From the Homo Entrepreneur to the Contemporary Entrepreneur: The Evolution of the Entrepreneurial Characteristics From 1848 To 2014

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the evolution of the entrepreneurial characteristics parting from Kuratko and Hodgetts (1995) studies over these characteristics, from 1848 to 1982, seeking to respond to questions about how they evolved over time? which characteristics remained? which disappeared? and which emerged? To this end, a bibliographic and bibliometric research from 1983 to 2014 was carried, complementing, amplifying and comparing the findings of the original research. The bibliographic survey was made based on the keywords Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Characteristics, Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Entrepreneur Profile, and from the selection of articles published in the highest rated national journals according to the Qualis system, composed by Revista de Administração de Empresas - RAE, the Revista de Administração Contemporânea – RAC, the scientific events ENANPAD and EGEPE, and the EBSCO data base in order to access international scientific journals, namely: Applied Financial Economics; Applied Economics Letters; Management Research Review; Journal of Product Innovation Management; European Management Journal; Service Industries Journal; International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management; Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice; Journal of International Entrepreneurship; Management Decision; International Small Business Journal. This study characterized as bibliometrics, reviewed 288 articles published by 341 authors and points on their results to a lot more relational entrepreneurial profile, based on interpersonal and social skills and focused more on the demands of the external environment than on the self-centered, sovereign, autonomous and independent entrepreneur profile of the first phase of the twentieth century.