Entrepreneurial Resilience and Innovation in Crisis: A Study of Effectuation, Causation, and Bricolage in Post-Pandemic Startups

Abstract

This study investigates how effectuation, causation, and bricolage help realize entrepreneurial resilience and innovation in startups during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many startups changed their approaches to constantly shifting market conditions, supply chain disruptions, and customer demand. Through a thematic analysis of qualitative data from interviews with startup founders, this study identifies five main resilience strategies: The first strategy is effectuation in decision-making; the second is causality in strategic planning; the third is bricolage in resource management; the fourth is resilience in crisis; and the fifth is innovation through effectuation and bricolage. At the same time, each primary strategy consists of sub-strategies, including real-time adaptation, flexible goal adjustment, supplier diversification, and process innovation. Research indicates that startups that adopt effective decision-making are capable of quickly adapting their undertakings to immediately emerging issues, unlike those that employ the causational approach to decision-making for their strategic goals. Furthermore, through the use of bricolage, startups were able to utilize as few resources as possible in a variety of ways to support their operations and innovation. Consequently, it addresses a crucial void in the current literature on crisis management and entrepreneurship, specifically focusing on the interplay between effectuation, causation, and bricolage as resilience factors. Therefore, its insight presents rich implications for venture creation, implying that formal planning tempered by creative flexibility is beneficial when struggling to overcome adversity and promote change.