Pandemic Makers: How Citizen Groups Mobilized Resources to Meet Local Needs in a Global Health Crisis: ET&P
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
; 47(3):964-997, 2023.
Article
in English
| ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-2292621
ABSTRACT
The enormous scale of suffering, breadth of societal impact, and ongoing uncertainty wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic introduced dynamics seldom examined in the crisis entrepreneurship literature. Previous research indicates that when a crisis causes a failure of public goods, spontaneous citizen ventures often emerge to leverage unique local knowledge to rapidly customize abundant external resources to meet immediate needs. However, as outsiders, emergent citizen groups responding to the dire shortage of personal protective equipment at the onset of COVID-19 lacked local knowledge and legitimacy. In this study, we examine how entrepreneurial citizens mobilized collective resources in attempts to gain acceptance and meet local needs amid the urgency of the pandemic. Through longitudinal case studies of citizen groups connected to makerspaces in four U.S. cities, we study how they adapted to address the resource and legitimacy limitations they encountered. We identify three mechanisms—augmenting, circumventing, and attenuating—that helped transient citizen groups calibrate their resource mobilization based on what they learned over time. We highlight how extreme temporality imposes limits on resourcefulness and legitimation, making it critical for collective entrepreneurs to learn when to work within their limitations rather than try to overcome them.
Business And Economics--Small Business; community-based entrepreneurship; bricolage; adaptation; crisis management; disaster recovery; emergency use authorization; collective action; temporary organizations; resourcefulness; legitimacy; 3D printing; FabLab; makerspace; Uncertainty; Resource mobilization; Ventures; Public goods; Legitimation; Citizens; Local knowledge; Time; Urgency; COVID-19; Pandemics; Entrepreneurship; Equipment; Entrepreneurs; Coronaviruses; Crises
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
ProQuest Central
Type of study:
Randomized controlled trials
Language:
English
Journal:
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
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