This article discusses the results of a survey conducted among agricultural enterprises owners. Its aim was to identify the major factors determining the creation of one’s own agricultural enterprises and the direction towards which it is managed. Indirectly, it attempted to indicate a hierarchy of goals pursued by the owners of such entities when they hold the position of its managers. Based on empirical data gathered by means of a survey it has been concluded that “independence” resulting from the combination of the two functions, i.e. that of the owner and the manager, was considered the most important facet and advantage for entrepreneurs. Other highly-positioned goals in the hierarchy were those of a business (economic goal). The proposed hypothesis, stipulating that the realised objective function in the examined population was increasing the value of ownership, was not proven false. However, when investigating economic efficiency, the assessment of goal attainment, i.e. of increasing the value of ownership, should be viewed as satisfying a certain threshold condition; hence in the suboptimal category instead of the maximisation-oriented point of view.