Abstract

The authors propose an entrepreneurial process model, partially based on social psychologic studies, to deeply examine the relationships among small firm owners' personality, their strategic orientation and the introduction of innovation processes. In the first part of the model, they show that a small entrepreneur with a proactive personality can directly and positively influence the innovation path of his/her firm following a prospective strategic orientation. This key factor determines the nature and the rate of innovations introduced and implemented within the business. Using applications on a sample test of 225 small business owners located in the Southern Italy, they demonstrates that prospector strategy orientation brings closer proactive personality and innovation tendency. Implications for small business managers as well as future research directions are proposed.