Abstract:
Much of the research conducted in India in the area of entrepreneurship considers personality characteristics and motivation interchangeably. This article argues that there is a need to treat entrepreneurial motivation as a separate entity and objectively measure and classify different types of motivation to draw meaningful inferences. The authors attempt here to develop a scale relevant to the Indian context to measure entrepreneurial motivation. The sample for the study was drawn from 195 potential women entrepreneurs. Five core motivations-the entrepreneurial core motivations, the work core motivation, the social core motivation, the individual core motivation and the economic core motivation-are identified with the help of factor analysis by the principal components method. Their strength is measured using the Likert-type five-point rating scale.