Entrepreneurial Motivation

This research explores the relationship among entrepreneurial motivation, related experience, environment hostility and financial success, among small retail business owner managers in Penang, Malaysia. Entrepreneurial motivation was categorized into 5 dimensions which are self-development, wealth creation, need for autonomy, push factors and lifestyle change. This study showed that financial success was explained by four dimensions of entrepreneurial motivation (in descending order of importance): self-development, wealth creation, need for autonomy and push factors. While, related experience was positively related to the financial success of small businesses. However, lifestyle change was found not an entrepreneurial motivation for financial success. This study found that environment hostility did not moderate the relationship among entrepreneurial motivation, related experience and financial success, and apart from self-development, there was no difference based on ethnic background.