Using brand identity as resources to address grand challenge: entrepreneurial alertness and inspiration

This study employs behavioural theory of social entrepreneurship and the concept of bricolage to understand how social enterprises originating from developing economies depend on resources at hand, such as brand identity, to confront a grand challenge owing to social and institutional voids. Through a multiple-case study approach, we demonstrate that social entrepreneurial bricoleurs in developing economies leverage brand values and brand collaboration/partnership as accessible resources to tackle grand challenges. Deployment of brand identity occurs in states that demonstrate the types of resource bundles and enabling capabilities, such as entrepreneurial alertness and inspiration, that social enterprises employ to mitigate societal grand challenges. We contribute to the behavioural theory of social entrepreneurship and to the deployment of brand identity as resources bundle harnessed through bricolage and supported by enabling capabilities. Furthermore, our research expands the understanding of bricolage application in branding and provides deeper insights within the context of social enterprises.