THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: COMPANY CULTURE AS A REFLECTION OF FOUNDER PERSONALITY IN ENTREPRENEURIAL ORGANIZATIONS

Abstract

This dissertation explores the connection between founder personality and organizational culture in founder-led entrepreneurial companies. With a focus on how founder personality affects culture, it draws from the literature in upper echelon/top management teams, family business and organizational psychology – notably the Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA: Schneider, 1987) and Person-Organization fit (P-O: O'Reilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991) theories. Using a combination of ethnographic, psychological and organizational data from the founders and employees of four small firms from multiple industries, and a broader survey study of 336 respondents from 23 firms, it finds support for O’Reilly et al., (2014)’s CEO Personality-Culture link in the small-company setting. It also validates two new findings: 1) that employee personality traits can trump founder personality as an influence on culture, and 2) that founder involvement can moderate the impact of founder personality on culture. The dissertation concludes with plans for further research into the personality-organizational culture effects and thoughts about the applicability of these results for founders and consultants.