Abstract:      The call for mass entrepreneurship and innovation has stimulated the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of the Chinese people, and a large number of new startups have emerged in a short time with the support of the state. However, the survival rate of new startups in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment is extremely low. Therefore, it is very important to the survival and development of new startups for entrepreneurs how to make rational use of prior knowledge, maintain entrepreneurial sensitivity, timely identify entrepreneurial opportunities, and creatively assemble resources to improve entrepreneurial performance. Based on this, and according to the resource-based theory, this study aimed to take entrepreneurial bricolage as the mediation variable, the internal prior knowledge and the external dynamic environment as the moderation variable, constructed a two-stage moderated mediation model of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial performance, and explored the mechanism and boundary conditions of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial performance. The empirical analysis on 340 sample data drew the following conclusions through factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and multiple regression analysis. Firstly, entrepreneurial alertness has a significant positive impact on entrepreneurial performance. Secondly, entrepreneurial bricolage partially mediates the impact of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial performance. Thirdly, prior knowledge negatively regulates the direct effect of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial bricolage and its indirect effect on entrepreneurial performance through entrepreneurial bricolage. The richer the prior knowledge, the weaker the direct and indirect effects. Finally, dynamic environmental negatively regulates the direct impact of entrepreneurial bricolage on entrepreneurial performance and the indirect effect of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial performance through entrepreneurial bricolage. The higher the environmental dynamics, the weaker the direct and indirect effects. The possible innovative contributions of this study are as follows. Firstly, exploration of the mediating mechanism of entrepreneurial bricolage not only reveals the black box mechanism of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial performance, but also breaks through the existing opportunity research perspective and expands the resource research perspective. Most of the existing research on the impact of entrepreneurial alertness focuses on the perspective of opportunities, but lacks attention to resource allocation. This study introduced entrepreneurial alertness into the field of resource allocation, and explored the mediating role of entrepreneurial bricolage between entrepreneurial alertness and entrepreneurial performance, thereby expanding the perspective of entrepreneurial alertness resources and enriching the research on its pathways and mechanisms. Secondly, the conclusion that the boundary conditions of prior knowledge contradict existing research findings has not only deepened the positive impact of prior knowledge on startups, but also found its negative impact, thus expanding the double-edged sword effect of prior knowledge. Most existing studies have explored the positive impact of prior knowledge on entrepreneurial bricolage and entrepreneurial performance, while few scholars have explored the negative impact of prior knowledge on the field of entrepreneurship. This study found that prior knowledge negatively regulates the direct impact of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial bricolage and the indirect effect of it on entrepreneurial performance through entrepreneurial bricolage, thus supplementing the shortcomings of prior knowledge theory research from a negative perspective. Finally, the investigation of dynamic environmental boundary conditions not only deepens the application research of contingency factors in the field of entrepreneurship, but also expands the situational conditions for the role of entrepreneurial alertness mechanisms. Most existing studies have focused on the impact of external environmental factors on the entrepreneurial field, but the explanation of the mechanism of the entrepreneurial process is not yet clear. However, this study deepened the impact of contingency factors in the entrepreneurial field by examining the moderating effect of dynamic environment on the impact of entrepreneurial alertness on entrepreneurial performance, and expanded the situational conditions under which entrepreneurial alertness plays a role. Therefore, the relevant conclusions can provide theoretical basis and decision-making reference for entrepreneurs′ management practice on how to improve entrepreneurial performance.

Key words: entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial bricolage, entrepreneurial performance, prior knowledge, dynamic environment