From entrepreneurial alertness to entrepreneurial behavior: The role of trait competitiveness and proactive personality

Abstract

Entrepreneurial alertness is a vital component in entrepreneurship that plays an important role in opportunity recognition. However, moving from the stage of alertness to eventually engage in business gestation activities has received limited attention over the years. In an attempt to address this gap, the present study examined the role played by action-oriented personality traits (i.e. trait competitiveness and proactive personality) in the transition from opportunity recognition to entrepreneurial action. The findings showed that entrepreneurial alertness significantly influenced entrepreneurial intentions, which subsequently resulted in entrepreneurial action. Also, the entrepreneurial alertness to entrepreneurial intentions (R2 = 32.6%) association was positively moderated by trait competitiveness while the entrepreneurial intention to behavior association (R2 = 32.2%) was positively moderated by proactive personality. Additionally, the total indirect effect of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial behavior was significant.