Behaviors Contributing to Native American Business Success

Native Americans start fewer businesses than do other U.S. populations, and the receipts and employment of those businesses are 70% lower than the U.S. average. However, little knowledge exists concerning Native American (NA) business success. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the likelihood that attitudes toward entrepreneurship, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control predict business success amongst NA business owners. Understanding the factors that contribute to NA business success is imperative to developing best practices for business owners and business support agencies. The theory of planned behavior served as the theoretical framework for this study. Of the 550 invited NA business owners registered within a single tribe in the South Central United States, 79 participated in this study. A binary logistic regression analysis produced conflicting results: significant goodness-of-fit yet insignificant individual predictors. Information obtained from this study could assist NA and other underdeveloped business populations with understanding factors influencing entrepreneurial endeavors; however, readers must interpret findings with caution because of conflicting logistic regression results. NA business formation and success could enhance economic prosperity and decrease unemployment in NA communities