Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Carl...

Here's the best explanation I've come across:

"If you believe that you can exercise control over your environment and ultimately your destiny, you have an internal locus of control. If, however, you believe in fate, you have an external locus of control..."

The quote comes from a book (Entrepreneurship and Small Business) by a UK academic called Paul Burns - one of the characteristics of most entrepreneurs being a high internal locus of control, i.e. they believe that their destiny is in their own hands, and therefore they're more likely to be willing to take the risks of starting their own business.

Applying that to consumer behaviour, could it be that people with an external locus of control are more likely to be influenced by advertising, for example, than those with an internal locus of control?

Hope that helps with the understanding of your textbook - although I might question why a textbook doesn't fully explain the terms it uses?!

(BTW, reading your posts over the last few months, I'd reckon you probably have a high internal locus of control - what do you think?)

Good luck,
Bob