Entrepreneurial Characteristics and Decision Making:
Evidence from Jordan





Dima Nabil Sahouri
Ibrahim Issa Rantissi
Samar Jubran Bishouti
Afram Ibrahim Ozgul

Department of Business Administration,
King Talal Faculty of Business and Technology,
Princess Sumaya University for Technology,
Amman, Jordan

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of several factors such as cognitive biases, anchoring, demographic factors, personality traits, environmental factors and self assessment on the quality of entrepreneurial decision making and to raise awareness about the entrepreneurial aspects in the people's mind. This study was based on owners of Jordan entrepreneurial companies incubated in Oasis500 and IPark.

Introduction

The Jordanian markets are limited because of the small size of the different types of businesses in the Public and Private sectors and because the financial resources are very limited, in addition to the strong competition between the many suppliers or providers of similar products and services. All the above make it very difficult for new ideas to be part of the economy in Jordan. The economy in Jordan is being affected by all the political issues surrounded by it such as conflicts in Syria and occupation in Palestine and so on.

Jordan faces some difficulties in exporting products to the regional markets and has a very high rate of taxes. The economy is a major issue when it comes to entrepreneurs starting their own business. "Now according to Adam Smith - the Scottish economist and philosopher considered to be the father of political economy - the free economy is based on the system of natural freedom in which people act according to their own rules (Ramona, 2011)."

Entrepreneurs mostly work towards gaining their income rates or for becoming rich, but each entrepreneur has a different perspective and different goals (Markova, 2010). Each one is willing to satisfy his/her needs and desires and mostly for a very good reason. They are also doing a favor to their society by using new ideas If a product or service serves a necessity and solves a problem, people will use it and it will have a positive effect on the community."If people are allowed to use their own resources they will work in order to get rich and therefore the society will get rich as well, this is because the natural desire of the individual is to improve their life standards, consequently to the development of the society (Ramona, 2011)."

If entrepreneurs are not willing to take risks, they might never succeed. Risk takers are the ones who find new opportunities, the economy is based on opportunities and on taking risks "Throughout time the economy has known many phases, the present one being the 'new economy'. The main objective of the 'new economy' is not the individual as quantity but the individual as quality. In the 'new economy' people work with their brain instead of their hands (Zarofshani, 2011)." "When we talk about the 'new economy' we are talking about a revolution it is considered to be the third major economic revolution this is according to Alexandrova he considered the first economic revolution which he titled with the name industrial revolution, whose core was the mechanization of labor, it was characterized by replacing the work of people with the work of certain machines. The second economic revolution was focused on the Automation of the production process, but with new technologies, had resulted in scientific development and have offered solutions for a better organization of the production process ."The reason why entrepreneurs fit so perfectly in the 'new economy' is because entrepreneurs have characteristics which makes them adaptable to the 'new economy' and these characteristics are that they are risk takers, they adapt immediately to changes that take place in the economy and this is by being creative and innovative"(Ramona, 2011).

Each citizen who lives in Jordan has a chance of becoming an entrepreneur that depends on a variety of factors. If the entrepreneur doesn't have very good financial resources they might fail or at least they won't widen their business and they won't stay for a very long period in the market. "Businesses with weak sales or poor prospects are more likely to cut back rather than expand their business, thereby reducing demand for credit (Geho, 2013). When the start-up companies begin growing in Jordan they face some obstacles in gaining their economic growth. This is because Jordan is somehow in the recession phase so it might be difficult to reach maximum economic growth.

It is commonly known that "Start-ups are important for economic growth. However, start-up rates differ significantly between countries and within regions of the same countries (Naude, 2009)". "Entrepreneurs work and initiate their new ideas in many different countries, in different regions and under different situations. "Entrepreneurship is linked to the levels of economic development as well as the cultural structures. The way entrepreneurs behave is directly connected to the cultural behavior, accepted practices in one country maybe not acceptable by other cultures in different counties. In business success is generally indicates to a firm's financial performance. It can also be defined from tangible (objective) points of view such as revenue or firm's growth, personal wealth creation, profitability, turnover (Chowdhury, 2013)."

Literature Review

Entrepreneurship has been defined as managerial behavior which consistently exploits opportunities to deliver results beyond one's own capabilities (Thompson, 1999). It needs enterprising people, who are agents of change but maybe not entrepreneurs in a strict sense. An entrepreneur is someone with a vision who spots a new opportunity and is minded to act on it and start something.

An entrepreneur is a person who can detect new business opportunities, and create a new business with new creative ideas (Baltar, 2014). He will do his best to get enough resources to start a new firm. He has the ability and ambition to improve his new idea or invention to make it a successful innovation. He should also be able to manage and organize his business venture. He is ready to challenge and face all the risks and failures, in order to be successful and generate profit. You can find entrepreneurs in many fields of life; entrepreneurship is more than just a small business manager or owner. Entrepreneurs are individuals who make a difference, they are people with a clear vision, ready to make a difference and create something new (Lahti, 2011). They know exactly how to deal with new opportunities, risks and uncertainties to "creatively create'' new services, products and organizations. They can also find new methods for doing business or ensure the customer's satisfaction.

Entrepreneurs usually use their instinct to analyze and understand the market and its needs and try their best to satisfy them (Barnes, 1984). They do their work with enthusiasm and passion to achieve their goals. So, they usually come up with new creative inventions and solutions that will solve many problems or create new opportunities, and they do their best to convince the investors and the people around them to adopt and use their ideas or inventions, so that they can create demand for their products, which will on the long run create new opportunities and open new doors which will enhance the economy and create new job opportunities.

Decision-making processes describe the common human tendency when making decisions. Entrepreneurs also should get all the needed information to make a certain judgment. This helps the entrepreneurs to have a clearer and sufficient view of the market and its needs and with that they can build their plan. Of course, as humans, they might fall in a decision making trap or judgmental bias (Hammond, 1998).

Most entrepreneurs make their judgment from decisional shortcuts and use it to come up with good solutions most of the time (Lorenge, 2008). For example, when they interview an applicant, they base their decision upon the first impression disregarding the impressive resume given by the applicant. This explains how entrepreneurs go for decisional shortcuts to find efficient solutions in order to spare time and effort.

1. Entrepreneurial opportunity
An entrepreneurial opportunity exists whenever there is a need, want, problem or challenge that can be addressed, solved and or satisfied in an innovative way.
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Entrepreneurial idea
It is a specific, new way to satisfy a need or want, overcome a problem or meet a challenge.
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Figure 1: Entrepreneurship process


The diagram above (Thompson, 1999) shows the Entrepreneurship process. It is based on three main factors that complement each other: opportunity, resources and team. All the three factors should be present and reliable to have a successful entrepreneurship. When the entrepreneur finds the opportunity, he should use his communication skills to get the resources, and when he gets the opportunity and the resources he should use his leadership skills and creativity to build and manage his team. Constrained by resource limitations, especially finance, entrepreneurs use creativity, social networking and bargaining to obtain favors, deals and action (Thompson, 1999). But this process is affected by many external factors: ambiguity, uncertainty, exogenous forces and capital market context. The entrepreneur should be aware of each factor and know how to deal with it to become a successful entrepreneur (Schumpeter, 2000). This process should be implemented using a well-designed business plan to manage and fill all the gaps between all the three main factors. It's recommended that the business plan should be implemented, monitored and controlled by a specialized manager, not the entrepreneur himself.

Anchoring

"The anchoring effect is the phenomenon under which individuals, when making estimates, rely more on subjective irrelevant data and information" (Caputo, 2014).

There are two reasons why anchoring affects the decisions of the entrepreneurs. "First, we often develop estimates by starting with an initial anchor that is based on whatever information is provided and adjust from the anchor to yield a final decision (Caputo, 2014). Adjustments away from anchors are usually not sufficient (Caputo, 2013).

Anchoring and bias are interconnected and depend on each other; therefore, entrepreneurs must take them into consideration while putting their study plan. "A bias can be defined as the human tendency to make systematic errors in certain circumstances based on cognitive factors rather than evidence (Caputo, 2013)." "A biased managerial decision-making process can affect a wide range of decisions and environments, such as groups (Caputo, 2014). For example, it could distort beliefs affect estimates or valuations and increase the reliability on subjective approach (Ramadani, 2009)."

By that we come to the conclusion that the entrepreneurs must focus on cognitive bias and a biased managerial decision making process as it allows them to have a more balanced view and helps them also in their researches to take into consideration some major factors such as: size of the market, people's needs and interests and the estimated life period of the project.

Education

Education is dynamically changing with time therefore new theories appear, so entrepreneurs are using the chronologically based approach education. "That is, business entry has become one of the most broadly addressed entrepreneurial subjects in current curricula (Elmuti, 2011).

People who want to be entrepreneurs and have the ability to start up their own business are important. Those people may be the new leaders, innovators, problem solvers needed to improve the Jordan community. Starting from schools to universities, entrepreneurial lectures should be given in order to develop the way they think, and burnish their ideas, potential, abilities and talents in order to be the chosen ones to make a brighter future for their own benefit and the benefit of their community. Entrepreneurship education on the other hand, refers to a collection of formalized teachings that inform, train and educate learners who are interested in setting up a business. "Entrepreneurship education assigned as skills that the person can learn and the characteristics that can be assured to authorize the person to develop and create plans" (Ramayah, 2012), and to start up a new business.

Education for entrepreneurship means improving formal knowledge and skills, such as the willingness to take risk, self confidence, creativity, the ability to see the possible outcomes of a decision, and the willingness to come up with modern solutions that can totally develop entrepreneurial conduct and attitude (taken from "Forging New Technology Entrepreneurs in the MENA Region through Education, By: Laith Kassis"). These acquired skills and qualities will be useful when running a company and will have a positive effect on the environment as a whole. Entrepreneurial culture is crucial for encouraging entrepreneurs in commencing high growth businesses. The cultural belief of failure has to be ironed out, a person must learn from his own mistakes, it is necessary to fail at least twice in order to have a better understanding the third time. An entrepreneur has to know how to deal with failure and how to proceed in order to not make the same mistake twice. The general consensus is that entrepreneurship education has a substantial contribution to the culture of a nation. Entrepreneurship education should explain topics such as venture capital, innovation, business plan writing, marketing, financing, and so on. It is of paramount importance to develop the competency and the entrepreneurial zeal of the students, as well as to teach them soft skills in order to help them identify opportunities. Students should also be prepared in order to know how to deal with uncertainty in developing a business, obtaining financing and having social responsibilities (Hansen, 2011). The use of guest speakers or competitions in which they have to complete business plans are recommended. The aim of these activities is to narrow the gap between theory and practice, in order to create a fun and rewarding learning experience. Those activities can be stimulated by the beneficial method of 'think, tell, and sell' in order to make participants think how to act in imperfect information cases and high risk scenarios Simulations and interviews with entrepreneurs can be helpful in order to make participants consider entrepreneurship as a career choice. This kind of learning should include different scenarios, cases, written role plays and video and live formats. There are a lot of people who don't learn in school proper practices like soft skills, team work, implementing decisions in real work situations, collaboration and cooperation (Kolabi, 2012). That's why when students graduate, they need to go again through a learning process provided by the companies, in order to successfully work there. This learning process may be too short or insufficient for the employee.

Theoretical Framework

We based our research on this Theoretical Framework, which summarizes research study aspects.

Figure 2: Framework


There are many factors that define an entrepreneur, such as personality characteristics, self confidence, risk taking, desire to work, work orientation, creativity and innovation, biases and judgmental biases in decision making like anchoring. There are also economic factors that contribute to the success of a start-up, such as economic strength, level of economic certainty, the opportunity of making good wealth. The education factors are the level of education in general, entrepreneurship in education centers, lectures and training about entrepreneurs for scholars and employees, working in teams, the teacher's role, the tools used, motivation theories that can perfectly be helpful for both entrepreneurs and the employees that can work with start-up companies. There are also external factors like government regulations, incubators, business angels, cultural believes in Jordan. Identifying how these factors affect the decisions the entrepreneurs take is the reasoning for our research.

Methodology

In this paper we are aiming to investigate the effect of several factors such as cognitive biases, anchoring, demographic factors, personality traits, environmental factors and self-assessment on the quality of the entrepreneurial decision making.

We briefly state our hypothesis, which have been derived from the literature review.

Table 1: Hypothesis


We interviewed two organizations, which are Oasisi500 and IPark. Oasis500 is a leading and seeding investing company that has a population of 60 incubated entrepreneurs and IPark which is an incubation organization that has a population of 28 incubated start-up companies. The participants of both organizations were informed that they will be interviewed to fill in surveys. From Oasis500 a sample of 20 surveys were filled by entrepreneurs by interviewing them, and from IPark a sample of 10 entrepreneurs were interviewed to fill the survey.

A total of 90 surveys were distributed, we had two surveys: the main survey was about the entrepreneurs it was a total of 30 surveys and interviews that aimed to investigate the demographic factors, personality traits, environmental factors, self-assessment and anchoring on the quality of entrepreneurial decision making. A total of 60 surveys were distributed to scholars in Jordanian universities in order to investigate the awareness of entrepreneurship and if they are acknowledge in becoming a future entrepreneurs.

There are a total of 97 questions in both surveys, 77 in the entrepreneurial survey and they were categorized like this: demographic questions, personality questions, environmental factors and challenges, what influenced me to become an entrepreneur, decision making, entrepreneurial self assessment, and anchoring. The 20 questions in the student's survey indicated the awareness of the understanding of entrepreneurship.

In our research we used several techniques when collecting and analyzing data.

We used surveys and interviews. We used two surveys: the basic one for the entrepreneurs which measures their characteristic, their decision making and the internal and external factors that affect their start-ups. The second survey was distributed for university students, which measures the students' awareness toward the entrepreneurial concept and their willingness to be involved in the entrepreneurial field to see if there is a relationship between students' awareness and entrepreneurial challenges. After collecting the data we need, we analyzed those data using Microsoft Office Excel, SPSS and Google docs.

We used Microsoft Office Excel for representing results as graphs for descriptive analysis. From entrepreneurial survey were as follow, demographic questions, influences for becoming an entrepreneur, decision making and challenges.

We used SPSS statistical program for measuring entrepreneurial self assessment and anchoring. The results for anchoring ranged between 0 and 1, when 0 was perfect anchoring and 1 stands for no anchoring.

We used Google Docs for descriptive data and for building and filling the survey, either by interviews or online.

Results

The analysis of this research includes owners of Jordanian entrepreneurial companies. The sample was selected from two of the Jordanian leading incubation, investing and seeding companies: IPark and Oasis500. All of the entrepreneurs available in these companies were selected in the sample: 80% of the surveys were filled by interviewing the entrepreneurs face to face.

A total of 30 surveys were distributed to owner managers of the entrepreneurial companies, because they have enough knowledge about the overall situation, performance, processes and goals of their entrepreneurial companies.

Figures 3 to 9 show the main demographic characteristics of the survey sample.

Figure 3: Age group


In terms of age, entrepreneurs were categorized into 3 age groups (20-30, 31-40, above 40). As the data in the pie chart shows, most of the entrepreneurs were in the age group 31-40, after that 20-30, and a low number of people were above 40.

Figure 5: Marital status

Regarding marital status, as the data in the pie chart above (Figure 5) shows, most of the entrepreneurs were single (70%) and only (30%) married.

Figure 6: Education

In terms of Education, as the data in the pie chart above (Figure 6) shows, most of the entrepreneurs have bachelor degree (87%), (13%) have master degree and none of them (0%) have PHD.

Figure 7: Languages

As the data in the pie chart above (Figure 7) shows, 73% of the entrepreneurs speak 2 languages (Arabic and English) and 27% speak 3 languages (Arabic English and French). None of them 0% speak only one language.

Figure 8: Working experience

In terms of working experience, entrepreneurs were categorized according to the years of working experience into 3 groups (1-9 years, 10-20 years, over 20 years).

As the data in the pie chart (Figure 8) shows, most of the entrepreneurs (50%) have less than 10 years of working experience (1-9), after that 40 % have 10-20 years of working experience, and only 10% have more than 20 years of working experience.

Figure 9: Percentages of entrepreneurs who have another job

When the entrepreneurs were asked if they currently have another job, 13% answered yes, but the majority 87% answered no, as shown in the pie chart (Figure 9).

Figure 10: Break-even and positive cash flow (in months)

When the entrepreneurs were asked when they reached the break-even point and a positive cash flow, the majority 76% said that they didn't reach break-even point or positive cash flow yet. 14% said that they reached the break-even point and received positive cash flow in the first 10 months and only 10% said that they reached break-even point and received positive cash flow in 11-21 months after starting their business, as shown in the pie chart (Figure 10).

Figure 11: Financial capital

In this section we asked about financial capital, as figure 11 shows. 28% answered strongly agree, 28% answered agree, 28% answered neutral, 14% disagree and only 3% strongly disagree.

Figure 12: Unstable economy

In this section we asked about unstable economy, as Figure 12 shows. 10% answered strongly agree, 41% answered agree, 7% answered neutral, 14% disagree and 28% strongly disagree.

Figure 13: Bureaucracy

In this section we asked about bureaucracy, as Figure 13 shows. 10% answered strongly agree, 21% answered agree, 45% answered neutral, 21% disagree and 3% strongly disagree.

Figure 14: Politics

In this section we asked about politics, as Figure 14 shows. 7% answered strongly agree, 14% answered agree, 45% answered neutral, 7% disagree and 28% strongly disagree.

Figure 15: Regulations

In this section we asked about bureaucracy, as Figure 15 shows. 21% answered strongly agree, 21% answered agree, 38% answered neutral, 17% disagree and 3% strongly disagree.

Figure 16: National security

In this section we asked about national security, as Figure 16 shows. 10% answered strongly agree, 7% answered agree, 41% answered neutral, 21% disagree and 21% strongly disagree.

Figure 17: Funding resources

In this section we asked about funding resources, as Figure 17 shows. 34% answered strongly agree, 28% answered agree, 18% answered neutral, 10% disagree and 10% strongly disagree.

Figure 18: Financial resources

In this question we asked about financial resources, as Figure 18 shows. 31% answered strongly Fgree, 24% answered agree, 28% answered neutral, 10% disagree and 7% strongly disagree.

Figure 19: Market uncertainty

In this question we asked about market uncertainty, as Figure 19 shows. 10% answered strongly agree, 34% answered agree, 32% answered neutral, 17% disagree and 7% strongly disagree.

Figure 20: Self employed

In terms of self-employed, as it is shown in Figure 20, the majority of 40% of the entrepreneurs we interviewed strongly agree on self-employment, while the minority of 7% strongly disagreed to the question and 27% agreed, neutral were only 17% and 10% disagreed.

Figure 21: Public recognition

In terms of public recognition, as shown in Figure 21 the majority of entrepreneurs agreed, with a percent of 31%, while 21% disagreed and 21% strongly disagreed, and the rest of the percentages were as follows: 14% neutral and 14% strongly agreed.

Figure 22: Financial rewards

Figure 22 shows what the entrepreneurs think about financial rewards. The majority agrees with a percent of 43%, 33% strongly agreed and 17% were neutral. Only 3% disagreed and 3% strongly disagreed.

Figure 23: Have a job

As it is diplayed in Figure 23, we find that the majority of the entrepreneurs with a percent of 41% disagreed and the minority of 7% strongly agreed, and the rest were as follows: 14% strongly agreed, 21% neutral and 12% strongly disagreed.

Figure 24: Need for achievements

In term of needs for achievement, as shown in Figure 24, the majority of 70% strongly agreed, 3% disagreed and 3% were neutral. The rest were 23% who agreed and none who strongly disagreed.

Figure 25: Support for more advanced projects


In terms of support for more advanced projects, as shown in Figure 25, from the entrepreneurs who were interviewed the majority of 34% were neutral and 3% disagreed. The rest of 31% agreed, 21% strongly agreed and 10% strongly disagreed.

Figure 26: Personal fulfillment

As shown in Figure 26, regarding personal fulfillment, of entrepreneurs who were interviewed, the majority of them stongly agreed with 53% and 37% agreed. In the minority were those who were neutral 3%, 7% disageed and none of them strongly disagreed.

Figure 27: Freedom

In terms of freedom, as shown in Figure 27, from the results we got from the entrepreneurs who were interviewd, the majority of 37% strongly agreed and only 3% disagreed. The rest were as follows: 30% agreed, 10% strongly disagreed and 17% neutral.

The analysis of this research includes university students. The samples were selected from 2 main jordanian universities (princess sumaya university for technology and petra university) and a small random sample from other universities. A total of 60 surveys were distributed to the students since they reflect the jordanian culture that they are part of.

Figure 28: Students who know the meaning of entrepreneur

The pie chart above clearly states that 70% of the students know what an entrepreneur means and the other 30% never heard about this term.

Figure 29: Team player

When we asked if the students see themselves as team players, the responses were like this, 62% of them agreed and strongly agreed, 28% of them were neutral, and only 10% of them disagreed or strongly disagreed, as the data in Figure 29 shows.

Figure 30: Risk taker

We mentioned in the literature review that the entrepreneurs should be risk takers and based on that fact we asked the students on the scale of 1 to 5 to rate they attitude toward risk. We found that 33% strongly agreed that they are risk takers, 27% agreed, 30% were neutral toward risk, 7% disagreed and 3% strongly disagreed, as the data in Figure 30 shows.

Figure 31: Failing once is failing for life

As it is shown in Figure 31, 23% of the students agreed about failing once is failing for life, while the other 77% of our sample did not agree with this statement.

Figure 32: My university should provide me training as part of my studying

As shown in Figure 32, when students were asked if they think that their university should provide them with training as part of their studies, 88% answered yes and the rest of 12% answered no.

Figure 33: Do you know if there are companies that can help me to become an entrepreneur

When the students were asked whether they know if there are companies that can help them to become entrepreneurs, only 37% knew about the companies Oasis500 and Ipark and 63% they didn't know about those companies, as the data in the pie chart above shows.

Figure 34: Do I feel content with the education provided by my university

In terms of how content the students feel with the education provided by their university, as the data in the pie chart shows, most of the students feel content with the education system provided by their universities (66%) and 34% don't feel content with the education system provided by their universities, as the data in the pie chart above shows.

Figure 35: Students prefer working for big companies rather than start-ups

When students were asked whether they prefer working in big companies rather than start-ups, 76% answered yes and the rest of 24% answered no, as the data in the pie chart above shows.

Figure 36: Is Jordanian culture helpful to become an entrepreneur

When students were asked if the Jordanian culture supports them to become entrepreneurs, 20% answered yes but the majority 80% answered no, as shown in the pie chart above.

Figure 37: Privileges that students look for

In terms of the privileges that the students are seeking, we found out that 28% look for work atmosphere, 23% look for job security issues, 24% are financially related, 19% look for insurance and 6% are looking for other privileges, as the data in Figure 37 shows.

Figure 38: Start-up companies provide the same privileges as big companies

When students were asked if they considered that start-up companies offered the same privileges as big companies, 81% responded yes and 19% responded no, as shown in the pie chart above.

The results in the table below were taken from the entrepreneurial survey in which we related self-assessment and anchoring with different demographic factors.

Table 2: Results table for self-assessment and anchoring

When we took gender to be a factor of self assessment, we found that males get higher grades in self assessment than females, with a score of 81.6 for males and 81.26 for females. When it comes to anchoring, males were less affected by anchoring than females.

When we took the level of education to be a factor of self assessment, we found that there is a very small difference, but the holders of bachelor degrees have a lower assessment capacity compared with the master degrees holders. Regarding anchoring, the holders of bachelor degrees were more affected from it than the master degree holders. This supports the idea that the higher the education, the lower the anchoring effect and the better the decision taken.
When we took age to be a factor of self assessment, we can found that entrepreneurs under 30 years have lower self assessment than the entrepreneurs that are over 30 years old. When it comes to anchoring, we found that entrepreneurs under 30 years are more affected by anchoring than entrepreneurs over 30 years old. This supports the argument that the older you become, the wiser your decisions are.

With the unstable economy as a factor, only 28% of the entrepreneurs disagreed that the unstable economy affects them and a total of 41% of the entrepreneurs agreed. 28% of the entrepreneurs agree that one of the main challenges that they are facing is capital and this confirms the literature review. 21% of the entrepreneurs agree that bureaucracy can be a challenge for them, which agrees with the literature review.

Regarding market uncertainty, we found that 44% of the entrepreneurs strongly agreed that it affects them and only 17% disagreed. The financial resources turned out to be a major factor for the entrepreneurs, from the results we got from the survey 55% strongly agreed that financial resources are important and only 10% disagreed.

Table 3: Hypothesis analysis

Conclusion

Based on the findings obtained from the surveys we found out that gender has a small effect on self assessment and on anchoring, while education and age has also a small effect on self assessment and on anchoring. A major motivational factor for people in Jordan is the need for achievement by contributing to the community. People in Jordan have little interest in public recognition. Moreover, the common personality trait that is shared among entrepreneurs in Jordan, is that they are open to new experiences and being extraverted and enthusiastic. The thing they consider to be the least important is being conventional and uncreative. We also found out that entrepreneurs follow an organized plan to reach their goals and they anticipate important decisions.

We came up with the conclusion that there is a lack of awareness about the entrepreneurs, who are they, what do they do and if there are any companies that support them. We recommend that workshops and awareness campaigns about the entrepreneurial subject be implemented. These campaigns should be held in schools and universities. In this way the student's awareness will increase towards entrepreneurial agencies like Oasis500 and iPark. They will also be better informed on how to become an entrepreneur. Students survey indicate that the majority do not know about entrepreneurial agencies in Jordan, so if they want to become entrepreneurs, they have no idea where to go or where to get help in adopting, implementing and funding their ideas in order to benefit their community.

We recommend to the universities to include in their study plan training, in order to help the scholars to have a good and clear vision about what is it like to be an entrepreneur. Jordan highly depends of human capital, so it is essential to invest in people, to help them achieve their potential and stimulate their creativity. Their ideas will help benefit their society. Any kind of challenges, like cultural obstacles, can be opportunities if the entrepreneur interprets them in another way, in a positive way that can help reach the entrepreneurial goal. All kind of successful entrepreneurs failed at one time or another, but the determination helped them reach their goals. Our recommendation is for people to believe in themselves and proceed on their path to a career that can benefit the society.

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