Highlights

• Framework linking monochronic orientation to serendipity-driven innovation in new firms.
• Applies the Attention-Based View (ABV) to explain how attentional focus influences unexpected discovery.
• Introduces monochronicity as an organizational attention structure that facilitates serendipity.
• Shows serendipity mediates the relationship between monochronicity and innovation performance.
• Identifies environmental dynamism as a key contingency amplifying serendipity’s value.

The gist

How do new firms cultivate innovation from unexpected opportunities? Most entrepreneurship research focuses on systematic search as the path to innovation, yet many valuable discoveries arise serendipitously—unintended but beneficial results of everyday work. This paper draws on the attention-based view of the firm to explain how monochronic orientation—a preference for handling tasks sequentially—can increase a firm’s chances of experiencing serendipitous discoveries, particularly in resource-constrained, early-stage ventures. The authors propose and find that monochronicity promotes focused attention, which enhances sensitivity to subtle cues and enables the recognition of unplanned opportunities that lead to innovation. Importantly, the positive effects of serendipity on innovation performance are strongest in dynamic environments, where firms must constantly adapt. By linking attentional structures to serendipity and situating these effects within environmental conditions, the study contributes to emerging research on serendipity, attention, and innovation in entrepreneurship.

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