The enterprising person has entrepreneurial characteristics
The description of the enterprising person is drawn from what is known about entrepreneurs; the idea being that the enterprising person shares entrepreneurial characteristics. GET2 assumes that enterprise is a wider concept that includes more than business owner-managers and entrepreneurs, recognising that there are different types of entrepreneurs, distinguished by their growth orientation, motivation, type of business, involvement with new technology, association with business owner management, and so on. The enterprising person may be an entrepreneur, or an intrapreneur, working within organisations, or the voluntrapreneur who sets up and leads voluntary projects in the community. An enterprising tendency is defined as the tendency to start up and manage projects.
Worldwide interest in GET2
Since the General measure of Enterprising Tendency (GET) test was developed in 1988 Durham University Business School, it has generated a lot of interest amongst academics, working internationally in the areas of entrepreneurship and innovation. In recent years it has generated interest amongst academics and researchers working in higher educational institutions and universities, as well as development consultancies*, for its potential as both an educational and research tool including, by continent:
Europe
- Bordeaux École de Management, Bordeaux, France
- Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, England
- Durham University Business School, Durham, England
- Henley Management College
- Hull University, England
- Kingston University, Small Business Research Centre, London, England
- Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University
- Nottingham Trent University, , Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Department, England
- SFEDI - Business advice and standards setting for business enterprise, Tower Hamlets London
- Siauliai University, the Faculty of Educology in Educational Researches Scientific Centre Lithuania, Lithuania
- SME development organisations, Croatia
- Tallinn Technical University / Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
- TSM Business School and Management Consulting of the University of Twente, Netherlands
- TUI Education division plc. – to support staff and student travel activities
- Open Business School, Open University, Milton Keynes, England
- Newcastle University, Newcastle, England
- University of Southampton, Institute for Entrepreneurship, Southampton, England
- University of Stirling, Scottish Enterprise Foundation, Scotland
- Waterford Institute of Technology, School of Science, Waterford, Ireland
- Westminster University, London
Asia
- Anadolu University, Faculty of Econ. and Adm. Science, Turkey
- International Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Malaya, Malaysia
- Marmara Universitesi, Anadoluhisari Istanbul, Turkey
- Mindanao- the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU--IIT), University of Phillipines, Phillipines
- TSM Business School and Management Consulting of the University of Twente, Netherlands (on behalf of Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia)
- Universiti Brunei Darussalam, State of Brunei, Borneo
- University of India
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
- Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Centre for Languages and Human Development, Melaka, Malaysia
Oceania
- Shellharbour City Council and Illawarra Regional Development Agency, Australia
- University of Western Australia, Centre for Entrepreneurial Management, Australia
North America
- Iowa State University, Office of Social and Economic Trend Analysis (SETA), Rural Development Initiative, USA
- University of Georgia, Department of Workforce Education, Leadership, and Social Foundations, Georgia
South America
- Federal University of Pelotas, Engineering, Brazil
Africa
- University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
If your Institute is using Get2 but is not yet on this list, please contact me.
The original GET test
The original GET test was developed 1987-1988 with funding from the University Grants Committee whose functions have now been taken over by the Higher Education Funding Council. The research followed a literature review to identify key psychological characteristics of entrepreneurs which were general to other enterprising people. Psychological tests were reviewed and a bank of entrepreneurial descriptive statements was assembled from the literature on entrepreneurs, the psychological tests of key entrepreneurial characteristics and pilot testing with entrepreneurs. The test was developed for a paper application with little detail on interpretation. Construct validity and reliability was established by testing the measure on occupational groups and finding that entrepreneurs were significantly more enterprising than teachers, nurses, civil servants and clerical workers and lecturers and trainers if a 5% probability of error is accepted in the statistical analysis (Caird, 1991 a&b). A more complex picture of the differences between occupational groups emerged when specific enterprising characteristics were examined, if a 1% probability of error is accepted in the statistical analysis. Entrepreneurs did not score significantly higher than lecturers and trainers on the enterprising characteristics: need for autonomy, creative tendency and calculated risk taking. Teachers, nurses, and civil servants did not have a significantly different creative tendency to entrepreneurs. As expected entrepreneurs do not have the monopoly on enterprising characteristics, but are generally more enterprising than the other occupational groups in the study. Since the development of the GET test it has been used for educational purposes with students, school pupils and participants on enterprise training courses.
Further Developments of GET
GET was later adapted for use by Training Enterprise Companies (TEC) in the form of a knowledge-based system to contribute to business owner-managers' training. Due to a lack of funding opportunities there was no further work to establish reliability and validity and the GET test was mainly used in education, to stimulate discussion and personal reflection about enterprise. Despite, the 20 years passed the test has continued to generate world-wide interest. A revised GET2 test was developed and published in a book on entrepreneurship and innovation by Professor Mazzarol, University of Western Australia who has found it to be one of the best of the tests available. The test is not definitive, however, and would benefit from further development and testing. It should primarily be used as an educational aid for stimulating personal reflection and discussion about enterprise.