| My dissertation focuses on a key factor that drives the opportunity identification process for new business ventures: entrepreneurial alertness. However, the study of entrepreneurial alertness remains in the infancy stage because of the ambiguity and diversity of its definitions and components. To this end, my dissertation takes a 3-essay approach to reformulate the construct of alertness.; Essay 1 reviews three schools of thought that inform the construct's definitions and provides a re-conceptualization of entrepreneurial alertness drawing on social cognition theory. Alertness is defined as an individual's ability to accumulate, transform, and select information leading to potential business opportunities. Essay 2 develops and initially validates a scale for alertness employing 3 studies. Studies 1 and 2 focus on generating items for both alertness and personal turbulence, and assessing the content adequacy of these items. Study 3 provides initial evidence of the reliability, dimensionality, and factor structure of these 2 scales. Essay 3 tests a model that connects the antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of alertness. This model highlights entrepreneurs' prior knowledge as a key antecedent of alertness. It also suggests when certain triggers activate alertness. The discussion indicates that entrepreneurs' alertness contributes to both incremental and radical innovations. Essay 3 also provides convergent and discrimnant validity of the alertness scale. |
