Resource Bricolage, Organizational Legitimacy, Ecosystem Support, and Social Enterprise Sustainability among China-based Nascent Social Enterprises and Social-purpose Organizations

This study explores the complex relationship between resource bricolage and the sustainability of nascent social enterprises and social-purpose organizations in China. While resource-constrained creativity is often viewed as a core entrepreneurial asset internally, it can appear informal, under-professional, or difficult to understand to external stakeholders. Drawing on bricolage, organizational legitimacy, and ecosystem-support theories, this research proposes a conditional mediation model. It posits that resource bricolage directly affects sustainability, and indirectly affects it through the crucial mechanism of organizational legitimacy. Furthermore, perceived ecosystem support is hypothesized to moderate the link between bricolage and legitimacy. Data were collected from 481 decision-makers, including founders, executives, and project managers of Chinese social enterprises. A composite-based PLS-SEM workflow was used for analysis. The measurement model demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability, discriminant validity, and indicator reliability. The structural model results fully supported the direct pathways: resource bricolage positively relates to both sustainability and organizational legitimacy, while legitimacy drives sustainability. Crucially, organizational legitimacy mediates the relationship between resource bricolage and sustainability. Additionally, perceived ecosystem support positively moderates the bricolage-legitimacy path; thus, the indirect effect of bricolage on sustainability strengthens significantly when ecosystem support is high. This study importantly contributes to social enterprise literature by demonstrating that bricolage becomes most relevant for sustainability when successfully translated into stakeholder legitimacy, particularly when the environment provides strong policy, partnership, and recognition infrastructure. Finally, the findings caution against blindly assuming resourcefulness is a universally desirable skill within the Chinese social-enterprise ecosystem without considering how external stakeholders interpret and institutionalize these actions.