PhD defence of Indy Bernoster 20 December 2018

With regards to psychology, we see that 'overconfidence' has a positive effect on the tendency to become an entrepreneur, but not on the strategy that the entrepreneur implements. Optimism has a positive effect on both the the tendency to become an entrepreneur as well as the strategy that the entrepreneur implements. Furthermore, positive feelings and emotions have a positive effect upon the strategy implemented, as well as on the ability to identify opportunities in the market, on the development of good business & social networks and on controlling stress. All these aspects will make your enterprise more successful, as long as success is measured by the level of profits made.

With regards to biology, the dissertation of Indy Bernoster focusses on behaviour and brain activity. The reason why brain activity is used is because it is 'fair' to do so. In questionnaires, people tend to fill in socially desirable answers, while brain activity is unconscious and uncontrollable. However, we can not find any prove of a relationship between behaviour and brain activity on the one side and entrepreneurship on the other side. We can even not find a relationship if we replace entrepreneurship by concepts which lie much closer to the field of psychology, such as impulsivity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This is interesting, because in previous research the latter relations were found. However, these researches were based on relatively small samples, whereas Indy Bernoster uses multiple large samples in her research. As such, it is important to replicate these former results using larger samples. 

From a practical perspective, this dissertation contributes to the knowledge about the profile of an entrepreneur. This knowledge can be used to link a personality profile to an occupation in a successful manner. This is important, according to the ‘Person-Environment Fit’ theory. A mismatch between a personality profile and occupation can namely be harmful for a person's physical and mental health. By having more knowledge about the personality of an entrepreneur available, we can improving the matching process. Moreover, this knowledge can contribute to more focused education. The earlier we know that somebody is fit to become an entrepreneur, the more specific training this person can be given.