Resumo

The definition of entrepreneur used in this article is as self-motivated high-achiever, a risk-taker and a non-specialist that intermediates between different functions to innovate within an organization or by creating a new organization. Individuals that are entrepreneurs to continue a family tradition have different individual characteristics might have different individual characteristics and might choose to follow this path to earn their living.

This article aims to answer three questions: if the family tradition type of entrepreneurship has different individual characteristics as age, gender, income, education, business skills, risk aversion, and social network compared to others. Also, if they are more present in developing economies and third, to study whether family-based entrepreneurs are more related to entrepreneurship out of necessity or earn of living.

An entrepreneur can be influenced by numerous factors and certainly family influence could be one of them. The way parents raise their children, family business and creativity activities can foster entrepreneurial intentions. Success and achievement while parents are running their business can foster entrepreneurial intentions in offspring not only for financial rewards, but also for status, fulfillment, or even autonomy. A family background in business ownership may be a relevant factor in determining entrepreneurial activity.

The methodology used is first, to obtain data from the Adult Population Surveys, collected by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) on individuals from 43 countries for 2020. Second, a series of hypothesis testing is performed considering the assumptions checks needed for normality and equality of variances of the independent samples. Finally, the results are analyzed having the objective of answering the proposed questions.

The results show that age, gender and the role of social networks are not different from individuals that are entrepreneurs to continue a family tradition compared to the rest. On the other hand, we reject the equality of means regarding income, education, business skills and risk aversion. Also, the family tradition type of entrepreneurship seems to be more present in low income and lower middle-income countries. Finally, individuals that are entrepreneurs to continue a family tradition might have their motive more related to necessity than opportunity compared to others.

The conclusion is that family tradition type of entrepreneurship are different in terms of income, education, business skills and risk aversion, and not different in terms of age, gender and social network compared to others. Also, they are more present in developing countries (low income and lower middle -income countries) and their motive are more related to necessity or earn of living.

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