Entrepreneurial resource construction through collective bricolage on Denmark’s renewable energy Island: an ethnographic study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Entrepreneurial resource construction through bricolage is an underappreciated element in a growing body of entrepreneurship and organization studies examining bricolage as an organizational strategy under conditions of resource scarcity. Drawing on in-depth ethnographic data, this study of the Danish island Samsø’s successful transition to renewable energy argues for a richer understanding and a more positive appraisal of entrepreneurial bricolage as a multifaceted strategy for change on the community level. By demonstrating the constructed nature of the resource environments identified on Samsø, the article argues that bricolage, rather than revolving around the combination of already available resources to create new entrepreneurial ventures, is a process involving the construction of resources to achieve change. An in-depth understanding of this process of resource construction is especially relevant in the context of local sustainable energy transitions, as bricolage, in this context, can enable the community to work towards a shared goal without accepting the constraints of the resource-scarce local environment.