What drives micro-entrepreneurs’ value-oriented innovative behavior in microfinance: an entrepreneurial resourcefulness perspective

Jing A. Zhang (), Conor O’Kane () and Denis Griffin ()
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Jing A. Zhang: University of Otago
Conor O’Kane: University of Otago
Denis Griffin: Wairarapa Education, Business & Technology UCOL | Te Pukenga

Small Business Economics, 2025, vol. 65, issue 3, No 33, 2033-2062

Abstract: Abstract Drawing on the perspective of entrepreneurial resourcefulness, we investigate how relational social ties in microfinance facilitate value-oriented innovative behavior through self-reliant financial bootstrapping. We also examine how joint bootstrapping interacts with self-reliant financial bootstrapping to influence value-oriented innovative behavior among micro-entrepreneurs. We apply both symmetrical (PLS-SEM) and asymmetrical (fsQCA) approaches to a sample of 292 micro-entrepreneurs engaged in microfinance in Mexico, a developing mixed-market economy. The PLS-SEM results demonstrate that self-reliant financial bootstrapping is an effective mechanism through which relational social ties positively impact value-oriented innovative behavior. Additionally, the positive role of self-reliant financial bootstrapping in value-oriented innovative behavior is more significant when micro-entrepreneurs have a low level of joint bootstrapping. These findings are reinforced by the fsQCA results, which show that value-oriented innovative behavior arises from various configurations of relational social ties, self-reliant financial bootstrapping, joint bootstrapping, and democratic and financial factors. Our findings offer important theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords: Relational social ties; Self-reliant financial bootstrapping; Joint bootstrapping; Value-oriented innovative behavior; Micro-entrepreneurs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 D21 G21 L14 L26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s11187-025-01081-8

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