The article examines the use of bricolage by entrepreneurs as a strategy to generate resources in response to environmental threats and resource constraints. While conventional wisdom suggests that a resource-constrained environment motivates entrepreneurs to engage in bricolage, some firms do not follow this pattern. Incorporating regulatory fit theory, this study argues that the relationship between environmental threats and bricolage is influenced by the entrepreneur's dispositional regulatory focus. A survey of 396 Taiwanese entrepreneurs shows that a focus on promotion is positively related to bricolage, while a focus on prevention is negatively related. On the other hand, both regulatory foci weaken the effect of environmental threats on bricolage, which means that the entrepreneur's regulatory focus can override environmental influences. In addition, the study identifies gender differences in bricolage behaviour and the role of funding focus, which contributes to regulatory fit theory and offers practical insights for entrepreneurs.
Co-authors are Samuel Adomako (University of Birmingham), Fei Zhu (University of Nottingham Ningbo China), Dan Hsu (North Dakota State University) and Johan Wiklund (Syracuse University).
The study is published with an Open Access license agreement and can be accessed for free under the following link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/joms.13115