Positivity and higher alertness levels facilitate discovery: Longitudinal sentiment analysis of emotions on Twitter

Emotions stimulate and shape entrepreneurial alertness. In a first U.S.-based study, we analyzed self-reports of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs by measuring differences in valence in emotions using the frequently applied Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) scale for trait affectivity. In a second study, we explored 28,478 tweets of 185 successful entrepreneurs and 264 non-entrepreneurs (both drawn from Forbes lists) from 2009 to 2021, categorizing their tweeted words into positive and negative based on the Harvard IV-4 dictionary. While the model of Study 1 stresses that examples of positiveness, such as interested, excited, enthusiastic, and inspired, facilitate entrepreneurial alertness levels, which in turn accelerate levels of entrepreneurial discovery, Study 2's sentiment analysis highlights the significant difference between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs’ word usage—successful entrepreneurs tend to use more positive words in their tweets than successful non-entrepreneurs. Our results aim to inform and inspire entrepreneurial educators, policymakers, and (potential) entrepreneurs regarding how positiveness shapes entrepreneurial alertness, which promotes the discovery of potential new business ideas.