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1. Introduction
Entrepreneurship continues to evolve as a key driver of innovation and job creation. Since the late 1990s, many elements have shaped this progress, exerting a major influence on the academic entrepreneurship literature. Establishment of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and parallel initiatives has enabled measurement and characterization of entrepreneurship on an international level.
The data collected in various studies (Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED), GEM, and other particular investigations) carried out by several authors and institutions cited in this research have allowed the study of many facets of the entrepreneurial phenomenon. Scholars have made great progress defining entrepreneurial activity and its variations (Harding, 2004; Davidsson, 2005; Koellinger et al. , 2007; Bager et al. , 2010; Anokhin and Wincent, 2012). Researchers have studied the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic development (Acs and Szerb, 2007; Acs, 2007), and have investigated entrepreneurial values, attitudes, and aspirations (Arenius and Minniti, 2005; Hessels et al. , 2008; Bosma and Schutjens, 2009; Evald et al. , 2011). Finally, a popular stream of literature addresses national entrepreneurial framework conditions (Bowen and De Clercq, 2008; Hechavarria and Reynolds, 2009; Estrin and Mickiewicz, 2011; Estrin et al. , 2012). Scholars have also addressed many other entrepreneurship topics. One of the numerous challenges yet to receive significant attention in the literature reflects the subject of this paper; namely, measuring and quantify readiness for entrepreneurship.
Performing this type of measurement matters in contexts where fostering qualified entrepreneurship is a priority. Practical applications of such measurements are numerous: measuring students' entrepreneurial orientation, investors' (e.g. business angels or venture capitalists) evaluation of entrepreneurial projects, granting bank credit or public funding, offering unemployed people training in entrepreneurship; conducting research on the influence of readiness for entrepreneurship on startup success or failure, and so forth.
Measuring readiness for entrepreneurship poses many challenges that should be addressed from a multidisciplinary perspective. Thus, designers of a tool to perform this task must consider numerous entrepreneurial profiles, as well as a wide range of psychological determinants. In addition, designers of a tool of this type must resolve a lack of consensus on defining main entrepreneurship concepts. Consequently, the approach must be grounded in a careful study in several steps, the first of which must establish the meaning of readiness...