ENTREPRENEURIAL ALERTNESS THROUGH COGNITIVE SCHEMATA

Abstract

This article is an investigation into the causes of entrepreneurial alertness, the ability of entrepreneurs to spot new business opportunities in the environment. By drawing from decision theory and schema theory, a model is developed to show how changes in the environment are mediated by entrepreneurial alertness and brought to the situated attention of entrepreneurs for evaluation. Entrepreneurial alertness is seen to be the application of unique schemata that allow the entrepreneur to impute meaning to environmental change that would not be imputed by other managers. It is argued that this arises from differences in schematic richness, schematic association, and schematic priming. These three antecedents may therefore form a basis on which enhanced entrepreneurial alertness can be developedEntrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial alertness, Opportunity spotting; Growth and innovation; SME development