Open Access
The Achieving Society
TLDR
The authors argued that cultural customs and motivations, especially the motivation for achievement, are the major catalysts of economic growth and proposed a plan to accelerate economic growth in developing countries by encouraging and supplementing their achievement motives through mobilizing the greater achievement resources of developed countries.Abstract:
Examines the motivation for achievement as a psychological factor that shapes economic development. Refuting arguments based on race, climate, or population growth, the book instead argues for cultural customs and motivations - especially the motivation for achievement - as the major catalysts of economic growth. Considering the Protestant Reformation, the rise of capitalism, parents' influences on sons, and folklore and children's stories as shaping cultural motivations for achievement, the book hypothesizes that a high level of achievement motivation precedes economic growth. This is supported through qualitative analysis of the achievement motive, as well as of other psychological factors - including entrepreneurial behavior and characteristics, and available sources of achievement in past and present highly achieving societies. It is the achievement motive - and not merely the profit motive or the desire for material gain - that has advanced societies economically. Consequently, individuals are not merely products of their environment, as many social scientists have asserted, but also creators of the environment, as they manipulate it in various ways in the search for achievement. Finally, a plan is hypothesized to accelerate economic growth in developing countries, by encouraging and supplementing their achievement motives through mobilizing the greater achievement resources of developed countries. The conclusion is not just that motivations shape economic progress, but that current influences on future people's motivations and values will determine economic growth in the long run. Thus, it is most beneficial for a society to concentrate its resources on creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and a strong ideological base for achievement. (CJC)read more
Citations
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Why Men Rebel
TL;DR: Why Men Rebel was first published in 1970 on the heels of a decade of political violence and protest not only in remote corners of Africa and Southeast Asia, but also at home in the United States as discussed by the authors.
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African Politics in Comparative Perspective
Nicolas van de Walle,Goran Hyden +1 more
TL;DR: The study of politics in Africa has been extensively studied in the literature as discussed by the authors, with the focus on the economy of affection, gender, ethnicity, and the external dimension of Africa.
Entrepreneurial regions: Do macro-psychological cultural characteristics of regions help solve the “knowledge paradox” of economics?
Martin Obschonka,Michael Stuetzer,Samuel D. Gosling,Peter J. Rentfrow,Michael E. Lamb,Jeff Potter,David B. Audretsch +6 more
TL;DR: For example, the authors hypothesize that the statistical relation between knowledge resources and entrepreneurial vitality in a region will depend on "hidden" regional differences in entrepreneurial culture and derive measures of entrepreneurship-prone culture from two large personality datasets from the United States and Great Britain.
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Gem Research: Achievements and Challenges
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Kasvun tekijät : tutkimus Suomen teollistumisen ajan perustajayrittäjistä 1870-1990
TL;DR: Möttönen et al. as discussed by the authors investigated entrepreneurs who founded successful, long-standing and high-growth companies and identified four main entrepreneur types: self-made man, practical entrepreneur, educated entrepreneur and business entrepreneur.
References
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The Psychological Basis of Opportunity Identification: Entrepreneurial Alertness
TL;DR: In this article, a systematic and conceptually sound study of entrepreneurial alertness and opportunity identification is outlined, and a research agenda for the systematic and theoretically sound study is outlined for this area.
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Goal theory, motivation, and school achievement: An integrative review.
TL;DR: It is concluded that the quality of student learning as well as the will to continue learning depends closely on an interaction between the kinds of social and academic goals students bring to the classroom, the motivating properties of these goals and prevailing classroom reward structures.
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The Cultural Relativity of the Quality of Life Concept
TL;DR: In this article, the dominant work-related values patterns in 53 countries and regions are used to suggest how definitions of the quality of life are affected by national culture patterns, and how these values are influenced by different cultures.
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Psychological characteristics associated with performence in entrepreneurial firms and smaller businesses
Thomas M. Begley,David P. Boyd +1 more
TL;DR: This article examined the prevalence of five psychological attributes in a sample of established entrepreneurs, including need for achievement, locus of control, risk-taking propensity, tolerance of ambiguity, and Type A behavior.