| Entrepreneurial alertness plays an important role in the processes of opportunity exploration and exploitation. A central thesis of this dissertation is that opportunity creation requires a certain transformation of an individual entrepreneur's mental schema. This study examines entrepreneurial alertness at the individual level. Entrepreneurial alertness is defined as a set of perceptual and cognitive processes by which individuals break and/or construct means-ends framework for certain future situations with an aim to create value. A multidimensional structure of the entrepreneurial alertness construct and a comprehensive model of entrepreneurial alertness are created and tested via structural equation modeling on the basis of survey data from 1080 entrepreneurs in two coastal regions of P. R. China.; The study made two key contributions to the descriptive and normative theory of alertness. First, the alertness concept is clarified, its dimensional structure is created and its measurement instrument is developed. The newly created construct, including the four dimensions, juxtaposing, unlearning, prospecting and embellishing, demonstrates good discriminant while promising convergent validity. Second, a cross-level, constructivist model of alertness is created by incorporating the main, interaction and mediating effects of the variables on new venture performance.; This study provides an integrative perspective on the relationships of the variables in the model. The findings suggest that organizational managerial capabilities dominate both direct and indirect effects on both new venture growth and entrepreneurs' satisfaction. Entrepreneurial alertness has direct influence on entrepreneurs' satisfaction but not on new venture growth. Competitive environment only has indirect effects on new venture growth and entrepreneurs' satisfaction. Fruitful entrepreneurial actions in the corresponding P. R. Chinese firms are ignited by affluent market opportunities and supported by managerial capability while only marginally enhanced by entrepreneurial alertness. Organizational capability, entrepreneurial alertness and competitive environment selectively interact with each other to influence the entrepreneurial experimentation and new venture performance. Important implications for research, theory and entrepreneurship practice are also discussed. |
