# Resource Bricolage for Inclusive Employment: A Case Study of Social Entrepreneurship to Support Parents of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities

**Authors:** Zengke An, Qianru Zhang, Yi Liu, Jingwen Lv

PMC · DOI: 10.3390/bs16020274 · Behavioral Sciences · 2026-02-13

## TL;DR

This study explores how parents of individuals with intellectual disabilities start social enterprises to help their children get jobs, combining personal and altruistic motives.

## Contribution

The study introduces dual parental motivations and extends resource bricolage to family-driven social entrepreneurship.

## Key findings

- Parents use both egoistic and altruistic motives to mobilize resources for inclusive employment.
- The enterprise evolved from informal to structured, leading to employment inclusion and social empowerment.
- Resource bricolage is reconceptualized as strategic management of human and material capital.

## Abstract

Supporting employment for people with intellectual disabilities is essential for their social inclusion and psychological well-being. Previous studies have explored how social enterprises facilitate employment for this group. However, relatively little attention has been given to family-driven social enterprises, particularly the behavioral motivations and mechanisms through which parents create inclusive work opportunities for their adult children. This exploratory single-case study investigates why and how parents engage in social entrepreneurship to support individuals with intellectual disabilities. Findings show that parents dynamically mobilize human and material capital, driven by both egoistic and altruistic motives. Meanwhile, the enterprise gradually evolved from an informal initiative into a more structured organization. Employment inclusion emerged as the primary outcome, enabled by knowledge acquisition and capacity building, with social empowerment as a broader benefit. The study contributes by identifying dual parental motivations, extending resource bricolage to family-driven social entrepreneurship, and reconceptualizing bricolage as a strategic management of human and material capital.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** learning disabilities (MESH:D007859), disabilities (MESH:D009069), discrimination (MESH:D010468), Intellectual Disabilities (MESH:D008607), injury to (MESH:D014947)
- **Chemicals:** JIEXIN (-)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

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## References

77 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12937662/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12937662