An agentic perspective of resourcefulness: Self-reliant and joint resourcefulness behaviors within the entrepreneurship process

Timothy L. Michaelis, David J. Scheaf, Jon C. Carr and Jeffrey M. Pollack

Journal of Business Venturing, 2022, vol. 37, issue 1

Abstract: We integrate social cognitive theory, and its tenets of personal and collective agency, to develop an individual-level perspective on entrepreneurs' resourcefulness behaviors that illustrates how resourcefulness behaviors can be classified as ‘self-reliant behaviors’ or ‘joint resourcefulness behaviors’. Using this novel cognitive theoretical approach, we provide and test a framework that explains how dispositional, perceptual, and behavioral factors interact in the enactment of purposeful action with regards to entrepreneurs' resourceful behaviors. Consistent with our hypotheses, results from a quantitative study of entrepreneurs (N = 178), as well as a supplemental study involving qualitative interviews with entrepreneurs (N = 15), highlight that entrepreneurs higher in frugality tend to perceive higher levels of environmental hostility. This relationship, in turn, leads to higher amounts of self-reliant resourcefulness behaviors (i.e., customer-related and internal self-financing bootstrapping behaviors) but not joint resourcefulness behaviors. Multiple theoretical and practical contributions emerge from our findings as the extant literature does not yet account for human agency as a reason why some entrepreneurs may choose to engage in certain resourceful behaviors relative to other behaviors.

Keywords: Resources; Bootstrapping; Self-regulation; Self-reliant; Agency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:37:y:2022:i:1:s0883902620306911

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106083

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