Genetic Basis of Entrepreneurship

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 110 (2009) 93–107

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The genetic basis of entrepreneurship: Effects of gender and personality
Zhen Zhang a,*, Michael J. Zyphur b, Jayanth Narayanan c, Richard D. Arvey c, Sankalp Chaturvedi d, Bruce J. Avolio e, Paul Lichtenstein f, Gerry Larsson g a Department of Management, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-4006, United States Department of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia c Department of Management and Organization, Business School, National University of Singapore, 117592, Singapore d Department of Organization and Management, Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom e Department of Management and Organization, Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3200, United States f Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Box 281, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden g Department of Leadership and Management, Swedish National Defence College, SE-65180 Karlstad, Sweden b a r t i c l e

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Extending previous research on the genetic underpinnings of entrepreneurship, we investigate gender differences in the genetic influences on the tendency of people to become entrepreneurs. We also examined two mediating variables through which genetic factors may impact this tendency: extraversion and neuroticism. Based on 1285 pairs of identical twins (449 male and 836 female pairs) and 849 pairs of same-sex fraternal twins (283 male and 566 female pairs), we found that females have a strong genetic influence and zero shared-environmental influences on their