Persoonlikheidsverskille tussen manlike entrepreneurs van verskillende kultuurgroepe

English: At the moment stagnation is one of the problems South Africa's economy has to face. The formal sector's inability to create enough job opportunities is due to among other things urbanisation, over-population and rationalisation. Thus, entrepreneurship is a common phenomenon because the large numbers of unemployed people have to create their own jobs in order to survive. For years researchers tried to identify the characteristics of the successful entrepreneur. After several studies were undertaken, they concluded that no provision was made for differences in the personalities of black and white South Africans. Diversity is one of the most striking features of the South Africa's population. Two examples are educational levels and the distribution of wealth. Will the personality profiles of different cultural groups differ? American studies could identify definite dissimilarities regarding the personalities of black and white American male entrepreneurs. The environmental context of the formerly disadvantaged black people in South Africa differs radically from that of the so-called American Negroes. This increases the possibility that the personalities of the South African black and white male entrepreneurs - with their diverse backgrounds - will not be the same. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine whether significant differences can be identified regarding the personality factors of these two groups. Entrepreneurship is no simple event - it is a dynamic, continuous process aimed at the long-term. Since entrepreneurs interact with their environment, the review of published literature focused on the influence external factors have on them. More specifically attention was paid to their background factors and economic environment as well as political, technological and social factors. It became evident that people with a similar background will have similar features and this enables the researcher to predict the personality characteristics of entrepreneurs. Prompted by previous empirical findings the dominant features associated with the successful entrepreneur were identified, namely drive, persistence, achievement need, purposiveness, creativity and imaginativeness, willingness to take calculated risks, self-confidence, integrity, an internal locus of control, an aspiration to be independent as well as other characteristics like the effective management of time and self-knowledge. Because it was the theoretical forerunner of factor analysis, personalistic psychology was used to characterise the personality concept. This theoretical frame makes it possible to divide personality into basic personality factors in terms of which people can then be described. Eighty subjects who meet Boshoff' s requirements for successful entrepreneurs participated in this study. The forty black and forty white male entrepreneurs each completed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, Schepers' Locus of Control Questionnaire as well as a biographical questionnaire developed by the researcher herself. The multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine the differences. The findings reveal the existence of statistically significant differences between white and black male entrepreneurs. It turned out that in comparison with black male entrepreneurs, the white male entrepreneurs are more emotionally stable, selfsatisfied, adaptable, domineering, independent, autonomous and daring. They are also more self-confident and motivated by achievements while the black male entrepreneur is more emotionally sensitive and more anxious. He is also characterised by an external locus of control. In view of the fact that there does not exist enough South African research on entrepreneurs and especially on the personality characteristics of the black male entrepreneur, further investigations are necessary to determine whether these results can be generalised. The biographical details also revealed that most entrepreneurs were involved in the service industry. Thus, prospective entrepreneurs can be encouraged to enter the production sector. Finally: smce it was determined m this dissertation that black and white male entrepreneurs differ significantly regarding twelve personality factors, the null hypothesis are rejected.