Positioning Bank Managers for Entrepreneurship: The Importance of Personal and Job Attributes

The entrepreneurial nature of a bank determines its survivability. Thus, bank managers’ entrepreneurial behaviour plays an important role. Research on the predictors of managers’ entrepreneurial behaviour, particularly in the Malaysian service industries, are essential, yet they are scarcely available. Results of a survey of 271 managers in this study indicate that self-esteem, proactive personality, and job autonomy had a positive relationship with entrepreneurial behaviour. Interestingly, in relative terms, job autonomy holds a larger effect compared to personal attributes, such as self-esteem, and a proactive personality. Overall, this study is useful for aiding policymakers and practitioners in their efforts to understand the concept of entrepreneurial behaviour, which relies on the potential of personal, and job attributes, of managers in the banking sector. Finally, the study provides practical implications for human capital and organizational behaviour.