The economic psychology of creating and venturing: a comparative behavioural portrait of artists and entrepreneurs

There are anecdotal parallels between the productive activities, labour market conditions and policy importance of professional artists and entrepreneurs that suggest human capital similarities between them. We examine the psychological and behavioural characteristics associated with the pursuits of artistry and entrepreneurship. We conducted a laboratory study with 216 artists, entrepreneurs and professional workers performing a series of psychometric tasks to enable their direct comparison. We find both artists and entrepreneurs exhibit higher risk tolerance, openness to experience and intrinsic motivation compared to the control group of professional workers. Artists score higher in creativity and emotionality compared to entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs in self-efficacy and extraversion compared to artists.