Entrepreneurial alertness: A meta-analysis and empirical review

Abstract

Entrepreneurial alertness (EA) has attracted increasing attention in scholarly work, and a multitude of empirical studies have examined the antecedents and outcomes of entrepreneurial alertness. Although there is consistent evidence for significant associations, ambiguities exist concerning the directions and magnitude of the relationships. The purpose of this study is to meta-analytically assess the antecedents and outcomes of EA. A total of 125 empirical studies were analyzed with 597 effect sizes derived from 18 different constructs and a sample of 1,820,331 individuals. We advance understanding of the critical role of alertness in generating entrepreneurial outcomes, its antecedents, and the directions and magnitude of the associations. We also provide several directions for further theorizing the role of alertness in entrepreneurship.