by showing that you distrust them, either for cowardice or for want of loyalty, and either of these opinions breeds hatred against you. And because you cannot remain unarmed, it follows that you turn to mercenaries, which are of the character already shown; even if they should be good they would not be sufficient to defend you against powerful enemies and distrusted subjects.”( The Prince, chapter XX.)

At last as mentioned above the 16th_{century prince as probably the modern entrepreneur tend to}

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attitude can develop incomplete information through the internal network and result to destruction and hatred. As a result Machiavelli highlight the need for openness in knowledge sharing, under the conduction of cautious filtering of the shared knowledge.

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Decisiveness and justice

One of the most unpleasant tasks of an entrepreneur is the necessary cruel decisions that he have to make. Some of them are degradation, metathesis and dismissal. Although this procedures are usually long-lasting and painful with a lot of possible threats and unfavorable results. (Lisch, 2013) “When it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony.” (The Prince, chapter XVII)

First of all the clear justification and the fair punishment for a specific offend, as mentioned from Machiavelli is important because the effects are not only the individual’s punishment but a declaration of fairness and honesty inside the organization.

“Hence it is to be remarked that, in seizing a state, the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily; and thus by not unsettling men he will be able to reassure them, and win them to himself by benefits. He who does otherwise, either from timidity or evil advice, is always compelled to keep the knife in his hand; neither can he rely on his subjects, nor can they attach themselves to him, owing to their continued and repeated wrongs.” (The Prince, chapter VIII) Moreover the leader hesitation marked as a weakness that is possible to destroy the organization in long term and create culture of mistrust and fear. As a result decisive orientation is the list harmful approach can for the organization, with sharp responses the speeding of mistrust, injustice and long term inefficiency can be avoided.

“Those may be called properly used, if of evil it is possible to speak well, that are applied at one blow and are necessary to one’s security, and that are not persisted in afterwards unless they can be turned to the advantage of the subjects. The badly employed are those which, notwithstanding they may be few in the commencement, multiply with time rather than decrease. Those who practise the first system are able, by aid of God or man, to mitigate in some degree their rule.” (The Prince, chapter VIII)

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Internal locus of control

A threat that is more contemporary than ever with the increasing phenomenon of rapid growth start-ups is the loss of entrepreneur’s central managerial position. This threat increase the personal uncertainty and fatalism which lead to avoidance of strategy and possibility of distractive moves for the organizations efficiency and productivity. (Lisch, 2013)

“Some princes, so as to hold securely the state, have disarmed their subjects; others have kept their subject towns distracted by factions; others have fostered enmities against themselves; others have laid themselves out to gain over those whom they distrusted in the beginning of their governments; some have built fortresses; some have overthrown and destroyed them. And although one cannot give a final judgment on all of these things unless one possesses the particulars of those states in which a decision has to be made, nevertheless I will speak as comprehensively as the matter of itself will admit.” (The Prince, chapter XX)

The only way for an entrepreneur to plan a clear future strategy in order to defend his position is the support of his people. The entrepreneur have to be the key part of the organization’s efficient and productive operations with strong relations with the employs which will designate him as irreplaceable.

“And one of the most efficacious remedies that a prince can have against conspiracies is not to be hated and despised by the people, for he who conspires against a prince always expects to please them by his removal; but when the conspirator can only look forward to offending them, he will not have the courage to take such a course, for the difficulties that confront a conspirator are infinite. And as experience shows, many have been the conspiracies, but few have been successful; because he who conspires cannot act alone, nor can he take a companion except from those whom he believes to be malcontents, and as soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent you have given him the material with which to content himself, for by denouncing you he can look for every advantage; so that, seeing the gain from this course to be assured, and seeing the other to be doubtful and full of dangers, he must be a very rare friend, or a thoroughly obstinate enemy of the prince, to keep faith with you.” (The Prince, chapter XX.)

Moreover as we mention above the detailed day to day knowledge of the operation and the successful management of impressions which lead to popularity gives a strong advantage to the entrepreneur’s power position and eliminates the personal uncertainty and the external locus of control.

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Methodology

Sample description

Two sample groups the entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs will be used in order to compare and contrast the entrepreneurial traits and the personal traits in terms of the personal characteristics suggested by Machiavelli. The population of our study is restricted to a region of Greece-European Union, the Western Macedonia and more specifically at the historical city of Kastoria. Hence is crucial to mention some details about the location of study’s population in order to robust the external validity. The city of Kastoria has a rich history but more specifically at the era of Machiavelli the city had a strategic importance for the Byzantine Empire, although after the invasion of the Ottoman’s the area was long term occupied. (Arbaler, 2009) Furthermore in the modern history of the area of Kastoria we can observe a significant entrepreneurial extroversion of the residents in comparison with other Greek areas and the major reason for this is the Fur industry which emerged at the 18th_{century. (Dagkali, 2010) The population of the area is almost 50,000}

citizens and yet they manage to earn the fourth position in total export product volume in Greece at 2012-2013.(Dragkalidis, 2012) As a result we can conclude that there are strong evidence about knowledge spill over from the long term tradition of international business and entrepreneurship in the area. (Dagkali, 2010)

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the original transcripts of the all questioners electronic and printed which are used for our study, are available in electronic documentation.

The sample of entrepreneur’s for our study is 50 individual entrepreneurs of small businesses, from the total population of entrepreneurs for our study which is 5,920 businesses. The population number derived from the population area of Kastoria as we describe above.(ELSTAT, 2015) In addition is crucial to mention that our definition of entrepreneurship is according to Garther (1987), as a result entrepreneur is an individual who create an organization. Specifically in our population area entrepreneurs are the organization creators and an important component of organization’s work force. Moreover in order describe possible error in the predictive ability our sample size according to the population, we will report the margin of error of our sample. (Neyman, 1937) The sample have error level of 11.6% with a confidence level of 90%. Additionally 17 of the 50 entrepreneurs are self-employed and the average years for being an entrepreneur for our sample is 16, at last only 6 of the cases have lower than 3 years’ experience. As a result we have to consider the limitations and the advantages derive from self-employment and years of experience.

Secondly the sample of non-entrepreneurs includes citizens of the area with various working state employed, unemployed and retired individuals. The total number of the sample is 94 individual citizens which can express, the total population of 44,000 non entrepreneurs, with 8.5% marginal error level in a confidence level of 90%. (ELSTAT, 2015) The number of unemployed individuals is 22 which is the 23.4% of our non-entrepreneur sample.

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Measurement description

Dependent variable:

The dependent variable for our study is the entrepreneurial status, which is able to reveal the entrepreneurial traits. As we mention above the personal traits defined as a variable able to distinguish the personal behavior. (Caprana and Cervone, 2000; Roccas et al., 2002) As a result the entrepreneurial traits are a group of traits-characteristics which distinguish individuals who exhibit entrepreneurial behavior. Hence we will use as discriminant dependent variables the entrepreneurial status which can distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs.

Independent variable:

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 Balance of interests: The variable measured by the level of understanding the other person’s true intentions and the ability to exhibit different behavior through various individual persons.

Measurement items Scale

True intention recognition ability of the participant. 0-5 Behavioral flexibility ability of the participant. 0-5

 Avoid hatred: The avoidance of hatred as Machiavelli describe measured by the attitude of the avoidance of actions that lead to highly negative emotions, which highlight the importance of careful overview of actions and the derived reactions.

Measurement item Scale

Ability of the participant to avoid hatred. 0-5

 Balance of dependency: The variable described by the level of trust of personal decision and the secondly by the level of dependency for assistance by other persons to achieve a job oriented goal.

Participant’s ability to trust his/her decisions. 0-5 The level of participant’s dependency from other individual.

0-5

 Methodicalness: The variable description follow faithfully the Machiavelli’s directions. Hence we describe methodicalness as the level of respect for the rules and the formalized processes and the level of attitude to improve the rules and the process in their ability.

Level in which the participant respect the established rules and procedures.

0-5

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 Openness: The openness measurement includes the openness to personal communication and more importantly the level of cautiousness when sharing information’s.

Participant’s openness to personal communication. 0-5 Participant’s cautiousness to information sharing. 0-5

 Decisiveness and justice: First we will measure the level of personal decisiveness to a certain decision and secondly the level of personal fairness and honesty to describe the justice.

Level of participant’s decisiveness in decisions. 0-5 Participant’s fair and honesty level. 0-5

 Locus of control: As we mention future plans and strategy marked as highly important for Machiavelli. As a result first we measure the personal level of creating future plan, the second the indication of the level in which someone trust his personal power to change his future than the fate or luck.

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Control variables:

For the control variables for our study we follow the same pattern used by the most researches in the field as derived from Rauch and Frese (2007) meta-analysis and introduce the following control variables. The control variables are age measured in ordinal scale, gender and education level which are measured in a nominal scale through our sample.

Statistical analysis

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Results

To begin with the data analysis and perform the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), in order to identify the ability of each variable and construct to distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs, it is crucial to perform a test about the variance of our control variables. The results of an ANOVA between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs through the variables age, gender and education reveals that age and gender have homogeneity of variance as a result there is significant difference between the two groups. In addition for variable education found no significant difference between the two groups, hence education is our covariate for the analysis of the covariance. Furthermore the results from the ANCOVA for each variable presented beyond, the numerical results corresponded to the analysis presented at table1:

Balance of interest: Both of the measurement items which frame the balance of interest represent

important difference through the two tested groups. In the level of understanding the true intentions of individuals and the level of behavior flexibility we identify significantly higher response from entrepreneurs with an F-value 9.487 and 4.22 respectively. The results about balance of interest indicate a statistical significant difference through the groups with the higher response of entrepreneurs. Hence Machiavelli’s observation can accurately express an entrepreneurial trait which validates our first hypothesis (H1a).

Avoid of Hatred: In the level of avoidance of behaviors that lead to hatred we found out that

entrepreneurs scored lower that non entrepreneurs in the mean difference, although the significant difference between the groups is 0.097 which cannot be considered as strong statistical difference. The mean results of the responses reveal a difficulty of entrepreneurs for hate avoidance which can be justified by the relation of hate and power position, as Machiavelli imply. At last the lack of significant difference between the two groups leads us to reject the second hypothesis (H1b)

Balance of dependency: The first contract of the variable is the level of personal decision trust that

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balance of dependency according to Machiavelli’s definition is not an entrepreneurial trait, hence hypothesis H1c is rejected.

Methodicalness: Both of the measurement items that frame methodicalness are not able to express

any difference between the two groups, both of the groups have high mean responses. Methodicalness formed by respect and improvement of procedures and rules, Machiavelli highlight the importance of methodicalness especially for the leaders in order to introduce the mentality of rules and obligations. On the other hand a keystone of the modern democratic societies of the 21st century is the mentality of rules and obligations. Our findings indicate strong respect and potential improvement of rules and procedures for both of work states. As a result the hypothesis H1d is rejected.

Openness: Entrepreneurs demonstrate higher response to openness in personal communication

with a strong significance difference of 0.032 and higher information cautiousness in communication with a weak significance of 0.079. Our research results reveal strong significance difference between the two groups openness for communication, entrepreneurs indicate higher level of openness. Additionally entrepreneurs indicate higher mean responses for cautiousness in personal communication but without strong significant difference. As a result we conclude to partially accept the hypothesis H1e and consider openness according to Machiavelli’s definition.

Decisiveness and justice: Our results reveal a strong significance for both of personal decisiveness

and fairness and honesty with higher level from the entrepreneurs with a significant difference of 0.011. The harsh decisions are inevitable for a leader according to Machiavelli, as a result suggests that through decisive and equitable decisions is able to overcome the threats derive from harsh actions. Our research results following Machiavelli’s observations reveal significant difference of decisiveness and justice between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. As a result H1f is accepted according to our research results.

Locus of control: At last in the variable of locus of control we can observe the higher difference

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Analysis of Covariance

Variables Entrepreneurs Mean Non entrepreneu rs Mean Entrepreneu rs Standard Deviation Non Entrepreneurs Standard Deviation F-Value Sig. Balance of interests

true intentions level 3.76 3.39 .657 .707 9.487 .002

behavior change level 3.76 3.43 .938 .898 4.220 .042

Avoid hatred 3.40 3.73 1.178 1.059 2.793 .097 Balance of dependency Personal decisions trust 4.12 3.83 .799 .969 3.243 .074 Dependency 2.70 2.94 .974 1.302 1.348 .248 Methodicalness Rules respect _4.44 _4.30 _.760 _.827 _{1.099 .296} Rules improvement 4.40 4.16 .606 .931 2.432 .121 Openness Personal communications 4.38 4.09 .635 .876 4.711 .032 Information cautiousness 4.06 3.76 .793 1.114 3.133 .079 Decisiveness and justice Decisiveness 4.16 3.77 .792 .885 6.698 .011

Fair and honest 4.64 4.38 .598 .589 6.675 .011

Locus of control

Future plans 3.98 3.45 _.622 _.980 _{12.483 .001}

Internal locus of control

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Secondly we will use a discriminant analysis in order to identify the ability of our dependent variables to distinguish entrepreneurs from non-entrepreneurs as a predictive model. The first result that is crucial to report is the canonical correlation coefficient of our discriminant function which is 0.55, an interpretation of this result is that 30% of the variance at the dependent variable contacts is predicted the choice of entrepreneurship. (Stevens, 2012) Furthermore the results of the Wilk’s Lamda test for the significance value is zero, as a result our full model have statistical significance. The major results of the discriminant analysis presented at Table 2, the model is able to predict 54% of entrepreneurs and 87% of non-enterprises. Additionally the total correct classification of our sample through the two groups is 75%.

Table 2: Discriminant analysis

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Discussion and conclusions

The findings of this research create a crucial empowerment to the emerging stream of literature, which highlight the blatant denigration about the Machiavelli’s book “The Prince”. As a result we support that this research is capable to make a crucial contribution to the mutual understanding about the philosopher in terms of social sciences. Following through the multidimensional analysis of Lisch (2013) we identify a correlation between the observed distinguish traits of a successful leader in terms of Republic of Florence with the modern entrepreneurial traits from small business founders. Hence the answer to our main research question is that Machiavelli’s observations are able to provide a predictive model about the modern entrepreneurship. Although the hypothesis results indicate inability to recognize all the suggested personal traits as entrepreneurial, this possibly generated from the evolution of the societies or from our research weaknesses which will be discussed below. In addition based on our assumption that entrepreneurs represent a form of modern leadership, hence we conclude that our results have the potential to utilize them as leadership traits.

Theoretical implication

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Secondly the research of Machiavelli’s book introduces a group of entrepreneurial traits which are able to form a new pattern for entrepreneurship and leadership recognition. Additionally the traits can be used complimentary to the previously recognized entrepreneurial traits as we can observe at Rauch’s and Frese’s (2007) meta-analysis, in order to improve the recognition ability of entrepreneurship.

Practical implication

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Limitations

In our investigation certain limitation are arising in the context of reliability and validity. As a result we will highlight the controversial aspects and at the same time indicate methods which can resolve the problems or inconsistencies in a future study. Firstly in the area of instruments and reliability a limitation emerge from the single research instrument that is used for our study. To overcome this limitation we have use a combination of multiple sources of evidence. Additionally our study suffers from evidence of internal consistency reliability, for improvements in this area we need an examination which measure, how well a test addresses in different constructs. For instance Cronbach’s alpha statistics can be used in order to identify the reliability of the measuring items. The study’s weaknesses in terms of the reliability which derived from the respondents are the following. First we include self-employed individuals into entrepreneurs group which has been criticized and proved as harmful for predictability results in terms of entrepreneurship.(Utsch et al., 1999) Secondly we include new entrepreneurs to our sample which increase the risk of capture unsuccessful reactions, although the number of these samples contrariwise the average year experience of our sample is acceptable. On the other hand the sample of non-entrepreneurs include unemployed individuals, which are probably not yet decide or there are unique motives that affect the work state choice.

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Furthermore a factor which can potentially characterized as controversial in our study is the strength of construct validity. The subjectivity which frame the interpretation of a medieval document would presumably used as leverage for in order to characterize our study construct definition as too broad or narrow. Additionally a limitation of our study which harm the construct validity is occurred from the singe method of measurement that is used.

Moreover our studies validity is limited to face validity, which assessed by the research’s supervisor. Although in order to strengthen studies validity, the report of content validity is essential, more specifically the use of a projected method like the content validity ratio which developed by Lawshe (1975).

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Future research

Firstly the most important future research proposal based on Machiavelli traits and their ability to effect the modern organization performance. According to “The Prince” the observed traits that suggested are able to improve the performance and sustain the organization stability. As a result we suggest future researchers to focus their studies on the performance and stability fluctuation levels in terms of the personal traits derived from Machiavelli’s book.

Furthermore is crucial for the academic community to enrich the literature stream of recognized personal characteristics derived from “The Prince” with a realistic and responsible way following Lisch’s (2013) fundamental work. The major gap that Lisch (2013) bridge in contrast with past researches is the development of the analysis through the time and space limitations which are taken into consideration.

The important introduction of this research with the premature results that identify that the pattern recognition about administration which developed centuries ago, is useful to the modern administration. As a result we suggest future studies in the field with the use of multiple research measurement instruments. In order to deeply investigate the existence and variation of the personal characteristics according to Machiavelli.

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Appendices

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The entrepreneurial traits of a “Prince”