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Mobilizing Resources in Constrained Environments: a Study of Technology Social Ventures

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Mobilizing Resources in Constrained Environments: a Study of Technology Social Ventures Mobilizing Resources in Constrained Environments: A Study of Technology Social Ventures Geoffrey Desa A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2008 Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Business School © Copyright 2008 Geoffrey Desa University of Washington Abstract Mobilizing Resources in Constrained Environments: A Study of Technology Social Ventures Geoffrey Desa Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Suresh Kotha Department of Management and Organization Resource mobilization is of fundamental importance to all startup ventures. In particular, ventures that operate in areas with insufficient access to basic healthcare, education, economic development, or human rights, often face severe resource constraints, because of limited access to seed funding from philanthropic and capital markets. In my dissertation I address two broad questions. First, how do entrepreneurs mobilize resources in resource-constrained environments? Second, how does the form of resource mobilization affect venture scalability? Based on the social entrepreneurship literature and theories of resource mobilization, I undertook an exploratory three-year field study of eight technology ventures within a social venture incubator to examine how social ventures mobilize resources in the absence of external sources of funding or a lack of institutional support. Using bricolage and resource-seeking as two contrasting modes of resource mobilization, I developed a model to explain how technology social ventures mobilize resources, and attract and maintain users in order to sustain growth. This model suggests that the source of funding and level of institutional support (regulatory, technology, political stability, and human development) will predict whether a venture uses bricolage or resource-seeking to mobilize resources. The model also suggests that the use of collective agency will moderate the relationship between resource- mobilization and venture scalability. I test the model on a sample of 202 technology social ventures operating in 48 countries, in one of five sectors: health, economic development, equality, education and environment. First, I found that bricolage can help a venture start up in penurious environments that lack external sources of funding or institutional support. However, bricolage is insufficient for venture growth. I found that a higher level of collective bricolage—the participation of external actors—is required to scale the venture to new markets. This dissertation contributes to the literature in technology entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship by explaining how technology social ventures mobilize resources and create scalable social innovations in penurious environments despite a scarcity of funding and institutional support. i TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures ......................................................................................................... iii List of Tables............................................................................................................iv Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview......................................................................1 1.1 Motivation........................................................................................................1 1.2 Research Question............................................................................................3 1.3 Theoretical Lens...............................................................................................6 1.4 Approach and Method......................................................................................9 1.5 Findings..........................................................................................................12 1.6 Contribution ...................................................................................................13 1.7 Organization of the Dissertation ....................................................................14 Chapter 2: Bricolage: Resource-Mobilizing in Entrepreneurship...........................16 2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................16 2.2 Theories of Resource Mobilization................................................................24 2.3 Bricolage ........................................................................................................28 2.4 The Institutional Context ...............................................................................33 2.5 Collective Agency and Resource Mobilization..............................................35 Chapter 3: Literature Review of Social Entrepreneurship .....................................42 3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................42 3.2 Defining Social Entrepreneurship..................................................................48 3.3 Mobilizing Resources ....................................................................................55 3.4 Institutional Effects ........................................................................................59 3.5 Performance ...................................................................................................64 3.6 Research Gaps................................................................................................68 Chapter 4: An Exploratory Study of Technology Social Ventures.........................80 4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................80 4.2 A Qualitative Study of Benetech: A Technology Social Venture Incubator. 81 4.3 The Resource Mobilization Model.................................................................96 i ii 4.4 The Market Scalability Model .....................................................................124 4.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................136 Chapter 5: Large Sample Research Methods........................................................137 5.1 Introduction..................................................................................................137 5.2 Sample Description ......................................................................................137 5.3 Data Sources.................................................................................................139 5.4 Variables and Measures ...............................................................................141 5.5 Model Specification and Estimation............................................................161 Chapter 6: Results .................................................................................................163 6.1 Introduction..................................................................................................163 6.2 Descriptive Statistics....................................................................................163 6.3 Regression Results .......................................................................................168 6.4 Discussion of Results...................................................................................181 6.5 Robustness Checks.......................................................................................189 6.6 Summary ......................................................................................................194 Chapter 7: Conclusion...........................................................................................196 7.1 Introduction..................................................................................................196 7.2 Theoretical Contribution to Entrepreneurship Research..............................197 7.3 Practical Implications for Entrepreneurs......................................................199 7.4 Limitations ...................................................................................................201 7.5 Future Research............................................................................................203 References.............................................................................................................207 Appendix A: Contemporary Theories on Resource Constrained Environments. .226 Appendix B: Entrepreneurship constructs at the stages of Benetech ventures.....227 Appendix C: Inter-rater reliability check for Resource-Seeking and Bricolage ...230 Appendix D: Tech Museum of Innovation Awards Application Questionnaire ..232 ii iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Number Page Figure 3.1: Social entrepreneurship publications (by year) .....................................47 Figure 3.2: A framework for resource mobilizing in technology social ventures ...78 Figure 4.1: Project management process within Benetech ......................................87 Figure 4.2: Timeline of technology social ventures within Benetech.....................90 Figure 4.3: Bricolage at varying levels of institutional support.............................123 Figure 4.4: The effect of collective agency in social venture development...........135 Figure 6.1: Bricolage at varying levels of human development ............................187 Figure 6.2: Interaction effect of collective agency on bricolage............................191 iii iv LIST OF TABLES Table Number Page Table 1.1: Examples of technology social ventures.................................................11
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