From Entrepreneurial Alertness to Commitment to Digital Startup Activities: A Mediation Model of Perceived Desirability, Feasibility, and Intentions

This study examines the transition from digital entrepreneurial alertness to digital startup intent in connection with perceived desirability, feasibility, and intentions. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) and the entrepreneurial event/potential model (EPM) form the foundation for a mediation model, which is examined by structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS on data gathered from 571 Saudi youth engaged in digital entrepreneurship. The results show that digital entrepreneurial alertness has a strong predictive power in relation to intent to start digital ventures, and that this is partly mediated by perceived desirability and feasibility. Intentions, however, fully mediate the relationship between alertness, desirability, feasibility, and actual digital entrepreneurial behavior. This study adds to digital entrepreneurship scholarship by de-mystifying the thought processes bridging opportunity recognition and action, particularly in emerging economies. This study validates the EPM framework and confirms its applicability to include digital entrepreneurial alertness (DEA) as a key antecedent of digital entrepreneurial intentions (DEI) and other factors. This study also highlights the theoretical relevance of the EPM by illustrating its utility in understanding youth decisions to pursue digital entrepreneurship, particularly in transitional countries such as Saudi Arabia. Policymakers and educators in Saudi Arabia should promote attention and amplify desirability/feasibility perceptions to stimulate youth engagement in digital ventures. This work highlights intentions as the determinative gateway between entrepreneurial cognition and concrete digital startup success.