Of those interviewed, 50 percent said they either currently own their own business or want to own their own business. And of those who don't already, 39 percent said they intend to test the entrepreneurial waters in the near term.

The No. 1 obstacle: financial wherewithal to get a business launched and running. Two-thirds of respondents listed that as their top challenge. A third said they needed more educational preparation prior to starting a business, another third cited a general lack of business knowledge as the biggest roadblock, and just under a third said they lacked a good idea to hitch their wagon to.

While the study showed that age does make a difference in the strength of the entrepreneurial urge, advancing age hardly extinguished the desire. Consider:

• 52 percent of workers in their 20s who do not currently own a business hope to do so in the future;
• 50 percent of workers in their 30s who don't own a business plan on it;
• 35 percent in their 40s hope to do so;
• 26 percent of workers in their 50s still think they have it in them; and
• 17 percent of workers age 60 or older who do not own a business want to do so in the future.

Age perhaps did play a role in the responses to questions about how people would do things differently in their careers to prepare themselves for being the boss.

"Notably, even those well into their careers express an interest in being more entrepreneurial, specifically 47 percent of those in their 40s, 46 percent of those in their 50s and 43 percent who are 60 or older," the study reported. While 64 percent of those who do not run their own show said they felt they had limited career growth opportunities at their current jobs, 53 percent said they should be more entrepreneurial in their careers.

The vast majority of those interviewed felt they were born to be bosses: 85 percent of self-employed adults and 76 percent of workers who are not self-employed said they believed this to be the case.

Not surprisingly, a major impetus for wanting to go on their own was the idea that they would do things differently if they were in charge. Here's the ranking of the changes they would make:

• 37 percent would provide more training and educational opportunities for employees;
• 35 percent would hire better-qualified employees;
• 32 percent would create more flexible work environments, such as offering flex hours or the option to work from home; and
• 27 percent would rely more on teamwork and collaboration.