The role of network bricolage for facilitating dual value creation in social enterprises: a measure development and empirical examination

Purpose Entrepreneurial bricolage is understood as an effective utilization of available resources to respond to the limitations imposed by resource-constrained environments for acting upon entrepreneurial processes. The empirical bricolage research still lies at its evolving stage concerning the development of measures for distinct bricolage types. Reflecting upon this interest, the authors attempt to advance this research with respect to one of the most important bricolage types – network bricolage (BRI) that is considered relatively significant for network-embedded organizational entities like social enterprises (SEs). Relatively, the purpose of this study is to develop and examine the measure of BRI as a facilitator of dual value creation (DVC) within the context of SEs that are actively involved in engaging with distinct network-based actors. Design/methodology/approach The authors followed standard protocols laid down for the development of our unidimensional and reflective BRI scale and examining its importance for facilitating DVC in SEs. The scale development and validation procedure involves the utilization of primary data from two distinct samples received from top level management of Indian SEs (89 responses for pilot study and 419 for the final study) of new, young, as well as well-established SEs. Findings The findings reported promising results related to the reliability as well as the convergent validity and discriminant validity of the BRI measure. Furthermore, the findings of this study also demonstrate that the BRI and DVC in SEs have a statistically significant relationship. Research limitations/implications The authors empirically examine the influence of different bricolage forms on firm performance; the authors present that BRI positively influence DVC in SEs. The study establishes BRI as an important resourceful behavior to address resource constraints or lack of resources faced by social entrepreneurs. Practical implications Practitioners or social entrepreneurs should focus on strengthening BRI capabilities in accordance with the study’s suggestions and results. To do this, managers must proactively organize their network sources, resources and structure to support the enhancement of the components of DVC. Originality/value This study contributes to the theoretical advancement in the bricolage domain of entrepreneurial behaviors in terms of networking in SEs, therefore, contributing to the advancement of entrepreneurship theory and practice.