“Resources at Hand, Head, and Heart”: ‘Heightened Habitus’ as an Endogenous Resource in Immigrant Entrepreneurial Bricolage

Abstract

Abstract Bricolage is commonly recognized as a practice of non-traditional resource mobilization by immigrant entrepreneurs within their country of residence. When the host country is in an adversarial social and institutional context characterized by the liability of foreignness, we posit that accessing “resources at hand” in the external environment is hampered by anti-immigrant sentiments, both socially and institutionally. Through a rigorous analysis of eight cases of immigrant entrepreneurs and their South African-based enterprises, we apply Bourdieu’s theory of practice to examine the practice of bricolage at a more nuanced level. Our findings suggest that the localized prejudice against immigrants ‘otherizes’ their foreignness, and in turn, heightens the entrepreneurs’ awareness of their habitus. We argue that the immigrants’ ‘heightened habitus’ represents an internalization of both cognitive (i.e. resources at head) and adaptive (i.e. resources at heart) dispositions informed by the home country, and which serve as crucial endogenous resources by which to reimagine and reconstruct external resources accessed via local social capital. We present the novel theoretical contribution of immigrant entrepreneurial bricolage as the utilization of both endogenous resources at head and heart, which are activated by – and intended to overcome – their liability of foreignness. Our contribution also aims to reconstruct the frequently referenced exogenous resources at hand.