The influence of self-leadership on an entrepreneur : A Qualitative Content Analysis of Brazilian and Indian Entrepreneurs

Sammanfattning: In this research, we have investigated the entrepreneur and how he or she can use self-leadership in order to exercise leadership. An entrepreneur is a global phenomenon and entrepreneurship is part of it, in both as being developed or underdeveloped. On how entrepreneurs engage with passion in the creation of a business venture is something that is somehow similar for each individual despite the different nationalities. However, how he or she develops the needed tools and develops leadership skills to conduct his or her business venture. To study this, we have conducted a qualitative content analysis with interviewees who are entrepreneurs either from Brazil or India to investigate on how being an entrepreneur can benefit through self-leadership. We therefore derived from the existing construction of self-leadership and its dimensions in order to use the abductive approach in the qualitative content analysis. We have therefore collected data through semi-structured interviews. Then we analyzed the content of the answers and linked the emerging data to the existing literature review on the entrepreneur and self-leadership. Furthermore, we analyzed how an entrepreneur can benefit him or herself from self-leadership as an individual and how he or she can use it in order to develop leadership skills. Our findings link the literature of the entrepreneur as an individual and his or her use of self-leadership in order to achieve and succeed.