Digital Bricolage and Its Limits: How Microenterprises Undertake Digitalization in Resource-Constrained Environments

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Karanasios, Stan; Senyo, P. K.; Zorina, Aljona; Effah, John
• 署名单位: University of Queensland; University of Southampton; University of Ghana
• 刊物名称: INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7047
• DOI: 10.1287/isre.2023.0193
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: innovation; INFORMATION; TRANSFORMATION; ORGANIZATION; systems

摘要

Departing from traditional theory on digitalization, we argue that smaller enterprises in resource-constrained environments may take a different route to digitalization that is less strategic and more emergent, less engineered and more oriented to the situation at hand, and less driven by sophisticated technology and more likely to embody frugality. We ask, How do microenterprises 'make do' their digitalization in resource-constrained environments?, addressing the question through a large-scale qualitative study in Ghana. The study comprises 69 interviews across microenterprises, government actors, and technology firms. Building on and complementing existing research on bricolage and digital value creation, our findings motivate a new theory of digital bricolage as distinct from entrepreneurial and IT bricolage. We identify three digitalization pathways: parallel bricolage, selective bricolage, and digital planning. Together, these capture a spectrum from an emergent, resource-constrained (parallel and selective digital bricolage) approach to a more strategic, planned (digital planning) approach to digitalization. Our findings challenge the assumption that digital resources inherently enable limitless recombination and boundless value creation. They show that digitalization through digital bricolage can have both enabling and limiting impacts. Whereas digital bricolage fosters microenterprises' short-term innovation, survival, and adaptations to resource constraints, overreliance on this digitalization path can paradoxically constrain long-term value creation because of limited functionality, integration issues, and reliance on the bricoleur's personal capabilities. This leads to a digital bricolage trap, where accumulated compromises lock enterprises into fragmented, low-capability digital states. We offer an alternative perspective to traditional digitalization theory, which assumes access to mature digital infrastructures, advanced technologies, and straightforward value generation. Our findings better account for the digitalization of smaller enterprises as a process of customizing affordable digital tools in ways that reflect local creativity and constraints.