What do you do when you spot an opportunity? How do you react when faced with a difficulty? Before making an important decision, do you seek information or act solely on intuition?
These questions help us understand entrepreneurial behavior. Beyond understanding the market and knowing how to manage a business, entrepreneurship involves how a person sets goals, faces challenges, organizes activities, and interacts with others.
In this context, Entrepreneurial Behavioral Characteristics, known as EECs, provide a framework for reflecting on our attitudes and identifying opportunities for development.
In this article, you will learn about the ten EECs associated with David McClelland’s research and find a self-assessment tool to explore these behaviors.
What Are Entrepreneurial Behavioral Characteristics?
EECs are a set of behaviors related to entrepreneurial activity. Research by David McClelland and his colleagues contributed to the behavioral approach used by UNCTAD’s EMPRETEC program.
In this approach, ten characteristics are organized into three groups: achievement, planning, and power. The focus is on behaviors that can be observed and developed, such as seeking opportunities, setting goals, and building relationships.
This allows us to look at entrepreneurship through concrete situations: how do you prepare for a decision, monitor a project, or respond to a problem?
What Are the 10 EECs?
The EMPRETEC approach includes the following ten characteristics. The explanations and examples provided help us consider how they may appear in everyday life.
1. Opportunity Seeking and Initiative
This involves recognizing possibilities and taking action to make the most of them.
Example: when you notice a recurring problem among customers, you talk to them and test a possible solution.
2. Persistence
This involves continuing despite obstacles and looking for alternatives when an attempt does not work.
Example: if a business proposal is rejected, you try to understand the reasons and adjust your approach. Persistence may require changing direction.
3. Commitment
This relates to taking responsibility for commitments and making an effort to fulfill what has been agreed upon.
Example: when you realize that a delivery may be delayed, you reorganize activities and inform the customer in advance.
4. Demand for Quality and Efficiency
This involves looking for ways to improve work and make appropriate use of available resources.
Example: you review a production stage to reduce waste while maintaining product quality.
5. Taking Calculated Risks
This involves evaluating alternatives, potential losses, and ways to reduce uncertainty before taking action.
Example: before investing in a new product, you conduct a test with a small number of customers and estimate the costs involved.
6. Goal Setting
This involves defining objectives that guide your actions.
Example: instead of simply wanting to “increase sales,” you establish an expected result, a deadline, and a way to monitor progress.
7. Information Seeking
This relates to seeking relevant knowledge to make decisions.
Example: before starting a business, you interview potential customers, research competitors, and consult suppliers.
8. Systematic Planning and Monitoring
This involves organizing activities into stages and monitoring results to make adjustments.
Example: you divide the launch of a service into weekly tasks and check what has been completed, what has been delayed, and what needs to change.
9. Persuasion and Networking
This relates to the ability to communicate proposals and build relationships that contribute to achieving objectives.
Example: you present an idea clearly and seek partners whose interests are compatible with the project.
10. Independence and Self-Confidence
This involves trusting your own ability to act and taking responsibility for decisions.
Example: you present a proposal and stand by your choices while remaining open to learning from criticism and new information.
Can Entrepreneurial Characteristics Be Developed?
The EMPRETEC approach considers that these competencies can be learned and developed. For this reason, reflecting on behavior can be accompanied by practical experiences and changes in how we act.
To get started, choose a recent situation and examine what you did:
- What information did you seek before making a decision?
- How did you react when you encountered a difficulty?
- Did you set a goal and monitor your progress?
- Did you seek support or establish a partnership?
These questions can help turn concepts into observations about your own experience.
Take the EEC Self-Assessment
To support this reflection, I have made an online self-assessment tool for Entrepreneurial Behavioral Characteristics available.
It presents 55 statements and takes approximately ten minutes to complete. You can choose Brazilian or European Portuguese and assign a score from 1 to 10 to each statement, based on how well it describes your usual behavior.
Once completed, you can review your scores, record a personal reflection, and save the report as a PDF. Responses are calculated directly on your device and are not stored by the tool.
Click here to take your EEC self-assessment.
The result reflects your perception of your behaviors at that moment. The tool is intended for educational purposes and self-awareness: it is not a psychological diagnosis and does not determine your ability to become an entrepreneur.
Turn Reflection into Concrete Action
After completing the assessment, choose one characteristic you want to develop and define a small action that is achievable and measurable.
For example:
- Information Seeking: talk to five potential customers about a problem.
- Planning: organize upcoming activities into a weekly schedule.
- Networking: approach a potential partner and present a proposal.
- Goal Setting: define an objective for the next 30 days.
Write down what you intend to do and how you will evaluate your progress. This way, the self-assessment can serve as a starting point for experimenting with new behaviors and learning through practice.