Opportunity has emerged as a focal point in the field of entrepreneurship and recognizing potential opportunities is the first step of new venture creation. A number of studies acknowledge the contributions of prior knowledge and social networks in explaining opportunity recognition. However, previous research ignored the importance of cognitive process. Thus, the purpose of this study is filling the research gap of the mediation mechanism in this process. Through the entrepreneurial cognitions view lens, this research goes a step further by asking:¡¨how do individuals conclude that an opportunity from their prior knowledge and information?¡¨
Entrepreneurial alertness, first used by Kirzner (1973) has been identified as a major factor in the process of opportunity recognition. We equate this cognitive ability with entrepreneurial alertness, proposing that this bridges the gap between knowledge/information and the innovativeness/number of opportunities.
There are 3 studies in this research; first, Study 1 developed a scale of entrepreneurial alertness. Secondly, Study 2 conducted an experimental design research to test the relationships between prior knowledge, entrepreneurial alertness, and the number of opportunities. Thirdly, Study 3 collected large numbers sample to test the full model. Results indicate that prior knowledge and social networks had positive effects on entrepreneurial alertness. Moreover, entrepreneurial alertness was positively associated with the innovativeness and number of opportunities. In the mediating effect, interpretation ability was partially mediated the relationship between prior knowledge of markets, professional networks and opportunity recognition.
This study contributed theoretical and practical implications. Future directions for research are described, and its practical implications for entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurs are examined.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0127110-173701 |
| Date | 27 January 2010 |
| Creators | Hsieh, Ru-Mei |
| Contributors | Chang-Yung Liu, Chia-Shen Chen, Huei-mei Liang, Shih-Chieh Fang, Stephen D. Tsai, Chin-Tarn Lee |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0127110-173701 |
| Rights | withheld, Copyright information available at source archive |
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