Sociological and Social Psychological Aspects of Indian Entrepreneurship

D. C. McClelland's theory of n Ach (Need for Achievement) & its relationship to entrepreneurship is disputed. It is argued "That the application of n Ach theory to explain the paucity of entrepreneurial activities in contemporary developing countries is problematic since the basic assumptions of n Ach theory are derived from & possibly are idiosyncratic to Western industr'ized societies." The present inquiry considers 2 approaches to Indian entrepreneurship: (1) as a function of n Ach theory, or (2) as an extended fam phenomenon. 27 small-scale manufacturers were scored on a sentence completion test measuring n Ach. 15 of the entrepreneurs were managing fam-owned factories, 8 were proprietors, & 4 were in partnership & Corp subsidiaries. The entrepreneurs came from varied occup'al backgrounds, & SE data were obtained from them. 3 hyp's were not supported: (a) "entrepreneurs whose first occup's were in business would be more likely to have n Ach than entrepreneurs from non-business backgrounds" (b) entrepreneurs who assumed responsibility for initiating their factory would have a higher n Ach than non-initiators. & (c) "an individual performing an occup'al role which is congruent with his psychol'al needs is more likely to be successful than an individual whose psychol'al needs do not fit the role requirement of his occup." The data presented here "suggest that entrepreneurship among the Indian small-scale manufacturers studied may be more meaningfully viewed as a situational phenomenon tied to the type of ownership of the business enterprise than as an individual phenomenon." 2 Tables. J. Grimes.