Conceptualizing entrepreneurial alertness based on human information processing

Abstract: Creating a contingency perspective on the role of entrepreneurial alertness in order to identify opportunities can improve the theoretical value of entrepreneurship and ability for analysis and advice to entrepreneurs as well. This paper investigates the basis of entrepreneurial alertness and relates it to existing theories of cognitive psychology. The purpose of this research is to create a conceptual framework by identifying main dimensions and components of entrepreneurial alertness in order to ease understanding the formation of entrepreneurial opportunities. In this study, we reviewed 159 articles from external and internal databases in a period of 1970 - 2016 and 1380-1395 respectively. Then, through (CASP)1 we selected 49 primary articles for analysis. A seven steps meta-synthesis approach was used by researchers to analyze the fore-mentioned study findings. The result show that the concept of entrepreneurial alertness can be categorized into five dimensions of; successful intelligence, attention, prior knowledge, mindfulness and market analysis, and 24 components. Then, the kappa coefficient method was used between two coders to ensure the study’s reliability. The paper is finalized with a discussion on entrepreneurial alertness model that include processes relating to human information processing at individual level.