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INNOVATING FOR SOCIAL IMPACT:

IS BRICOLAGE THE CATALYST FOR CHANGE?

Journal: Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

Manuscript ID: draft

Manuscript Type: Original Article

Keywords: Social < Entrepreneurship < Manuscripts: Specialty Areas,

Creativity/Innovation < Manuscripts: Specialty Areas

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice

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Abstract

We focus on the pro-social behavior of social entrepreneurs whose environments are typically resource constrained. In this first empirical study of bricolage behavior by social entrepreneurs, we used a three-equation mediational model and found that the growth rate of social impact is fully mediated by catalytic innovation. That is, catalytic innovation serves as an important link between a firm’s bricolage behavior and its growth rate of social impact. In penurious environments and with limited resources, bricolage may explain one key behavior that social entrepreneurs adopt when they encounter institutional constraints and are without regulatory or political structure or support.

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As an alternative to the focus on financial value creation, social entrepreneurship is primarily

concerned with the creation of social value for disenfranchised members of society. To date, relatively little

attention has focused on understanding the process by which social entrepreneurs mobilize resources to

initiate, develop, and grow their enterprises. While authors such as Bornstein (2003) have provided

anecdotal cases and examples to imply that social entrepreneurs make do with the resources they currently

possess, very little focus has been on the type of behaviors and development that enable them to

continually sustain and have an impact on assisting marginalized individuals, groups, and communities. As

Desa (2007) recently highlighted, social entrepreneurship is abundant and flourishes in resource-

constrained environments (e.g., as witnessed in the inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S (Porter, 1995) and

small villages in Brazil and India (Bornstein, 2003)).

We extend this literature with the first empirical study (to our knowledge) of the effect of bricolage

behavior on the growth of social impact, albeit in a relatively small but focused sample of social

entrepreneurs. While economic theory predicts the rent-seeking behavior of prospective commercial

entrepreneurs, we focus instead on the prosocial behavior of social entrepreneurs whose environments are

typically resource constrained and essentially present new challenges, whether opportunities or problems,

without providing new resources (Baker & Nelson, 2005). Specifically, we examine bricolage behavior of

social entrepreneurs – a set of actions driven by the pursuit of existing and often scarce resources that can

be recombined to create novel and interesting solutions of value that impact their respective markets.

Bricolage behavior may predict of entrepreneurs’ attempts to bring social innovations to the marketplace to

solve meaningful problems and challenges. Researchers such as Harding (2004) have noted that there is

a need for a more expansive definition of business value creation, and the role of social enterprise in

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creating economic and social value deserves greater investigation. Moreover, Cornwell and Naughton

(2003) questioned the assumption of entrepreneurial success, suggesting that researchers may not be

accurately measuring what such success means to entrepreneurs, and that it might be broadened to

include issues of principle and of a personal, moral nature. As scholars attempt to assess the motivations

and desired outcomes of social entrepreneurs, it is helpful to build on and extend the existing framework of

new venture creation and growth in the social arena. Research in the area of social entrepreneurship can

advance more quickly by utilizing the universe of knowledge gained in the study of commercial

entrepreneurship. “We should build our theory of social entrepreneurship on the strong tradition of

entrepreneurship theory and research. Social entrepreneurs are one species of the genus entrepreneur”

(Dees, 2001: 2). The logic of this approach is that both social and commercial entrepreneurship address

similar conceptual questions about the processes of discovery, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities

and the set of individuals who engage in these actions (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). The increased

recognition that social and commercial entrepreneurship exist on a continuum rather than as a dichotomy,

and the continued blurring of boundaries between social and economic value creation suggest there may

be numerous examples of cross-fertilization of knowledge between commercial and social entrepreneurship

(Mair & Marti, 2006).

In comparing social and commercial entrepreneurship, Austin et al., (2006) identified four key

areas that differentiate commercial and social entrepreneurship: the social nature of the opportunity,

motivation due to fundamentally distinct missions, human and resource mobilization, and performance

measurement. Each of these areas represents an important potential contribution between the two

domains of entrepreneurship. For example, in their theoretical work on social entrepreneurship, Zahra et

al., (2006) introduced the construct of social wealth as a means to measure the social value created after

accounting for the associated financial and social costs. While the creation of financial value is often the

dependent variable of choice when measuring the contribution of entrepreneurship, the performance


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measurements of social wealth and impact may complement these efforts and be more consistent with the

raison d’être of entrepreneurship.

Underlying social entrepreneurship are the multiple tangible and intangible benefits and rewards

that are exhibited by a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served, as well as the

impact and outcomes that are created. Social entrepreneurs seek to provide social improvements and

enhancements to their communities, including attractive return on investments (both social and financial) to

their key stakeholders. Social entrepreneurs assess their impact and influence in terms of their social

impact, innovations, and outcomes, not simply in terms of size, growth, or processes. Realizing greater

social impact through innovation may depend on the extent to which entrepreneurs can apply and combine

the resources they have to new problems and opportunities – behavior known as ‘bricolage’ (Baker &

Nelson, 2005).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and

firm innovation, and growth in social impact (see Figure 1). This study extends earlier work on bricolage

behavior in established, for-profit organizations to the social entrepreneurship arena. Further, it investigates

the influence of innovation on the growth of social impact, including the development of products and

services targeted to unserved markets, and on the reduction and resolution of social problems and

challenges.

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Social Entrepreneurship and Bricolage: Using What’s At Hand to Do Good

Bricolage was developed by Levi-Strauss (1967) to suggest the creation of something new through

involved actors in the process of recombination and transformation of existing resources (Venkataraman,

1997; Garud, Kumaraswamy et al., 1998; Baker & Nelson 2005). Bricolage constructs were further refined


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in Baker and Nelson (2005), where they further defined it as a focus on using resources at hand, using

existing resources for new purposes, recombining existing resources and making do to provide

breakthrough solutions in firm creation. Bricolage normally is directed towards resource processes,

relationships, and interconnections among them. Existing resources are based in specific contexts and

knowledge and application of local and regional resources provides resource advantages. This suggests

that bricolage may be integral at the start in developing novel innovations, and through this, further social

change and success occurs.

Bricolage recognizes the interrelationship of environment and the individual/firm, building

new/novel solutions and viewing and targeting different markets (assuming path creation). It also has ties

with notions of knowledge spillovers, economic regeneration, and proximity designs, i.e., regeneration

through firm development using local depleted or minimal resources available “freely at little or low cost.”

As posited by Desa (2007):

Since social ventures often operate in resource constrained environments yet are required to develop and deploy complete modular packages to scale their social impact, it appears that bricolage can be very applicable to understanding social venture development. The reasons for using bricolage are particularly relevant to social entrepreneurship: to create within penurious environments, to create despite limited knowledge, or to build upon their existing acts of creation (Baker & Nelson 2005; Baker, Miner & Eesley 2003; see adapted Figure 2 from Desa, 2007).

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Moreover, the majority of literature on bricolage attempts to address making systematic sense of

what entrepreneurs do when they continue to pursue their goals despite substantial resource constraints

(these may be external constraints (depleted resources/inability to access) or internal constraints (lack of

knowledge, capabilities). In the literature, these resources have generally been studied in terms of finance,

(e.g., bootstrapping), and dealt with to a limited extent in venture creation processes (non linear process


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designs, see Bhave, 1994; Sarasvathy, 2001). Bricolage is inherently tied to notions of creativity, and

improvisation. This differs from traditional linear social planning and focuses instead on social design

processes, the more focused role of compressed time frames of decision making and the frequency of

connections with environment and the resources contained within it (externally) and within the firm

(internally). Because social entrepreneurs often operate within resource-scarce environments, they may be

compelled to use creative approaches to attract nontraditional resources and, to apply those resources in

novel ways to the social challenges within their mission. Further, since many of these challenges have

persisted for some time, and perhaps even resisted traditional methods to resolving them, social

entrepreneurs may be especially inclined to engage in bricolage behavior. Simply put, the conventional

approaches do not work, so they must seek out creative alternatives. This makes social entrepreneurship a

particularly interesting and useful arena in which to examine bricolage behavior.

The degree to which social entrepreneurs engage in an array of bricolage behavior may determine

their success in developing catalytic innovations for the marketplace. Bricolage notions of making do and

using whatever is on hand, links with a fundamental social shift of developing smart, sustainable, projects

that are integral to social change. This represents a shift from consumption-based to conservation-based

ways of doing things better through an improved understanding of existing resources, their form, function,

and fungibility, thereby developing a more clever, creative means of developing products and services

aligned with market needs. Bricolage may enable these entrepreneurs to use creative approaches to

attract and distribute resources, identify overserved or unserved market segments, and offer products and

services that are simpler, less costly, and ‘good enough’ – all characteristics of catalytic innovators

(Christensen et al., 2006).


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Catalytic Innovation for Social Impact

Effective social change and its long-term impact rely on new approaches and methods to solving

some of the most pressing and persisting problems faced by communities around the world. Christensen

et al. (2006) asserted that social-sector organizations must develop fundamentally new approaches that are

scalable and sustainable, with the ability to influence system-changing solutions. This is known as ‘catalytic

innovation,’ derived from Christensen’s model of disruptive innovation, with an emphasis on creating social

change.

Innovations can be separated into two distinct categories: sustaining and disruptive. Sustaining

innovations include nearly all product and service innovations, whether incremental or breakthrough, that

provide, for example: increased quality, better or more features and functions, and other changes targeted

to existing customers of the organizations (Christensen & Bower, 1995). Disruptive innovations do not fulfill

existing customers’ needs as effectively as sustaining innovations. They tend to be less complex, more

accessible and convenient, and less costly, therefore attracting new or different customer groups

(Christensen & Bower, 1995). Disruptive innovations are likely to be attractive to markets that are not

adequately served by existing product and service solutions.

Catalytic innovations, as a subset of disruptive innovations, provide ‘good enough’ solutions to

social challenges that are not effectively addressed by existing organizations using traditional approaches

(Christensen et al., 2006). Catalytic innovators, descriptive of entrepreneurs and organizations whose

primary focus is on social change, share the following five characteristics (Christensen et al., 2006):

1. Creating systemic social change through scaling and replication: These innovators are often new

entrants that continually improve their offerings to expand their market reach. High transferability

from one location to another enables the innovation to be scaled up and to be sustained across

marketplaces.


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2. Meeting a need that is either overserved or not served at all: New entrants to the market provide

less expensive, less functional alternatives to a segment of the market that is overserved by the

dominant provider, or not served at all.

3. Offer products and services that are simpler and less costly than existing alternatives, and are

considered “good enough.” These innovations bring new benefits to people in ways existing firms

are not willing to undertake. Maintaining the status quo prevents traditional, dominant players from

trying new approaches that might cannibalize their current offerings. Catalytic innovators are thus

able to attract new markets with alternatives and solutions that are affordable and effective enough

to reduce the problems.

4. Generate resources, such as donations, grants, volunteers, or intellectual capital in ways that are

unattractive to incumbent competitors. Catalytic innovators tend to be creative in their approaches

to identifying needed resources, and these may come from nontraditional sources, such as micro-

lending programs.

5. Often ignored, disparaged, or even encouraged by existing players for whom the business model is

unprofitably or unattractive, and who therefore retreat from the market segment. The dominant

provider places distance between it and the new entrant, and moves toward a more lucrative

market segment. This enables the catalytic innovator to capture the opportunity present in serving

its intended market (Christensen et al., 2006).

By incorporating the specific role that catalytic innovation has on the relationship between

entrepreneurial bricolage and growth in social impact, we are better able to understand the process by

which social entrepreneurs adopt and utilize existing resources for future development, growth, and

sustainability of their own ventures. As such, our proposed research model (as mentioned earlier and

depicted in Figure 1) was developed, in which catalytic innovation mediates the relationship between


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entrepreneurial bricolage and the growth rate of social impact. As discussed, the degree to which social

entrepreneurs engage in bricolage behavior, applying existing resources to problems and opportunities in

new ways, can lead to catalytic innovation that ultimately strengthens their firms’ social impact on the

people and communities they serve.

Methodology Data Collection

Participants were 41 social entrepreneurs of organizations whose business activities are directly

involved with and primarily working in the social enterprise sector (e.g., for-profit social ventures or not-for-

profit organizations). 1 The entrepreneurs and their respective firms were sampled through an existing

social entrepreneurship university database. The social entrepreneurs served a number of sectors,

including education, environment, mental health, hunger, arts and culture, and social capital investing.

All information was gathered from the social entrepreneurs over a two-week period, utilizing an on-

line survey. E-mails were sent to the social entrepreneur of the social enterprise organization sampled,

asking for their participation in the study. Within the text of the email was a hyperlink that would direct them

to our on-line questionnaire. The social entrepreneurs were informed that their candid opinions would help

us to clarify the different approaches that social entrepreneurs take in finding and implementing new ideas

and opportunities within their respective markets. In addition to answering a series of questions on personal

characteristics, the entrepreneurs were asked to provide information regarding the types of business

practices and innovations implemented into their social firms. Upon completion of the survey, their

responses were submitted to a secure Internet database.

1 Social enterprise describes any non-profit, for-profit or hybrid corporate form that utilizes market-based strategies to advance a

social mission (consistent with many organizational and alliance definitions, see http://se-alliance.org/).


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Measurement

Entrepreneurial Bricolage. To assess the entrepreneurial bricolage behavior of the social

entrepreneurial firm, we used a nine-item scale developed by Steffens et al., (2009) who used the standard

protocols for scale development. In deriving their scale, they created items that were consistent with Baker

and Nelson’s (2005, p. 333) definition of bricolage as “making do by applying combinations of the resources

at hand to new problems and opportunities.” Sample items included, “We are confident of our ability to find

workable solutions to new challenges by using our existing resources,” “We use any existing resource that

seems useful to responding to a new problem or opportunity,” “We deal with new challenges by applying a

combination of our existing resources and other resources inexpensively available to us,” “When dealing

with new problems or opportunities we take action by assuming that we will find a workable solution,” and

“We combine resources to accomplish new challenges that the resources weren’t originally intended to

accomplish.” Social entrepreneurs indicated how much they agree or disagree with the statements on a

seven-point Likert scale (1 = ‘strongly disagree’; 7 = ‘strongly agree’). Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was

.90.

Catalytic Innovations. We measured catalytic innovation, solutions to social challenges that are not

effectively addressed by existing organizations using traditional approaches, by developing a twenty-five

item scale designed to capture each of the five characteristics advanced by Christensen et al. (2006). For

each of the characteristics, we created 4-6 items within each characteristic. Sample items to measure

‘Creating systemic social change through scaling and replication’ included: “Our approach allows us to

serve potentially large groups of people,” “The individuals or groups we serve have traditionally been

underserved by alternative services or organizations,” “We are able to serve people whose access is

otherwise limited,” and “We are able to improve our offerings by expanding market reach (e.g. offering

services to more people, adding locations, etc.).” For the ‘Meeting a need that is either overserved or not


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served at all’ characteristic, sample items included, “Our services or solutions meet our clients’ needs in

ways more traditional providers did not,” “Our offerings are simpler and therefore more effective as

solutions than others that were traditionally available,” and “Our clients were not served at all by traditional

offerings.” Sample items for the characteristic of ‘Offer products and services that are simpler and less

costly than existing alternatives, and are considered “good enough”’ included, “Our products and services

are less complex than existing alternatives,” “Our products and services are less costly than existing

alternatives,” “Our products and services are perceived as more convenient to new clients,” and “Our

products and services are perceived by new clients as less costly than alternatives.” The ‘Generate

resources, such as donations, grants, volunteers, or intellectual capital in ways that are unattractive to

incumbent competitors’ included such items as, ‘We are able to attract donors and funding based on our

business model,” “We would decline funding that requires us to alter our business model,” “We are able to

attract grants for our business model,” “We are able to attract volunteers to our organization,” and

“Organizations with more traditional offerings would not be likely to obtain the knowledge or information

(intellectual capital) that we have obtained.” Finally, sample items for the ‘Often ignored, disparaged, or

even encouraged by existing players from whom the business model is unprofitably or unattractive, and

who therefore retreat from the market segment’ characteristic included, “Businesses that offer more

traditional services tend to ignore our business, or its services,” “Existing players have encouraged us to

provide offerings for our market segment,” “Existing players find our market segment unattractive and either

avoid it or retreat from serving it,” and “Existing players disparage the work we do because they believe it is

unprofitable.” Social entrepreneurs indicated how much they agree or disagree with the statements on a

seven-point Likert scale (1 = ‘strongly disagree’; 7 = ‘strongly agree’). An overall composite score of all of

the characteristics to comprise catalytic innovation was then developed and used in subsequent analyses.

The Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was .88.


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Control Variables

We chose six control variables that can have an influence on a social entrepreneurial firm’s growth

rate of social impact, including:

1. For Profit Status: whether the social enterprise was of for-profit or not-for-profit status

2. Age of the Firm: age since inception, range from less from one year to over twenty years

3. Number of Full Time Employees: full-time employees, range from one employee to more than 50

employees

4. Cash Flow Status: whether the social enterprise had negative cash flow, breakeven, or positive

cash flow

5. Success Dependent on one Individual: whether the social enterprise’s success is perceived to be

dependent on one individual leader/entrepreneur.

6. Regular Evaluation Meetings: the frequency of meetings ranging from ‘as needed’ to ‘weekly.’

As shown in Table 1, additional information and descriptives of each of the six control variables are

provided.

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Data Analysis: Statistical Mediational Model

Zero-order correlations as well as the mediated regression approach recommended by Baron and

Kenny (1986) were used to test our proposed model. In the mediational approach, three separate

regression equations are estimated. First, the mediator (catalytic innovation) is regressed on the

independent variable (entrepreneurial bricolage). Second, the dependent variable (growth rate of social

impact) is regressed on the independent variable. In the last equation, the dependent variable is regressed


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simultaneously on both the independent and mediational variable. Mediation is indicated when the

following conditions are met: the independent variable must affect the mediator in the first equation; the

independent variable must affect the dependent variable in the second equation; the mediator must affect

the dependent variable in the third equation; and lastly, assuming that all of these conditions are in the

proper direction, the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable must be less in the third

equation than in the second equation. Full or perfect mediation is supported when the independent

variable has no significant effect when the mediator is controlled, while partial mediation is indicated if the

effect of the independent variable is reduced in magnitude but still significant when the mediator is

controlled (Baron & Kenny, 1986).

Results

The means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations and reliabilities are reported in Table

2. As mentioned in the earlier section, the reliabilities of our continuous measures used were all over the

.70 minimum established by Nunnally (1978). As shown in Table 2, we found a number of zero-order

correlations to be significant including those among and between our control variables as well as our

dependent variable. For example, younger firms tended to have negative cash flows (r = -.53) and were

smaller in terms of full-time employees (r = .63, p<.05). Additionally, the size of the organization (full-time

employees) was also related to whether they had positive cash flow (r = .31, p<.05), had regular evaluation

performance meetings (r = .32, p<.05), and were less dependent on one individual to lead the efforts of the

social enterprise (r = -.39, p<.05). Finally, in examining the control variables relationships with the growth

rate of the firm’s social impact, having positive cash flow and regular evaluation performance meetings

were all significantly associated to this rate and type of firm growth.


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In further analyzing the relationships, we also found initial support for the first part of our

meditational model. That is, the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and our mediator of

catalytic innovation was significant (r = .69, p<.05). While this was supported at a one-to-one relationship

(zero-order correlations), we wanted to utilize the mediation approach to better understand and evaluate

our proposed research model within the context of our social enterprises. Table 3 displays the approach

and results to test this more stringent growth model by including our control variables, entrepreneurial

bricolage, and mediator of catalytic innovation.2 With a three-equation approach suggested by Baron and

Kenny (1986) and discussed above, we found that the growth rate of social impact is fully mediated by

catalytic innovation. That is, the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and growth was no longer

significant when accounting for catalytic innovation. Therefore, catalytic innovation serves as an important

link between a firm’s bricolage behavior and its growth rate in terms of social impact.


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Discussion

The purpose of our paper was to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage

and firm innovation, and growth in social impact. Our work and findings augment and extend previous

empirical research on bricolage behavior in the social entrepreneurship arena. This arena presents an

especially relevant experimental setting in which to examine the influence of bricolage, since social

entrepreneurs are compelled to use existing resources at hand, applying them in creative and useful ways

to problems and new opportunities. In incorporating such behavior, an often observed and cited condition of

the environment that social entrepreneurs persist and develop, we are also able to investigate its influence

on innovation and on the growth rate of social impact. This social impact may include the development of

2 The table includes standardarized Beta weight (β), R2 and F value results for the last equation in the test for mediation.


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products and services targeted to unserved markets, often with the goal of the reduction and resolution of

social problems and challenges.

Our findings indicate that while entrepreneurial bricolage is associated with growth in social impact,

they are mediated by the role and rate of catalytic innovation that is present within the social enterprise

firm. As mentioned, bricolage may assist social entrepreneurs in the use of novel approaches to attract

and distribute resources, identify overserved or unserved market segments, and offer products and

services that are simpler, less costly, and ‘good enough.’ These types of catalytic innovations, as proposed

by Christensen et al (2006) may also help social enterprises determine their future growth in terms of their

own social contribution to both internal and external stakeholders. Within their penurious environments and

with limited resources, bricolage may explain one of the key behaviors that social entrepreneurs must adopt

when they encounter institutional constraints and are without regulatory or political structure or support.

The ability to mobilize resources known and available to social entrepreneurs may allow them to generate

the types of needed solutions and innovations and drive awareness of the immediate and pressing

problems of the community.

While bricolage behaviors are traditionally instigated from an ad-hoc intuitive process and through

research, they may also be developed into a more strategic tool. For social entrepreneurs, such a tool can

be used to evaluate resource requirements, changes of the nature and the amount of resources needed,

and its influence on the development of the firm and, more specifically, products and services that create

additional impact for society. Additionally, through attempts of bricolage, social entrepreneurs may learn

through doing (e.g., entrepreneurial skills) and instigate entrepreneurial behaviors linked with self-efficacy

(see Hmielski & Corbett, 2006) and building social firm capabilities in the venture creation and growth

process to bring about effective social change.


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Study Limitations and Future Research Directions

Although this research makes several important contributions, these contributions must be

considered within the context of the limitations of this study. Limitations include the relatively small sample

size and that the association between our predictor (entrepreneurial bricolage), the intervening variables

(catalytic capabilities), and outcomes (growth rate of social impact) included common method variance.

That is, the measures used to tap each of these constructs were taken from one source (the social

entrepreneur) and these associations could, therefore, be attributed to a bias on the part of the respondent.

We could overcome this bias by bringing in alternative perspectives from multiple stakeholders

(senior level managers, employees, partnering organizations, etc.) in the social enterprise. A “deep dive”

into their viewpoints of how the social firm continually builds, adapts and reconfigures their internal and

external resources to achieve congruence with the changing social, economic, and institutional

environments would give us further insight into the innovation and social impact modeling and approach.

More of a systematic approach at multiple levels of the firm may tell us that social entrepreneurs do not

compete on introducing radically new solutions or services, but rather on a deeper factor – the capacity to

develop solutions that have been traditionally overlooked by alternative services or organizations, or to

serve individuals and communities whose access is otherwise limited.

An additional limitation was that our study was cross-sectional, yet the hypothesized model and

relationships suggests causal direction. Causal inferences created from cross-sectional designs are only

inferences (Spector, 1981). Future research should examine many of the same relationships in our study

with longitudinal data to assess causality. This type of data collection along with a case study approach

may give us an additional perspective of how bricolage and innovation occurs throughout the life-cycle and

strategy of the social enterprise. As an on-going research initiative, we are in the process of capturing and

completing our database that tracks not only our social entrepreneurs at one point in time but also enables

us to longitudinally examine how bricolage and its associated behaviors relate to multiple and diverse social


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impact measures. This type of research allows us to investigate the relationship between bricolage and

stage of development of social enterprise firm. Similar to how traditional entrepreneurial organizations often

bootstrap in their early initial stages of growth, it would be interesting to examine how nascent social firms

create and find the financial, social, and intellectual resources needed to demonstrate the scale,

sustainability, and impact that attract a social capital market audience.

The social capital market is expanding to include not only traditional nonprofit firms but also for-

profit and hybrid entities that have strong social values and missions. The blurring of boundaries among the

different types of entities creates opportunities in which non-profits are adopting and engaging in profit-

seeking behaviors, for-profits aggressively seeking social value through both operating and charitable

activities, and public agencies looking to develop partnerships with all in their attempts to reduce social

problems and advance positive public outcomes and benefits (Austin et al., 2008; Wei-Skillern et al., 2007).

At the NYU-Stern School of Business Fifth Annual Conference of Social Entrepreneurs on

‘Measuring Social Impact,’ Mission Measurement founder and president Jason Saul provided pragmatic

advice by articulating a different vision of where the social benefit sector is headed and what it means for

social entrepreneurs and the way they assess their impact. He emphasized that this sector is increasingly

becoming a social capital market in which organizations need to be focused on the outcomes they produce

and measurement that allows them to improve their impact. As mentioned, social entrepreneurs have

allegiance to the outcomes and innovations they are trying to create, but should be agnostic till the means.

His perspective is that there are three major shifts happening in this context, including: “(1) fundraising is

done – you should be selling a product called impact and find ways to measure it since the currency of the

social capital market is the impact you have; (2) from activities to outcomes – we do not define ourselves by

what we do, we define ourselves by what value and innovations we create, and (3) a shift from ‘evaluation’

to ‘measurement’ – it is not about ‘proving,’ it is about ‘improving.’”


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Saul further introduced several key principles to survive in a social capital market, all from a

resource and impact perspective including engaging stakeholders, aligning resources and strategies,

translating both into meaningful outcomes, and connecting back to the market and stakeholders. His

perspective and suggestions may prove valuable for social entrepreneurs within resource constrained

environments who often engage in bricolage behavior. These entrepreneurs may be looking to the social

capital market to provide the funding and ensuing resources to scale and replicate their business model for

the next underserved or unmet market outside their existing community.

Conclusion

As discussed by Mair and Marti (2006), the field of social entrepreneurship creates a unique

opportunity to continually integrate, challenge, and debate many traditional entrepreneurship assumptions

in our efforts to develop a cogent and unifying paradigm. With this first empirical study to our knowledge to

examine the effect of bricolage behavior on the growth of social impact, we further develop the field of

social entrepreneurship by utilizing the maxims and concepts developed in commercial entrepreneurship.

Incorporation of the concept of entrepreneurial bricolage to the field provides us with a unique perspective

in how social entrepreneurs mobilize and utilize existing resources to ‘catalyze’ innovations that address

some of the society’s most pressing problems. As such, they are not only directly finding creative solutions,

but also engaging their own pre-existing knowledge and relationships to encourage stakeholders to take

notice of these innovations and the impact they can have in driving long-term systematic change for

broader social, political, and economic well-being.


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Table 1

Social Firm Characteristics and Behaviors


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Table 2

Means, Standard Deviations and Zero-Order Correlations

Variable Mean Std Dev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 For Profit Organization 0.42 0.49 1.0 2 Age of Firm 4.42 2.22 -.18 1.0 3 Cash Flow Status 4.39 2.02 -.21 -.53* 1.0 4 Regular Evaluation Mtgs 2.95 1.68 -.21 .11 -.09 1.0 5 Success Dependent on 1

Individual 0.27 0.45 .05 -.29 -.09 -.15 1.0

6 Number of Full Time Employees

3.56 2.29 -.30 .63* .31* .32* -.39* 1.0

7 Entrepreneurial Bricolage 5.30 1.01 -.16 .20 .24 -.14 .11 .08 1.0 8 Catalytic Innovation 22.39 4.39 -.22 -.05 .13 .20 .20 .12 .69* 1.0 9 Social Impact Growth Rate 4.68 1.39 -.02 -.22 .32* .32* .04 -.19 .33* .46*

Note: * significant at the 5% level.


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Table 3

Mediated Regression on Social Impact Growth Rate

Control Variables ββββ For Profit Organization 0.04 Age of Firm -0.16 Cash flow -0.14 Regular Evaluation Meetings 0.40 Success Dependent on 1 Individual -0.09 Number of Full Time Employees -0.17 Mediational Approach†

(1) Entrepreneurial Bricolage → Catalytic Innovation 0.38*

(2) & (3) Entrepreneurial Bricolage → Growth Rate of Social Impact -0.03

Catalytic Innovation → Growth Rate of Social Impact 0.54*

R2 0.40 Adjusted R2 0.21 F 2.08* Note: * significant at the 5% level. † the Beta weights represent the values in the final and last step of the meditational analyses. Entrepreneurial bricolage was found to significantly related to the growth rate of social impact; however, when catalytic innovation is entered into the last equation, this relationship is no

longer significant (β = -.03, p>.05).


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Figure 1

Proposed Research Model: The Mediating Role of Catalytic Innovation On the Relationship between Entrepreneurial Bricolage

and Growth Rate of Social Impact

Controlling for Social Firm Characteristics and Behaviors

• For Profit Status

• Age of the Firm

• Number of Full Time Employees

• Cash Flow Status

• Success Dependent on 1 Individual

• Regular Evaluation Meetings

Entrepreneurial

Bricolage

Catalytic

Innovation

Growth Rate

Of Social

Impact


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Figure 2

Bricolage Within Resource-Poor Environments (adapted from Desa, 2007)


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