Entrepreneurial alertness: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Recently, cognitive perspectives have garnered increasing attention in entrepreneurship alertness research. But the broader psychological basis of the alertness, which differentiates intrinsic and phasic aspects of alertness, has somehow been neglected, even though some entrepreneurship scholars have described alertness as the main cognitive capability of entrepreneurs in recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities. In this systematic review, the literature of entrepreneurial alertness has been critically examined. We categorize the previous works into five broad research themes: the alertness construct itself, its cognitive foundations, its operational measurement, the theoretical antecedents of alertness, and its consequences. We then identify two gaps where future research should direct greater efforts. First, past attention to the cognitive foundations of alertness has largely focused on its phasic aspects without exploration of the role of intrinsic alertness. The recent separate theorizing of opportunity creation/discovery has only begun to explore the potential of intrinsic alertness in opportunity spotting. Secondly, a lack of attention to establishing a clear definition of the alertness construct has hampered development of valid and robust measurement instruments, which may have confounded past efforts to empirically confirm the role of alertness in a range of theoretical models.

RÉSUMÉ

Récemment, les perspectives cognitives ont suscité une attention croissante de la part de la recherche sur la vigilance des entreprises. Mais le fondement psychologique plus large de la vigilance, différenciant les aspects intrinsèques et phasiques de cette dernière, a d’une certaine manière été négligé, bien que certains spécialistes de l’entrepreneuriat aient décrit la vigilance comme principale capacité cognitive des entrepreneurs dans la reconnaissance des opportunités d’entreprendre. Dans cette revue systématique, la littérature sur la vigilance des entreprises a fait l’objet d’un examen critique. Nous avons classé les précédents travaux en cinq grands thèmes de recherche : la construction de la vigilance elle-même, ses fondements cognitifs, sa mesure opérationnelle, les antécédents théoriques de la vigilance et ses conséquences. Ensuite, nous avons identifié deux lacunes sur lesquelles les futures recherches devraient concentrer leurs efforts. Premièrement, l’attention autrefois portée aux fondements cognitifs de la vigilance s’est largement concentrée sur ses aspects phasiques sans explorer le rôle de la vigilance intrinsèque. La récente théorisation distincte de la création/découverte d’opportunités vient seulement de commencer à explorer le potentiel de la vigilance intrinsèque en matière de repérage des opportunités. Deuxièmement, le manque d’attention accordée à l’élaboration d’une définition claire du concept de vigilance a entravé le développement d’instruments de mesures valides et robustes, ce qui pourrait avoir confondu les efforts passés à tenter de confirmer empiriquement le rôle de la vigilance dans une série de modèles théoriques.

Keywords:

• Entrepreneurial alertness
• opportunity recognition
• intrinsic alertness
• phasic alertness
• systematic literature review

Mots-clés:

• vigilance entrepreneuriale
• reconnaissance d’opportunités
• vigilance intrinsèque
• vigilance phasique
• revue de la littérature

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zohreh Hassannezhad Chavoushi

Zohreh Hassannezhad Chavoushi is a research fellow of the Diversity Institute, and an associate of the Entrepreneurship Research Institute, Ryerson University. She is a PhD student of entrepreneurship at the University of Tehran, Iran. Her research interests are cognitive psychology in entrepreneurs, startup acceleration, and women entrepreneurship.

Mohammad Reza Zali

Mohammad Reza Zali is Associate Professor of Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Iran. His research interests are corporate entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial behaviour, research methods in entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial university. He works with Global Entrepreneurship Monitor(GEM) data in Iran.

Dave Valliere

Dave Valliere is Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University. His research interests are the effects of culture and cognitive psychology in entrepreneurs and investors, effectiveness of incubation and startup acceleration, and the economic and public-policy functions of entrepreneurship.

Nezameddin Faghih

Nezameddin Faghih is is the UNESCO Chair Professor in Entrepreneurship, and the Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research (an Open Access Springer Journal). He has published more than 50 books and 100 research articles. His most recent contributed volumes are published by Springer.

Reza Hejazi

Reza Hejazi is assistant professor at faculty of entrepreneurship, University of Tehran. His research area is focused on technological entrepreneurship, commercialization, open innovation, business ethics, and MVP.

Ali Mobini Dehkordi

Ali Mobini Dehkordi is associate professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Tehran. His research area is strategy development, business environment analysis, and technological entrepreneurship.