How individuals learn to do more with less: The role of informal learning and the effects of higher-level education and unemployment in Ghana

Abstract

With a rapidly growing population, Africa faces a significant job creation challenge. One solution to this is to encourage local entrepreneurship. Yet, entrepreneurs are facing an environment where resources are scarce. A way to enact entrepreneurial opportunities in such a penurious environment is to use bricolage and create products or services by making do with what is at hand. We support the notion that bricolage can to some extent be learnt at the individual level. We examine this viewpoint in an empirical study in Ghana with 353 actual and aspiring entrepreneurs. We examine the direct effects of informal learning in the workplace on bricolage, while investigating the moderating effects of higher-level formal education and unemployment. Our findings show that bricolage can be fostered at the individual level through informal learning, and thereby enables individuals in Ghana to form opportunities through bricolage.