Against All Odds: Early-Stage Technology Ventures’ Resource Mobilization in Penurious Environments

Abstract

This study seeks to elucidate resource mobilization mechanisms in early-stage technology ventures in penurious environments of extreme resource scarcity. We conducted an inductive, multiple case study analysis on a sample of eight health technology ventures in Uganda. Our study reveals three archetypes, each characterized by a different configuration of resource seeking and bricolage. Ventures with high focus on either resource seeking or bricolage accomplished higher outcomes than those engaging in resource seeking and bricolage alike. Besides, our evidence suggests that early-stage technology ventures’ resource mobilization is affected by external stimuli—benefitting from outside recognition or an influx of resources. Specifically, these ventures are prompted, first, to increasingly seek resources and reduce bricolage and, second, to systematize resource seeking. Our results have implications for resource mobilization theory—adding to research on performance implications of resource seeking and bricolage—as well as the study of entrepreneurial processes in the early stages.