Cultivating and Harnessing Unexpected Opportunities: How Monochronic Orientation Fosters Innovation by Facilitating Serendipity in New Firms

Andrew E. F. Fultz and Keith M. Hmieleski

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 2025, vol. 49, issue 6, 1565-1596

Abstract: Despite growing interest in serendipity in entrepreneurship, its antecedents, contingencies, and outcomes remain understudied. We find that new firms with a monochronic orientation—a preference for handling tasks sequentially—experience more serendipity, which in turn enhances innovation performance. This is amplified in dynamic environments, where unexpected discoveries are more likely to generate value. Challenging assumptions that systematic search and broad information inputs drive innovation, our study highlights focused attention as a driver of serendipity. By linking serendipity to strategic attention allocation and environmental conditions, we offer insights into how firms can foster and capitalize on unexpected discoveries to drive innovation.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; monochronicity; serendipity; environmental dynamism; innovation; opportunity recognition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10422587251347043 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:entthe:v:49:y:2025:i:6:p:1565-1596

DOI: 10.1177/10422587251347043

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().