ly origin (does the entrepreneur come from an ‘entrepreneurial’ family?) could offer positive role models. Personal networks could determine a decision to become self-employed by offering emotional and ‘technical’ support; they could also influence business strategies by facilitating access to business resources (Bruederl et al 1996, Klandt 1984). Other important factors are socio-demographic characteristics such as ethnic origin, age and gender (e.g., Brush 1992, Voigt 1994) and the professional origin such as educational degrees and professional experience (Klandt 1984, Goldberg and Sen 1993, Preisendoerfer 1998). For example, age influences self-employment and survival in two ways. On the one hand, older persons are more settled down in terms of family and profession which explains a decreasing professional mobility resulting in a lower interest in self-employment unless push-factors such as unemployment occur. On the other hand, skills, know-how, competence and self-confidence increase with age, which positively influence survival and success of businesses (Hinz 1998).Microeconomic factors such as financial resources, planned location and legal form, purchasing power and demand preferences also affect survival and success of entrepreneurs (e.g. Hinz 1998). Branch and sectoral contexts play an additional important role in that start-ups in branches such as transport or trade are more likely to fail than in the manufacturing industry or in knowledge-intensive services.With respect to the individual (the entrepreneur) his or her personal characteristics and disposition play an additional role. The macro and microenvironment determines individual behavior and decisions also by influencing the personality. Psychological research with respect to personal characteristics of entrepreneurs identified a number of personal traits such as need of achievement (McClelland 1961), locus of control or risk orientation. "A sta...
