Purpose Entrepreneurial alertness is a key factor in business opportunity identification. Scholars have determined that successful entrepreneurs have high levels of entrepreneurial alertness, but only a limited number of studies are available on the concept. One of the major reasons identified is the fragmented constituents and less knowledge of the components determining the level of alertness. The present study aims to integrate the varied research on entrepreneurial alertness, identify its core components and develop the understanding of the concept of entrepreneurial alertness. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a systematic review of secondary research. The first stage involved identifying relevant publications and applying practical screening. In the second stage, the resources were screened for the inclusion criteria, and in the final stage, the articles meeting the inclusion criteria were read in detail for the final analysis. Findings The review resulted in identification of the following core components of the alertness construct – sensing and searching information, cognitive ability, personality factors (like creativity and self-efficacy), environment, social networks, knowledge and experience. The review also highlighted that cognitive ability plays a central role in alertness. Originality/value Based on the review of literature, the study proposes a model of the alertness construct, which attempts to draw a relationship between the identified components. The review also uncovers several unexplored areas, which still need to be addressed in the area of entrepreneurial alertness.

In this study we have tried to examine the effect of individual factors like intelligence, past self employment experience, past work experience and educational course of professional students on their decision to take up entrepreneurship as a career choice. It is a quantitative study wherein we have taken data of 530 young students studying in the final year of various professional courses (MBA/PGDM, MCA, B.Tech, BHMCT & B.Pharm) of Uttarakhand state of India. The student target population chosen for this study was in the age group of 20-24 years. The male & female ratio of this study was 75 & 25 respectively. Data analysis has been done using Cross tabulation and Chi square test. The results showed that past self-employment experience has a negative impact on student's entrepreneurial inclination. No relationship was seen between the work experience (typically less than 3 years) and entrepreneurial inclination. Students scoring high on intelligence were seen to have no or little entrepreneurial inclination and students who were in MBA/ PGDM, MCA & BHMCT courses were little better inclined towards entrepreneurship in comparison to the rest of the courses.

The research paper intends to interpret how the three forms of family capital viz. family's financial capital, family's man power capital and family's human capital influences the career choice intention of students of HEI's of Uttarakhand, India. Additionally the study also evaluates the impact of student's individual social capital on his career intent. This is a quantitative study conducted at Uttarakhand state of India on a large sample of students studying in various professional courses of Uttarakhand. The research validates a positive relationship between the family's financial capital and higher education intention of students. The study found no influence of family's financial capital (measured as father's annual income), manpower capital (measured as family size) and human capital (measured as father's occupation) on career intentions of students. The study confirmed that there is a significant impact of students' social capital network span on his career intentions, especially in taking up entrepreneurship as a career choice.Jel Codes: D20; G34; L10

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of gender and regional cultures on entrepreneurial intentions and perceived barriers to entrepreneurship in two diverse regions of a state. Authors in the past have consistently expressed the need for studies on entrepreneurial intentions that would encompass both the gender and cultural dimensions, as there is a potential interactive effect between sex and culture, which remains largely unstudied despite its potential to provide an explanation for the contradictory findings that have emerged when either sex or culture was studied separately. Design/methodology/approach This is a quantitative study. The primary data were derived from the students of professional courses. The sampling method used was proportionate stratified sampling. The scales used were tested with regard to validity and reliability. The chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and Mann–Whitney U test were used to draw relationships between the variables. Findings The findings indicated significant gender differences in perceptions of barriers and entrepreneurial intentions among youth. The findings also showed that the barrier perceptions and the entrepreneurial intentions between genders vary with change in culture at the regional level. Originality/value This paper adds to the very limited research available on perceived barriers and entrepreneurial intentions that focuses on the effect of gender from a cross-cultural perspective. This paper further contributes by testing the results in two culturally diverse regions of a single state of India, which has helped us understand the impact of regional cultures while controlling for the effects of the entrepreneurship support systems provided by the governments in different nations.

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