The Entrepreneurial Alertness of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in South Africa

Immigrant entrepreneurship contributes to employment creation, poverty alleviation and economic growth in their host countries. The survival rate of immigrant businesses is low. Opportunity identification is one of critical success factors of small firms. The study investigated the entrepreneurial alertness of immigrant entrepreneurs in South Africa. Entrepreneurial alertness is one of the factors driving the opportunity identification process. The empirical approach consisted of data collection through the use of self-administered questionnaire in a survey. The Cronbach’s alpha was used as a measure of reliability. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. The study focused on three dimensions of entrepreneurial alertness. These are scanning and search, association and connection and evaluation and judgment. The results indicated that immigrant entrepreneurs scan and search for information, are involved in association and connections and also evaluate and judge opportunities. On the average, the results suggested a good level of entrepreneurial alertness by immigrant entrepreneurs. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p72