Entrepreneurial Dynamics: The Serial Role of Entrepreneurial Alertness and Intention in the Impact of Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation on Behavior in an Emerging Economy

Building on multiple theoretical views, this paper aimed to investigate how traits and their specific mechanisms transfer into realized entrepreneurial behaviors. Thus, this paper seeks to address various apparent gaps through an integrative theoretical framework that examines the serial mediation between Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation, Entrepreneurial Alertness, and Entrepreneurial Intentions, and their influence on Entrepreneurial Behavior. Based on a quantitative method with a survey strategy, this paper applied partial least squares-based structural equation modeling on a sample of 405 aspiring entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. The paper’s findings confirmed the positive and significant relationships between Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation and Entrepreneurial Alertness, Entrepreneurial Alertness and Entrepreneurial Intentions, and Entrepreneurial Intentions and Entrepreneurial Behavior. In addition, the results supported three indirect hypotheses, corroborating that Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation could affect Entrepreneurial Behavior indirectly through Entrepreneurial Alertness and Entrepreneurial Intentions. Likewise, the results supported the serial mediation hypothesis, in which Individual Entrepreneurial Orientation influenced Entrepreneurial Behavior through a sequential process, with both Entrepreneurial Alertness and Entrepreneurial Intentions as mediators. This paper offers theoretical and practical implications for the literature and practice of entrepreneurship. The study contributes to our understanding of the traits and cognitions that can motivate individuals to start a business. In addition, this study responded to many previous calls to examine not only the direct effects of EI antecedents but also the mediating roles of key factors.