Entrepreneurial alertness underpins opportunity recognition. Despite decades of conceptual interest, the physiological and psychological antecedents that support entrepreneurial alertness remain largely underspecified.
Following an evidence-based bibliometric search of the relevant literature (N = 90 articles), we theorize that sleep quality is a key, flexible driver of entrepreneurial alertness and test this central hypothesis across three studies.
Study 1, an online behavioral survey of practicing entrepreneurs (N = 280), shows that higher sleep quality is associated with greater entrepreneurial alertness, which in turn relates positively to opportunity recognition. Conversely, fatigue exerts a negative effect, highlighting entrepreneurs’ psychophysiological states as central to prompt cognitive information processing.
Study 2 examines boundary conditions using a control sample of entrepreneurship students (N = 155). While the effect of entrepreneurial alertness on opportunity recognition replicates, sleep quality and fatigue do not support entrepreneurial alertness, suggesting experience-dependent mechanisms specific to entrepreneurs.
To test this insight, in Study 3 (N = 81 nights) we used a within-person longitudinal experimental design combining sleep diaries with wearable-derived physiological measures in entrepreneurs, demonstrating that better sleep predicts higher next-day alertness, whereas elevated physiological stress weakens this benefit.
Collectively, we advance theory on entrepreneurial alertness by integrating physiological and psychological dimensions, and identify sleep quality as an actionable lever for sharpening entrepreneurial alertness, which in turn promotes opportunity recognition. We further outline implications for research at the intersection of entrepreneurship and organizational neuroscience and offer guidance on sleep hygiene and stress regulation for founders and venture teams.
Sebastiano Massaro is Associate Professor (Reader) of Organizational Neuroscience and Behavioral Science at Surrey Business School; he also serves as Director of the Organizational Neuroscience Laboratory. He is the Chair Elect of the Organizational Neuroscience and Biology (NeuB) Interest Group at the Academy of Management. Previously, he was Assistant Professor in the Behavioural Science Group at Warwick Business School and co-lead of the Global Research Priority in Behavioural Science at the University of Warwick.
Sebastiano earned the inaugural PhD in Management Science from the UCL School of Management, with prior degrees in neuroscience, neuroimaging, and health biotechnology. His research, published in leading journals across disciplines, primarily focuses on advancing the field of Organisational Neuroscience by exploring the intersection of affect and cognition in strategic and entrepreneurial decision-making.
The seminar will be held in English.
Major information: Elisa Villani (e.villani@unibo.it).