Opportunity recognition and exploitation in resource-scarce contexts: the role of relational capital and bricolage in African social enterprise

African perspectives on researching social entrepreneurship

“…In Africa, the local community is an important element of the social entrepreneurial process, as it either enables or hinders entrepreneurial activity (Madichie, 2016). In Africa’s more communal cultures, a deep sense of community (Ciambotti et al , 2023c) and relational capital – the value and knowledge embedded in formal and informal relationships and based on common values and behaviours, trust, loyalty and willingness (Ciambotti et al , 2023b) – positively influence social enterprises’ bricolage efforts, with relational capital also facilitating the opportunity recognition and exploitation process (Ciambotti et al , 2023b). Within the informal and resource-constrained contexts in which they operate, African social entrepreneurs need to rely more heavily on relational networks (Halberstadt and Spiegler, 2018) and trust (Gupta et al , 2015).…”

“…Bricolage is indeed a frequent resource-acquisition strategy adopted by social enterprises in Africa, given their often resource-constrained contexts, to come up with frugal innovations (Nilsson et al , 2022). The work of Ciambotti and colleagues (Ciambotti and Pedrini, 2021; Ciambotti et al , 2021; Ciambotti et al , 2023b) highlights bricolage as a commonplace resource-acquisition strategy and reveals the unique approaches adopted by African social enterprises to garner resources, with even the emergence of unique hybrid harvesting strategies (Ciambotti and Pedrini, 2021). Busch and Barkema (2021) also outlined how African social enterprises use a low-cost bricolage approach, which is replicated – with simple rules being contextualised and adapted – to a variety of local environments.…”