A generation of bricoleurs: digital entrepreneurship in Kenya
World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development
ISSN: 2042-5961
Article publication date: 30 November 2020
Issue publication date: 15 December 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore how the uptake of digital technologies influences youth entrepreneurship in Kenya.
Design/methodology/approach
This study utilizes 28 semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs age 21–35 in Nairobi, Kenya. Interview transcripts were analyzed using open- and closed-coding.
Findings
Millennial entrepreneurs embrace change and challenges by harnessing mobile technologies and social media. In doing so, they are engaging in what French sociologist Lévi-Strauss called “bricolage,” or “making do with what's at hand.”
Originality/value
This study explores a unique segment of entrepreneurs, Millennials in Kenya and identified the ways in which digital entrepreneurship represents a form of bricolage.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
I owe a debt of gratitude to the faculty and staff at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University, my affiliation at the time the work was completed. I would like to acknowledge the Africana Research Center and the Graduate School at Penn State for funding this work. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi for overseeing this work in Kenya.
Citation
Grzeslo, J. (2020), "A generation of bricoleurs: digital entrepreneurship in Kenya", World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 403-412. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-10-2019-0078
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited