Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effectuations, social bricolage and causation in the response to a natural disaster

  • Published:
Small Business Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research uses the experience of residents and a local neighborhood association in Brazil before, during, and after a major natural disaster to examine entrepreneurial action in response to a major environmental jolt. When the community of Córrego d’Antas was hit by deadly mudslides in January of 2011, residents responded over time with combinations of different varieties of effectuation, social bricolage, and gradually more causation, supporting grassroots recovery efforts. We deepen inquiry into the intersection between entrepreneurship and disaster recovery using a temporal approach, involving alternate templates and more inductive analyses. Our results include new concepts, such as diseffectuation and extended effectuation, and a deeper understanding of the relation between effectuation and bricolage that may prove useful for the study of entrepreneurial action during crises and recuperation. We close with modest propositions connecting disaster recovery and entrepreneurship.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. LNAs are grassroots organizations that are locally based and autonomous, counting on volunteers and nonprofit groups (Smith 1997). The central roles of LNAs are empowering citizens in community and intermediating their relations with different kinds of stakeholders, mainly government and public agencies (Chaskin 2003). They often aim at improving conditions in their neighborhoods, and are typically led by local community members (Meyer and Hyde 2004). They are numerous and important agents of democratic and economic improvement (Chaskin 2003; Houtzager and Acharya 2011; Putnam 2000).

References

  • Adler, P. A., & Adler, P. (1987). Membership roles in field research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Aldrich, D. P. (2017). A research agenda for disaster entrepreneurship. The Review of Austrian Economics, 1–9.

  • Baker, T., & Nelson, R. E. (2005). Creating something from nothing: resource construction through entrepreneurial bricolage. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50(3), 329–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, T. Miner, A. S., & Eesley, D. T. (2003) Improvising firms: bricolage, account giving and improvisational competencies in the founding process. Research Policy, 32(2), 255–276.

  • Biernack, P., & Waldorf, D. (1981). Snowball sampling: problems and techniques of chain referral sampling. Sociological Methods & Research, 10(2), 141–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brettel, M., Mauer, R., Engelen, A., & Küpper, D. (2012). Entrepreneurial action and its impact on R&D project performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 27(2), 167–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassell, J. (1982). Harms, benefits, wrongs, and rights in fieldwork. In J. E. Sieber (Ed.), The ethics of social research (pp. 7–31). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V. H. (2010). The role of social entrepreneurship in post-Katrina community recovery. International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, 2(1/2), 149–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright, E., & Storr, V. H. (2011). Community resilience in New Orleans East: deploying the cultural toolkit within a Vietnamese-American community. In D. Miller & J. Rivera (Eds.), Community disaster recovery and resilience: exploring global opportunities and challenges (pp. 101–124). Boca Raton: Auerback Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chandler, G. N., & Lyon, D. W. (2001). Issues of research design and construct measurement in entrepreneurship research: the past decade. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 25(4), 101–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaskin, R. J. (2003). Fostering neighborhood democracy: Legitimacy and accountability within loosely coupled systems. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 32, 161–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Christians, C. G. (2011). Ethics and politics in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 61–80). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cocking, C. (2013). Collective resilience versus collective vulnerability after disasters—a social psychological perspective. In R. Arora & P. Arora (Eds.), Disaster management: medical preparedness, response and homeland security (pp. 449–463). Boston: CABI.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, R. (1980). Weber’s last theory of capitalism: a systematization. American Sociological Review, 45(6), 925–942.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comfort, L. K., & Kapucu, N. (2006). Inter-organizational coordination in extreme events: the World Trade Center attacks, September 11, 2001. Natural Hazards, 39(2), 309–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Contreras, D. (2016). Fuzzy boundaries between post-disaster phases: the case of L’Aquila, Italy. International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 7(3), 277–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Correa, M. S. T. (2015). A política no desastre em Nova Friburgo/RJ: uma análise da participação de moradores na reconstrução do bairro Córrego d’Antas. Masters dissertation. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia: Universidade Federal Fluminense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dacin, M. T., Dacin, P. A., & Tracey, P. (2011). Social entrepreneurship: a critique and future directions. Organizational Science, 22(5), 1203–1213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dew, N., Read, S., Sarasvathy, S., & Wiltbank, R. (2011). On the entreprenerial genesis of new markets: effectual transformations versus causal search and selection. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 21(2), 231–253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Domenico, M., Haugh, H., & Tracey, P. (2010). Social bricolage: theorizing social value creation in social enterprises (pp. 681–703). Theory and Practice, July: Entrepreneurship.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drury, J., Brown, R., González, R., & Miranda, D. (2016). Emergent social identity and observing social support predict social support provided by survivors in a disaster: Solidarity in the 2010 Chile earthquake. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46(2), 209–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drury, J., Cocking, C., & Reicher, S. (2009). The nature of collective resilience: survivor reactions to the 2005 London bombings. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 27(1), 66–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer, S. C., & Buckle, J. L. (2009). The space between: on being an insider-outsider in qualitative research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(1), 54–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engel, Y., Kaandorp, M., & Elfring, T. (2017). Toward a dynamics process model of entrepreneurial networking under uncertainty. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(1), 35–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, G. (2012). Effectuation, causation, and bricolage: a behavioral comparison of emerging theories in entrepreneurship research. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36(5), 1019–1051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flick, U. (1992). Triangulation revisited: strategy of validation or alternative? Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 22(2), 175–197.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flin, R. (2001). Decision making in crises: The Piper Alpha disaster. In U. Rosenthal, A. Boin, & L. K. Comfort (Eds.), Managing crises: threats, dilemmas, opportunities (pp. 103–118). Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, C. E. (1961). Disaster. In R. K. Merton & R. A. Nisbet (Eds.), Contemporary social problems (pp. 651–694). New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haas, J. E., Kates, R. W., & Bowden, M. J. (Eds.). (1977). Reconstruction following disaster. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harmeling, S. S. (2011). Contingency as an entrepreneurial resource: how private obsession fulfils public need. Journal of Business Venturing, 26(3), 293–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harmeling, S. S., & Sarasvathy, S. D. (2013). When contingency is a resource: educating entrepreneurs in the Balkans, the Brons, and beyond. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 37(4), 713–744.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harper, D. (1987). Working knowledge: skill and community in a small shop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rispal, M. H., & Servantie, V. (2018). Deconstructing the way in which value is created in the context of social entrepreneurship. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(1), 62–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hwang, H., & Powell, W. W. (2005). Institutions and entrepreneurship. In S. Alvarez, R. Agarwal, & O. Sorenson (Eds.), Handbook of entrepreneurship research—disciplinary perspectives (pp. 201–232). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Houtzager, P. P., & Acharya, A. K. (2011). Associations, active citizenship, and the quality of democracy in Brazil and Mexico. Theory and Society, 40(1), 1–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, F., Fayolle, A., & Wuilaume, A. (2018). Researching bricolage in social entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30(3–4), 450–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johannisson, B., & Olaison, L. (2007). The moment of truth—reconstructing entrepreneurship and social capital in the eye of the storm. Review of Social Economy, 65(1), 55–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, L. (1999). Empowering local governments in disaster recovery management: lessons from Watsonville and Oakland in recovering from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and other recent disasters. Lessons learned over time, 1, 41–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kapucu, N., & Garayev, V. (2011). Collaborative decision-making in emergency and disaster management. International Journal of Public Administration, 34(6), 366–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langley, A. (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24, 691–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanzara, G. F. (1983). Ephemeral organizations in extreme environments: emergence, strategy, extinction. Journal of Management Studies, 20(1), 71–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lévi-Strauss, C. (1966). The savage mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Linnenluecke, M. K., & McKnight, B. (2017). Community resilience to natural disasters: the role of disaster entrepreneurship. Journal of Enterprising Communities, 11(1), 166–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKnight, B., & Linnenluecke, M. K. (2017). Patterns of firm responses to different types of natural disasters. Business & Society, 1–28.

  • Mawson, A. R. (2005). Understanding mass panic and other collective responses to threat and disaster. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 68(2), 95–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, M., & Hyde, C. (2004). Too much of a “good” thing? Insular neighborhood associations, nonreciprocal civility, and the promotion of civic health. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 33(3 suppl), 77S–96S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2013). Qualitative data analysis—a methods sourcebook. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

  • Monllor, J., Monllor, J., Murphy, P. J., & Murphy, P. J. (2017). Natural disasters, entrepreneurship, and creation after destruction: a conceptual approach. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 23(4), 618–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moroz, P. W., & Hindle, K. (2012). Entrepreneurship as a process: toward harmonizing multiple perspectives. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 36(4), 781–818.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muhr, T. (1991). ATLAS/ti: a prototype for the support of text interpretation. Qualitative Sociology, 14(4), 349–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R. E., Rodríguez-Lluesma, C., Companys, Y. E., & Stinchfield, B. T. (2017). Contextualizing the subjectivist-objectivist debate in entrepreneurship using engineering, art, craft, and bricolage. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 1-23.

  • Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Read, S., & Sarasvathy, S. D. (2005). Knowing what to do and doing what you know: effectuation as a form of entrepreneurial expertise. The Journal of Private Equity, 9(1), 45–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Read, S., Song, M., & Smit, W. (2009). A meta-analytic review of effectuation and venture performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(6), 573–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reymen, I. M., Andries, P., Berends, H., Mauer, R., Stephan, U., & Burg, E. (2015). Understanding dynamics of strategic decision making in venture creation: a process study of effectuation and causation. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 9(4), 351–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rimstad, R., Njå, O., Rake, E. L., & Braut, G. S. (2014). Incident command and information flows in a large-scale emergency operation. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 22(1), 29–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, C. B. (2009). Long term recovery from disasters—the neglected component of emergency management. Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 6(1).

  • Rubin, C. B., Saperstein, M. D., & Barbee, D. G. (1985). Community recovery from a major natural disaster, University of Colorado Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, Monograph n. 41. Retrieved on http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=fmhi_pub in Jun 5 2017.

  • Runyan, R. C. (2006). Small business in the face of crisis: Identifying barriers to recovery from a natural disaster. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 14(1), 12–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S. (2001). Causation and effectuation: toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. Academy of Management Review, 26, 243–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S., & Dew, N. (2005). New market creation through transformation. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 15(5), 533–565.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S. D. (2008). Effectuation: elements of entrepreneurial expertise. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sarasvathy, S., Kumar, K., York, J. G., & Bhagavatula, S. (2014). An effectual approach to international entrepreneurship: overlaps, challenges, and provocative possibilities. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 38(1), 71–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Servantie, V., & Rispal, M. H. (2018). Bricolage, effectuation, and causation shifts over time in the context of social entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30(3–4), 310–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sin, C. H. (2005). Seeking informed consent: reflections on research practice. Sociology, 39(2), 277–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, D. H. (1997). Grassroots associations are important: some theory and a review of the impact literature. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 26(3), 269–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stinchfield, B. T., Nelson, R. E., & Wood, M. S. (2013). Learning from Lévi-Strauss’ legacy art, craft, engineering, bricolage, and brokerage in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 37(4), 889–921.

    Google Scholar 

  • Storr, V. H., Haeffele-Balch, S., & Grube, L. E. (2016). Community revival in the wake of disaster: lessons in local entrepreneurship. Springer.

  • Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (2014). Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1993). The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: the Mann Gulch disaster. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 628–652.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, T. A., Gruber, D. A., Sutcliffe, K. M., Shepherd, D. A., & Zhao, E. Y. (2017). Organizational response to adversity: fusing crisis management and resilience research streams. Academy of Management Annals, 11(2), 733–769.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolbers, J., & Boersma, K. (2013). The common operational picture as collective sensemaking. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 21(4), 186–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yessoufou, A. W., Blok, V., & Omta, S. W. F. (2018). The process of entrepreneurial action at the base of the pyramid in developing countries: a case of vegetable farmers in Benin. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 30(1–2), 1–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahra, S., Gedajlovic, E., Neubaum, D., & Shulman, J. (2009). A typology of social entrepreneurs: motives, search processes and ethical challenges. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(5), 519–532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, USA

    Reed Nelson

  2. Faculdade Campo Limpo Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil

    Reed Nelson

  3. Universidade Nove de Julho, São Paulo, Brazil

    Edmilson Lima

Authors
  1. Reed Nelson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Edmilson Lima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edmilson Lima.

Additional information

We wish to acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the entire editorial team but especially of handling editor Stuart Read whose superb guidance enriched our paper beyond measure.

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 8 Synthesis of questions used in interviews
Full size table

Appendix 2

Table 9 A model and quotes describing phenomena transition over time in phase 1
Full size table

Appendix 3

Table 10 Representative quotes cited in the article
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nelson, R., Lima, E. Effectuations, social bricolage and causation in the response to a natural disaster. Small Bus Econ 54, 721–750 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00150-z

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00150-z

Keywords

JEL codes

Search

Navigation