DOI: 10.18536/bcce.2017.10.3.1.05, Liang, Liang, and Liu

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Liang, C., Liang, C.-T., & Liu, Y.-C. (2017). Leveraging entrepreneurial alertness by optimizing the imaginative capacity of agri-rural entrepreneurs. Business Creativity and the Creative Economy, 3, 54-64. https://doi.org/10.18536/bcce.2017.10.3.1.05

Leveraging Entrepreneurial Alertness by Optimizing the Imaginative Capacity of Agri-rural Entrepreneurs

Chaoyun Liang
Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development
National Taiwan University

Chao-Tung Liang
Department of Cultural Creativity and Digital Media Design,
Lunghwa University of Science and Technology

Yu-Cheng Liu
Department of Bio-Industry Communication and Development,
National Taiwan University

Abstract

Entrepreneurial alertness (EA) involves recognizing and selecting business opportunities, and it has been proposed as a necessary skill for successful entrepreneurs. Although EA reflects an entrepreneur’s imagination, the relationship their alertness and imaginative capacity (IC) is difficult to demonstrate empirically. Therefore, this article reports two studies that analyzed the complexities of this relationship. The first study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to reveal the structure of the EA and IC scales in a sample of 320 agri-rural entrepreneurs. The results indicated that three-factor solutions provided the optimal factor structure of EA—scanning and searching, association and connection, and evaluation and judgment—and that IC can be categorized in three dimensions—conceiving, initiating, and transforming imagination. The second study further tested the effects of IC on EA in a sample of 480 agri-rural entrepreneurs. The results provided new insights into the role of the three types of IC in shaping the EA of agri-rural entrepreneurs, the interactive effects of initiating and transforming imagination on EA, and the curvilinear effects of conceiving and initiating imagination on EA.