Applying resource bricolage theory to the city integration of new-generation migrant workers in China

New-generation migrant workers in Chinese cities are struggling with a lack of urban resources, such as capital, skills, and relationships. To cope with the pressure of these resource constraints, new-generation migrant workers obtain urban development opportunities through resource bricolage. Based on a questionnaire survey of 365 new-generation migrant workers, we used a multiple regression analysis to study the mechanism underlying the effects of resource bricolage on the city integration of new-generation migrant workers. There were four findings: (1) resource bricolage had a significant positive effect on career growth and city integration; (2) career growth had a mediation effect on the relationship between resource bricolage and city integration; (3) environmental dynamism had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between resource bricolage and city integration for new-generation migrant workers; and (4) resource bricolage and environmental dynamism had a moderating effect on city integration through the mediation effect of career growth. The results suggest that resource bricolage promotes the career growth of new-generation migrant workers and further promotes their city integration, and that the environmental dynamism faced by workers is the external condition for promoting integration through resource bricolage. The study emphasizes the importance of resource bricolage in new-generation migrant workers’ city integration.

OPEN INNOVATION ORIENTATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF SMES: DO ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND RESOURCE BRICOLAGE MATTER?

The burgeoning literature postulates that a firm’s degree of openness for external parties in building its knowledge base undoubtedly enables it gaining competitive advantage though a little attention has been devoted to investigating the phenomena from small and medium enterprise (SME) perspective. Accordingly, this study investigates how open innovation orientation leads nurturing greater innovation and acquiring greater sustainable goals and specifically, how entrepreneurial orientation and resource bricolage facilitate the whole process. Drawing upon a sample of 442 SMEs, the study followed a quantitative approach to investigate the focal research question. The results reveal that open innovation orientation of SMEs significantly influences on nurturing greater innovation and attaining sustainable goals in long-run while the entrepreneurial orientation drives the whole process. The study also finds that the resource bricolage plays a significant role in converting SMEs more open innovation oriented and fostering greater innovation. By doing so, this study provides noteworthy theoretical and managerial insights.

From Economical Evolution to Industrial Revolution: Developing an IoT Based Co-creation Ecosystem

Recently, the concept of the Internet of things (IoT) has flourished and attracted many start-ups to invest in related industries. However, start-ups and new businesses often face challenges in initial development. The subject of this study, NewGreen (NewGreen Tech Co., Ltd), is an air quality sensor start-up that has operated for 3 years. NewGreen has connected air quality operators and experts from various fields, established databases, and combined air quality detection with equipment improvement to create a sensor, product, system, and platform chain, to promote the formation of an industrial ecosystem that co-creates value eventually. The company now works with the international brand “Acer” and obtained investment from the data network product manufacturer “Edimax”. This study analyzed NewGreen’s business development history, including sensor, product, system, platform, and Industrial Ecosystem, to observe how the company react rapidly to adapt itself to the resource and environment in the aspects of its strategic agility, enterprise resource bricolage, exploration toward new opportunity and exploitation on enterprise itself. The study results can serve as a reference for start-ups engaged in IoT technology development.

Social entrepreneurs' personal network, resource bricolage and relation strength

PurposeThis study proposes personal network of social entrepreneurs as a key antecedent factor of their resource bricolage to understand the mechanisms underlying social entrepreneurial practices before the founding of social enterprises.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study is used to collect and analyze data. The questionnaire data are drawn from in-depth semistructured interviews with Chinese social entrepreneurs. This study develops a theoretical framework that draws upon two dimensions of social capital, namely, “ownership” and “use,” to explore relationships among personal network, resource bricolage and relation strength.FindingsWith data from 227 social enterprises in China, empirical results suggest that personal network of social entrepreneurs, that is, the “owned” social capital, shall be transformed by the intermediate role of resource bricolage into relation strength, that is, the “used” social capital. The relationship between resource bricolage and relation strength is positively moderated by the marketization degree and social class of social entrepreneurs.Research limitations/implicationsThis study introduces resource bricolage into the front-end course of social entrepreneurship. The results show that similar personal network can lead to different behavioral outcomes in the context of social entrepreneurship. Then the integration of resources and opportunities at the beginning of the social entrepreneurial process opens new avenues for future research. However, this study only investigates the transformation from network to resources implemented by social entrepreneurs before organization establishment. It does not explore potential outcomes of such a transformation for the development of social enterprises.Practical implicationsSocial entrepreneurs at the prefounding stage shall make use of the values of available resources, fully use potential interpersonal relations in the personal network, and transform these relations into a close, steady relationship to realize potential values of available resources. Social entrepreneurs can start from excavation and foundation laying of strong relation networks, to avoid problems in legality, social awareness and failure risks generated from blind integration of external resources.Originality/valueThis study finds that social entrepreneurship exists between the motivation of the social entrepreneur and the establishment of the organization after the development over time. Creating first a phased result through the resource bricolage is necessary. This result establishes a complete process chain of social entrepreneurship from motivation to behavior, next to organization establishment and subsequent development. This study is an empirical test based on the theoretical interpretation to make a positive effect on the social entrepreneurship research in the theoretical construction and testing of the deficiencies.

The Relationship between Slack Resources, Resource Bricolage, and Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification—Based on Resource Opportunity Perspective

There are a lot of slack resources in a company. It is vitally important for an enterprise to use slack resources to identify entrepreneurial opportunities to establish company sustainable development. On the basis of the resource orchestration theory and from resource-opportunity perspective, this paper constructs a framework of slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification, exploring the mediating of resource bricolage, the moderating of network ties, and the moderated mediation of network ties. In our analyses, we used data from companies in eastern China, and statistical hypotheses were validated through a structural equation model with data using the statistical software Amos version 20, SPSS version 22. The research results show that: (1) Absorbed slack resources and unabsorbed slack resources have a positive impact on entrepreneurial opportunity identification. (2) Slack resources indirectly affect the opportunity identification through the mediating role of resource bricolage. Among them, resource bricolage has a fully mediating role between absorbed slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification, and it has a partial mediating role between unabsorbed slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification. (3) Business ties positively moderate the relationship between two types of slack resources and entrepreneurial opportunity identification, and business ties moderate the mediation effect of resource bricolage. The resource-opportunity perspective answers how decisions are made, and the entire model process answers how to create sustainable value (entrepreneurship opportunities). The study guides managers on how to integrate and use external and internal resources, coordinate resource elements, and identify profitable business opportunities.