Keywords

Elderly Personality Traits, Employees’ Decisions, Entrepreneurs, Good Self Esteem, Positive Mindset, Social Relationships

Introdution

Personality is the combination of different traits. Human is biologically the same. Traits make them different. Traits form the nature of a person. There are a large number of traits existing in humans. Every person behaves and is identified by the qualities he possessed. These qualities and traits remain to change with the age factor and can be improved and learned over time. These traits could be categories as inherent and learned. Personality traits are surface-level observations visible from the outside. These qualities and traits have a deep impact on life. One decides the pattern of life on the base of attitude and intentions build by these traits. It is evident from a wide range of researches that entrepreneurship and the contributing personality traits have been investigated in a good amount of numbers. A good reason for this can be that entrepreneurship is considered as an answer to promote self-employment, economic growth & innovation (Sriyakul & Jermsittiparsert, 2019a, 2019b). Entrepreneurial activity and new firm formation are unquestionably considered engines of economic growth and innovation (Rabbi, Bature, 2019). It has been observed that entrepreneurship has gained a lot of attention in unemployed youth, for that matter, it is equally important to study entrepreneurship in the elder group of employees’ since elderly entrepreneurship is an emerging trend (Hodges, 2020).

Entrepreneurship has become an attractive career option for both the young and the old, but age has not been thoroughly examined as a variable of interest among entrepreneurship scholars. This research study adds to the body of knowledge by predicting which factors or personality traits influence an elderly employees’ decision for selecting entrepreneurship as employment while analyzing the effect of age on entrepreneurial employment decision as to the mainstream. This research highlights three primary personality traits (positive mindset, social relationships, good self-esteem) for measuring the effect and finding out the relationship between these personality traits and the elderly employees’ employment decision of entrepreneurship in their later life (Chapra, 2008).

With a large part of elderly employees in population, there is an immediate need to understand and focus on major challenges faced by the elderly employees. The employers are reluctant to employ elderly employees because of less energy, high health costs, and a gap in awareness of new technology, forgetfulness, and inadaptability. However, elder employees have a lifelong experience, financial stability, and firm decision-making capability which might attract or push them to choose entrepreneurship as employment (Buccieri, 2020).

In order to, propose a solution and prove age as an advantage to elderly employee’s employment challenges, this article proposes a new framework that aims to find out how positive mindset, social relationships, and good self-esteem are associated with elderly employees' selection of Entrepreneurial employment (Hameed, 2019). “The results of several studies have shown that personality traits influence the propensity to start a business. With that being said, there is a lack of knowledge in research, which points out what influences an elderly employee mindset the most.

The first and the most important personality trait is a ‘positive mindset’ which plays a very important role because “Entrepreneurship is a battle that not many can endure. Maintaining that entrepreneurial spirit is something every Entrepreneur struggles with throughout the lifetime of their business (Kithae, 2013).

A second personality trait is, social relationships, “The entrepreneurial process or entrepreneurship is heavily dependent on the social network where entrepreneurs are driven by opportunity-seeking behavior and not by a simple desire to invest resources. A good reason for how social relationships affect an individual’s employment decision is that people observe and learn from their peers, this connectivity might help them in finding a solution to their own problems and the desire to acquire the social and employment benefits from their social group. Briefly, social relationships are an integral part of entrepreneurship and the influence of this personality trait on elderly employees seems effective (Turner, Shattuck, Finkelhor, & Hamby, 2017).

Third and the last personality trait is good self-esteem. “The individuals with personality traits such as a high degree of determination, self-confidence, tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty, risk-taking, etc; are more involved in entrepreneurial activities and business creation. This highlights that good self-esteem is an antecedent of entrepreneurial choice as employment (Rojas-Flores, 2017).

This study adds to the literature by highlighting the factors which contribute towards motivating an elder employee to choose entrepreneurship as employment in his later life. It further examines a positive and significant relationship between the employment decision can be of an elder employee and the personality traits.

However, their study suggests conducting further research studies to find out, how to ensure improvement in shaping these personality traits 1) positive mindset, 2) Social Relationships, 3) Good self-esteem, and also, to reduce the amount of loss for a self-employed elderly employee. Furthermore, this study opens up the platform to investigate concerns such as (training, maximization of resources, incorporating innovation & technology) of elderly employees regarding their entrepreneurial efforts. Lastly, this study invites researchers to investigate and highlight, how and when an employee in his/her middle age group shall plan to look into alternative means of employment for his later life (Morelli, Bianchi, Baiocco, Pezzuti, & Chirumbolo, 2016).

Literature Review

History’s oldest people tend to have the potential to bear and face stress. They remain open to the event and happenings of life. Human traits are different at different stages of life. Elderly traits which are positive mindset, good self-esteem, social relation is very valuable. Many scholars have given their conclusion of studies that these vital elderly traits can bring a positive change in personal and professional life. The focus of the current study is to check the impact of these elderly traits (positive mindset, good self-esteem, social relations) on the employees’ decisions. This article highlights the literature on elderly personality traits and employees’ decision to choose entrepreneurship as employment. In this literature, the three important personality traits discussed in our study are covered, from background to latest research trends (Gong, Palmer, Gallacher, Marsden, & Fone, 2016). Extensive research work has been conducted on personality traits of entrepreneurs, but it is still understudied how personality traits i.e. 1) positive mindset, 2) Social Relationships, 3) Good self-esteem influence an elderly employee to choose entrepreneurship as employment. This study explains each personality trait separately to predict an elder’s employment choice in late career Figure 1.

Positive Mindset and Employees’ Decision

When something is going wrong usually people use to say the first thing is to stay strong and positive. This applies to professional and personal life. A positive mindset is the combination of positive traits, one may look cheesy, smiling, and thinking positive can give positive vibes from nature. Having a positive attitude at the job can be better at the workplace. People look at you as an improved and attractive person. A positive attitude is important in every field of like but the more important reason is to stay positive at the workplace. The behavior of a person in the workplace also impacts the others. It needs to be more careful and show positivity. Elderly personality trait has a positive mindset as an essential part. In a nutshell, elderly entrepreneurship selection is an emerging trend and it is important to investigate the factors which directly or indirectly influence the selection of self-employment in late-career of an employee. In addition to the contributing factors, it will be worthy to research the real cause for choosing self-employment, employees’ efforts, and challenges while moving towards their entrepreneurial journey (Batty, 2017).

To understand the importance of a positive mindset for the selection of Entrepreneurship as employment, it is important to highlight the disadvantages of a negative mindset as well. A negative mindset inculcates negative thoughts which can lead to a lack of confidence and underperformance. Whereas, People with a positive mindset, exhibit positive energy and they can control a panic situation, to have a better outlook on life and to be a good decision-maker. As an entrepreneur, it is very important to stay strong and optimistic especially when setbacks arise, which is key to moving forward and pushing through. It is not only the new science to develop. Many old studies have shown the importance of these traits. In a study, it has been mentioned that nearly it would be compulsory to accept the traits as an important personality building factor. Studies also have shown that when a positive mindset developed it saves from many difficulties. A tension-free person is more efficient to make good decisions than the tensive one. Organizations are dependent on the decisions of employees. It is very important to take care of the employees’ psychology (Barroso, Gharachorloo, & Bugnion, 1998). Organizational environment and measures taken by the management are helpful for the satisfaction of workers. Satisfied employees perform well under all conditions. From the above discussion it can be assumed as:

H1: Positive mindset has a significant impact on employees’ decisions.

Good Self Esteem and Employees’ Decision

A 2014 survey conducted by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that 12.4% of unemployed Americans suffer from depression compared to 5.6% of those who work full time. For those who have been without a job for a long period. This rate of depression is increasing continuously (Walumbwa et al., 2019). Employment is deeply linked with self-esteem. It has been observed that people at a job feel more confident and enjoy high self-esteem. Unemployed people feel that they don’t have resources to spend life and feel a burden for others (Tolstykh et al., 2020). At the same time, entrepreneurship is highly related to risks. Several employees are pushed to choose self-employment due to different circumstances i.e. absence of a job, aging challenges, retirement policies, etc. “with limited experience and resources needed for striking out on one’s own, the likelihood of failure is real. As well, savings accumulated over a lifetime of work can be eaten up in a failed or struggling venture. Such risks extend to those who enter willingly into the entrepreneurial world as well, and sage advice should be offered and meaningful safeguards put in place to preclude this group from depleting resources needed for living in late-life comfort (Roselli et al., 2000).

Entrepreneurs are usually highly energetic individuals with tons of self-motivation. The individuals with personality traits such as a high degree of determination, self-confidence, tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty, risk-taking, etc; are more involved in entrepreneurial activities and business creation. Many studies have been conducted but the current study is the gap as the dependent variable is decision making. From the discussion, a hypothesis can be formulated as:

H2: Good self-esteem has a significant impact on employees’ decisions.

Social Relationships and Employees’ Decision

Studies suggest that there is job pressure, anxiety, and other issues in the workplace. Employees face all these with their job. Social relations are very important to be satisfied in the workplace (Walumbwa et al., 2019). Good relations with the management and employees give the confident Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout in seeking the highest profit maximization and they can only achieve this by exploiting and capitalizing on opportunities coming their way. One way of sensing and making the most of opportunities is by tapping into one's social network, where a social network is thought to be an actual set of links of all kinds amongst a set of individuals. Entrepreneurship has been a center of attraction since it is considered an effective way to reduce unemployment, for any individual. It gives a chance to fulfill one’s dreams if he has the intention to choose the battle of Entrepreneurship (Walumbwa et al., 2019).

On the other hand, aging is a natural event. “The average life expectancy is over eighty years for most countries and it is assumed that it will increase even more in the future (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development OECD (Tolkachev, Bykov, Morkovkin, Borisov, & Gavrilin, 2020). It has been observed that age grows experience and elderly employees can prove themselves as successful. People in the circle make the mindset to act accordingly. There is a deep impact of opinions and company on one’s life. The positive company builds the positivism and confidence to deal with the challenges (Ghislieri, Molino, & Cortese, 2018). Social relationships bring health rewards to employees. Studies have shown that the more social relationships someone has, the greater the person's ability to fight the common cold Literature supports to build a hypothesis given as:

H3: Social relationships have a significant impact on employees’ decision.

Research Methodology

The research methodology is telling about selected research design, population, sample, data collection technique, and also about the statistical tool used for data analysis (Iqbal & Hameed, 2020). In the current study, a quantitative research approach was used which is also called the deductive approach rather than a qualitative approach. A study is conducted for analyzing the impact of elderly personality traits on employees’ decision to choose employment of entrepreneurs. Unit of analysis or in other words the population of this study were entrepreneurs of Yasothon, Thailand.

Types of non-probability sampling technique like convenient and snow all sampling was used. These techniques are helpful when data is a wide spreader and through this respondent were also do help in data collection. For data, a collection questionnaire was constructed, and items related to variables like elderly personality traits like (Positive mindset, good self-esteem, and social relationships) from prior studies. The questionnaire was administrated on a 7-point Likert scale design. Data is collected via e-mail. The E-mail was sent to respondents with the purpose of the statement that data remain confidential and only be used for research purposes. After fulfilling the questionnaire respondents resent it to the author. 200 sample size is selected and is enough to analyze the impact of variables like elderly personality traits like (Positive mindset, good self-esteem, and social relationships) on employees’ decisions to choose entrepreneurship as employment.

Research Results

After removing the outliers and missing values from collected data. The remaining data analyzed by a statistical tool named Smart PLS. PLS has two major models. One is the measurement model and the other is structural model assessment. The measurement model of Smart PLS is used for analyzing the normality of data. Normality of data verified by reliability and validity tests. Factor loading, the value of alpha, composite reliability and average variance extracted is tested for reliability. And the value of cross loading in Table 3 is for validity. All values are under the value of the threshold. The value of reliability and validity tests are displayed in Figure 2 and Tables 1-3.

The second model (Figure 3) is the structural model assessment used for analyzing the hypothesis that is made in the literature part of this study. Results revealed that, elderly personality traits like (positive mindset, good self-esteem, and social relationships have a significant impact on employees’ decision to choose employment of entrepreneurship by examining the t values. T values are greater than 1.96 which means the hypothesis is accepted. The intensity of relationships that whether the relationship is positive or negative analyzed by the value of beta. The positive value showed positive relations. All values of this structural model assessment depicted in Figure 3, Table 3.

Discussion and Conclusion

Different hypotheses are made in the literature part of this study for analyzing the impact of elderly personality traits on employees’ decision to choose employment of entrepreneurs. Results that are discussed in the analysis discussion revealed that elderly personality traits have a positive significant impact on Employees’ Decisions. Elderly personality traits like a positive mindset have a positive significant impact on an employee’s decision (Eberhard et al., 2017). Positive mindset increases the positive energy n employees and they are energetic to accomplish their tasks. Like a positive mindset, good self-esteem also has a positive impact on employees’ decisions. Higher self-esteem and more respect for themselves also increase the employees’ decision to choose entrepreneurship as a career (Selamat, Alias, Hikmi, Puteh, & Tapsi, 2017). For choosing entrepreneurship as career close social relationships have a positive significant impact on it.

Implications are of two types, one is theoretical and the other is practical. The study is considered important or essential when it is implied theoretically or practically. Theoretically, this study is important in a way that this study was conducted for analyzing the elderly personality traits that help in changing the decision of employment of entrepreneurs. This type of study is missing in prior literature. Practical this study helpful for individuals that they all know about the importance of personality traits in making decisions for choosing employment. This study is helpful in a way that individuals choose their employment according to their traits. This study also gives suggestions to mangers that they could design their job descriptions and duties according to the basis of individuals’ personality traits.

References

1. Barroso, L., Gharachorloo, K., & Bugnion, E. (1998). Memory system characterization of commercial workloads. Paper presented at the 25th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture, Barcelona Spain, June 1998.
2. Batty, G., Russ, T., Stamatakis, E., & Kivimäki, M. (2017). Psychological distress in relation to site specific cancer mortality: pooling of unpublished data from 16 prospective cohort studies. BMJ, 356, j108.
3. Buccieri, D., Javalgi, R., & Cavusgil, E. (2020). International new venture performance: Role of international entrepreneurial culture, ambidextrous innovation, and dynamic marketing capabilities. International Business Review, 29(2), 101639.
4. Chapra, M., Khan, S., & Al Shaikh-Ali, A. (2008). The Islamic vision of development in the light of maqasid al-Shariah. Jeddah: Islamic Development Bank.
5. Eberhard, B., Podio, M., Alonso, A., Radovica, E., Avotina, L., Peiseniece, L., . . . Solé-Pla, J. (2017). Smart work: The transformation of the labour market due to the fourth industrial revolution (I4.0). International Journal of Business & Economic Sciences Applied Research, 10(3), 47-66.
6. Ghislieri, C., Molino, M., & Cortese, C. (2018). Work and organizational psychology looks at the fourth industrial revolution: How to support workers and organizations?. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2365.
7. Gong, Y., Palmer, S., Gallacher, J., Marsden, T., & Fone, D. (2016). A systematic review of the relationship between objective measurements of the urban environment and psychological distress. Environment international, 96, 48-57.
8. Hameed, W., Nisar, Q., Abbas, A., Waqas, A., & Meo, M. (2019). Microfinance Institutions as a Strategic Tool to Enhance Women’s Career Development in Pakistan. Asian Women, 35(2), 93-128.
9. Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Retrieved from https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning.
10. Iqbal, J., & Hameed, W. (2020). Open Innovation Challenges and Coopetition-Based Open-Innovation Empirical Evidence from Malaysia. In P. Pablos, X. Zhang, & K. Chui (eds.). Innovative Management and Business Practices in Asia (pp. 144-166). Pennsylvania: IGI Global.
11. Kithae, P., Nyaga, J., & Kimani, J. (2013). Role of microfinance factors on the sustainability of women managed micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Kenya. International NGO Journal, 8(4), 94-99.
12. Morelli, M., Bianchi, D., Baiocco, R., Pezzuti, L., & Chirumbolo, A. (2016). Sexting, psychological distress and dating violence among adolescents and young adults. Psicothema, 28(2), 137-142.
13. Rabbi, F., Bature, S., Omari, M., & Jermsittiparsert, K. (2019). The Mediating Effect of University Role in Determining the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation, Entrepreneurial Perception and New Venture Creation: A Thai Case Study. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 6(10), 278-298.
14. Rojas-Flores, L., Clements, M., Hwang Koo, J., & London, J. (2017). Trauma and psychological distress in Latino citizen children following parental detention and deportation. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 9(3), 352.
15. Roselli, D.., Lorch, J., & Anderson, T. (2000). A Comparison of File System Workloads. Paper presented at the Annual Conference on USENIX Annual Technical Conference, June 2020.
16. Selamat, A., Alias, R., Hikmi, S., Puteh, M., & Tapsi, S. (2017). Higher education 4.0: Current status and readiness in meeting the fourth industrial revolution challenges. Redesigning Higher Education towards Industry, 4, 23-24.
17. Sriyakul, T. & Jermsittiparsert, K. (2019a). The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Passion in the Relationship between Entrepreneur Education and Entrepreneurial Intention among University Students in Thailand. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 6(10), 193-212.
18. Sriyakul, T. & Jermsittiparsert, K. (2019b). The Role of Entrepreneur Education in Shaping Student’s Views on Self-Employment: A Study of University Students in Thailand. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 6(10), 233-257.
19. Tolkachev, S., Bykov, A., Morkovkin, D., Borisov, O., & Gavrilin, A. (2020). Digitalization of manufacturing in Russia, Belarus and the European Union. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 421(3), 032041.
20. Tolstykh, T., Kretova, N., Logun, K., Popikov, A., & Kuznetsov, V. (2020). Directions and resource support of information and communication policy of hi-tech enterprises in the conditions of digitalization of the economy. In E. Popkova (ed.). Growth Poles of the Global Economy: Emergence, Changes and Future Perspectives (pp. 1275-1285). Berlin: Springer.
21. Turner, H., Shattuck, A., Finkelhor, D., & Hamby, S. (2017). Effects of poly-victimization on adolescent social support, self-concept, and psychological distress. Journal of interpersonal violence, 32(5), 755-780.
22. Walumbwa, F., Hsu, I., Wu, C., Misati, E., & Christensen-Salem, A. (2019). Employee service performance and collective turnover: Examining the influence of initiating structure leadership, service climate and meaningfulness. Human relations, 72(7), 1131-1153.