Toward a typology of entrepreneurial bricolage and its capabilities

Abstract

Purpose The extant literature emphasizes that the perspective of bricolage is significantly augmenting the core of entrepreneurship research, and, per se, it has made considerable contributions to understanding resource mobilization and organizational processes in entrepreneurial ventures. Entrepreneurial bricolage literature lacks a unified and holistic conceptual framework that could represent a coherence of diverse bricolage forms and their related capabilities in entrepreneurship. To address this issue, this study aims to develop a comprehensive typology framework of entrepreneurial bricolage based on the theoretical synthesis of the prior research. Design/methodology/approach By comparing and synthesizing the existing bricolage forms into a holistic and persistent typology, the authors present an integrated framework of 13 bricolage capabilities that contributes to resource acquisition and resource mobilization as well as facilitate the entrepreneurial processes of opportunity recognition and opportunity exploitation in firms. Findings The study synthesizes a wide array of research on entrepreneurial bricolage for shaping the resource acquisition and resource mobilization processes in entrepreneurial ventures and presents a typology-based framework for further discussion and research. By mapping the existing research and relevant dimensions into a typology-based entrepreneurial bricolage framework, the study extends and contributes to the current theorizing and conceptual building. Research limitations/implications The study would help practitioners and researchers to recognize bricolage capabilities and the common ties among them, leading to further advances in entrepreneurship theory and practice. Originality/value As the body of knowledge regarding entrepreneurial bricolage has grown, so has the number of its different forms, concepts and constructs. The authors recognize that there is distinctiveness as well as overlaps among diverse forms, concepts and constructs of entrepreneurial bricolage. Further, the authors identify a new bricolage capability that has not until now been positioned in the extant frameworks.