Date of Award
5-1-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Business Administration
First Advisor
Barry J. Babin
Second Advisor
Kash Afshar
Third Advisor
Victoria Bush
School
University of Mississippi
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
Bricolage refers to the ability of individual actors to intuitively and creatively integrate and orchestrate resources within a firm's ecosystem to provide solutions and co-create value in constrained environments. Recently introduced to the sales literature, bricolage is a dynamic capability that enables salespeople to adapt, reallocate, innovate, and navigate their ecosystem with constrained resources to drive performance (Epler et al., 2024; Epler & Leach, 2021). Despite roots in management and entrepreneurial research, bricolage remains underexplored within the sales literature. The purpose of this research is to advance the sales literature by integrating Service-Dominant Logic (SDL), Resource-Based View (RBV), Knowledge-Based View (KBV), Resource Orchestration Theory (ROT), and Dynamic Capabilities (DC) to examine how salespeople engage in bricolage to create and sustain competitive advantage. Consistent with the stated purpose, this research provides (1) a review of bricolage research within marketing and sales, (2) an integration of Service-Dominant Logic (SDL), Resource-Based View (RBV), Knowledge-Based View (KBV), Resource Orchestration Theory (ROT), and Dynamic Capabilities (DC) perspectives with salesperson bricolage, (3) a research agenda and propositions to further highlight and investigate how salespeople serve in roles that engage in salesperson bricolage to co-create value and sustain competitive advantages, (4) an extension of prior work by refining the measurement of salesperson bricolage and identifying the cognitive antecedents that enable salesperson bricolage, (5) an investigation of boundary conditions under which salesperson bricolage is most effective by examining the role of salesperson autonomy, the nature of sales offerings (i.e., goods vs. services), risk aversion, and new product innovations, and (6) an exploration of salesperson bricolage as a key mediator of artificial intelligence trust on sales performance. Results offer a nuanced view of salesperson bricolage and insights for salespeople and sales managers that enable increased sales performance within resource-scarce, volatile environments.
Recommended Citation
Gordon, Donovan, "Reforging Sales: The Rise of the Sales Bricoleur in Dynamic Ecosystems" (2026). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 8821.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/8821