Challenges and competencies of entrepreneurial leaders in driving innovation at DIY laboratories

ABSTRACT

Do-It-Yourself laboratories (DIY labs) are autonomous community-based science research spaces that facilitate creative experiments independently in an unstructured location. The research on do-it-yourself (DIY) laboratories is emerging and there remain various questions to answer about the structure, leadership style, innovation strategies and environmental and public safety policies of DIYs. Keeping in view various challenges of DIY labs, this study theoretically highlights the challenges of DIY labs and competencies required for DIY leaders in coping with challenges and driving innovation. Drawing on existing literature of entrepreneurial leadership competencies, this paper proposes a comprehensive entrepreneurial leadership competency model comprising of personal, functional, interpersonal, technological, ethical and environmental competencies. This study offers insights into the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and DIY innovation, thus laying a foundation for further research in this domain. The competency model proposed in this study helps individuals to understand and learn the capabilities of becoming more effective DIY entrepreneurial leaders and foster innovation and creativity in DIY labs.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurship
• leadership
• entrepreneurial leadership
• DIY innovation
• laboratories

Introduction

Do-It-Yourself laboratories (DIY labs), also known as ‘citizen laboratories’ or ‘hackerspaces’, are autonomous community-based science research spaces facilitating creative experiments independently in an unstructured location unlike the traditional research activities carried out by universities and other formal research institutions. These democratised technological practice points have gained substantial attention among researchers in recent times (Yoon, Vonortas, and Han 2020). The recent expansion of DIY labs has attracted a significant number of science enthusiasts, volunteers, and practitioners, encouraging learning, and sharing of scientific knowledge. Besides, DIY labs play an integral role by involving ordinary individuals in practising and advancing science, technology and innovation (Hecker et al. 2018; Yoon, Vonortas, and Han 2020). DIY labs enable communities to learn and share knowledge about emerging technological and product innovation (Sarpong and Rawal 2020). The recent growth of DIY labs is backed by multiple factors such as cheap laboratory equipment, readymade materials and excessive scientific information (Million-Perez 2016). Moreover, sophisticated internet and digital business environment, accessible knowledge and information on various websites and online forum such as DIYbio.org, Facebook.com, and Slack.com have fuelled the growth of DIY in recent times (Grey, Dyer, and Gleeson 2017).

Since the emergence of DIY laboratories, a significant number of scientists have engaged in DIY experimental work. As a result, a growing number of subsidiaries that are linked with DIY laboratories have emerged in various parts of the world (You et al. 2020). These DIY labs usually operate under different names such as DIYbio labs, Hackerspaces and Fab Labs. These multiple names indicate that these spaces associated with DIY labs are growing drastically. As a salient example, Fab labs were initiated with 6 labs in 2004, reached 413 labs in 2013, and to date, Fab Foundation Network has 1830 DIY labs operating in more than 100 countries worldwide. The data regarding American DIY labs reveal that 57% of American adults comprising 135 million people are engaged with DIY labs and considered as makers (Stone 2015). The number of participants attending the events of Maker Fairs (an event to celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the DIY mind-set) surged to 83,000 in 2009 (You et al. 2020).

The existing DIY labs have three categories. First, the subsistence DIY; second, industrial DIY; and the latest type of DIY is termed the ‘third wave of DIY’. The subsistence DIY wave is concerned with the basic needs of people; they fulfil their requirements by themselves without purchasing anything from the marketplace. The industrial DIY involves tools and kits available in the market for designing and making products with standardised instruction such as self-assembled furniture, equipment, etc. Conversely, the third wave of DIY underpins reading/writing features of the internet that enable the typical user to make digital-driven design, manufacture and sell goods via websites as per their innovative capacity. The third wave DIY can be carried out by anyone at any place (Fox 2014) and has the most potential for innovation.

The recent increase in DIY operations is pushed by various factors such as the availability of open-source-garage, cheap equipment, advancements in information technology and web-based communities (Sarpong et al. 2020). Notwithstanding the growing popularity of DIY labs, various scholars have expressed their concern about its regulation and operations (Ferretti 2019;Wolinsky 2005), the ethical issues (Wexler 2016; Fiske et al. 2019), irresponsible use of science (Tanenbaum et al. 2013) and public health and environmental safety concerns (Gorman 2010; Revill and Jefferson 2014). Besides, lack of clear ownership (Yoon, Vonortas, and Han 2020), strict regulation by government authorities, unsustainable financial support and lack of dedicated leadership (Seyfried, Pei, and Schmidt 2014) are some of the critical challenges faced by DIYs.

Despite the exponential growth of various types of DIY labs across the world, there is limited discussion available in the academic literature about DIY labs, especially from a business management perspective. One of the key reasons for the lack of research in this context is because DIY lab’s research is mainly focused on science and engineering fields. In contrast, DIY labs have not yet attracted interest in organisation and management research (Fox 2014; Howard, Boeker, and Andrus 2019; Galvin, Burton, and Nyuur 2020). Prior studies focused on DIY labs and their social structure and discussed the importance of collaborative work (Guthrie 2014). Some studies also discussed the strategies of DIY labs and their implementation by focusing on the ecosystem theory, and highlighted how DIY stakeholders participate in laboratory work (Bloom and Dees 2008). The extant literature also focused on the motivation, characteristics, background and expertise of individual entrepreneurs, hobbyists, engineers and designers (Hatch 2013; Baden et al. 2015; Martin 2015; Galvin, Burton, and Nyuur 2020).

Drawing on prior research that focused on the growth of DIY labs and increasing participation of stakeholders, it is pertinent to explore the leadership styles and management of DIY labs. It is important that we know the leadership skills and competencies required for driving innovation in DIY laboratories. The organisation of the current era has witnessed a paradigm shift from relying on what to do and why to do, to new tasks, methods, and process to be innovative. As a result of this paradigm shift, there is more reliance on the skills and competencies of leaders as compared to management (Guo 2009). Researchers from the field of entrepreneurship argue that executing entrepreneurial activities carry various uncertainties, complexities, and challenges. This has led to the clarion call for more studies on entrepreneurial leadership (Simba and Thai 2019). Entrepreneurial leadership though a distinct field of study within the domain of leadership is deeply embedded in the positive integration of the fields of leadership and entrepreneurship (Harrison et al. 2020). Entrepreneurial leadership is recognised as a key driver of innovation and constant change in large and small and medium enterprises (Leitch and Volery 2017).

According to Leitch, McMullan, and Harrison (2009), SMEs can develop entrepreneurial leadership through an action-based learning approach underpinned by the social and relational learning process. For effective leadership in SMEs and solving complex organisation challenges, the development of personal and functional competencies of entrepreneurial leaders is crucial (Leitch and Volery 2017; Simba and Thai 2019). Moreover, Leitch, McMullan, and Harrison (2013) exploring entrepreneurial leadership in the context of human, social and institutional capital in SMEs, argue that entrepreneurial leadership is a social process and entrepreneurs learn from relational learning that occurs in active encounters of peer to peer interactions and trust building within the organisation. Thus, it is a recognised leadership approach geared towards achieving strategic value creation (Harrison et al. 2020).

Similarly, as the core purpose of DIY labs is to undertake innovative research and experimental work to gain economic benefit, its survival and long-term sustainability reside on innovation and creative inputs from team members. Executing entrepreneurial activities carry various uncertainties, complexities and challenges. Entrepreneurial leaders need to learn specific individual competencies that enable them to lead the entrepreneurial activities in turmoil situations to achieve entrepreneurial vision (Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004; Bagheri and Pihie 2011). As argued by Leitch and Volery (2017), personal and functional competencies of entrepreneurial leaders are crucial in coping with business challenges and dealing with constant innovation and change. Therefore, the role of the lead entrepreneur or entrepreneurial leader and their capability and skills in attracting other organisational members is vital (Chen 2007). However, the primary DIY literature has largely disregarded the role of entrepreneurial leadership and its competencies in managing and sustaining innovation at DIY labs. Given the infancy of literature from the management viewpoint, the kind of leadership challenges DIY labs face and the specific competencies DIY entrepreneurial leaders require to foster innovation, represent major research gaps in the extant literature. Thus, we seek to advance the scholarship in this domain by addressing entrepreneurial leadership competencies in the context of DIY labs and drawing on existing EL competency models, this paper presents a competency framework of entrepreneurial leadership from a DIY perspective.

This article begins with a discussion of the convergent evolution of entrepreneurship and leadership. In later parts, entrepreneurial leadership is defined and its competencies and their relevance to DIY, are discussed. Moreover, this paper reviews and synthesises extant literature. It identifies the challenges of DIY labs and presents a competency model of entrepreneurial leadership with detailed explanation. The major research elements along with research and practical implications are examined in the discussion section. Areas for future research are highlighted. Finally, in the conclusion, the key contributions of the paper are summarised.

Conducting the review

The aim of the study is to highlight the challenges of DIY laboratories and propose an integrated competency model for driving innovation in DIY labs. Therefore, the present study aims to enhance our understanding about entrepreneurial leadership and its relationship with DIY labs in driving innovation. To meet this end, this study adopted a narrative literature review to search relevant literature from both research streams. A narrative literature review aims to summarise and presents a critical analysis of literature on a given field of enquiry thus helping the researcher in drafting the research questions and building hypothesis (Cronin, Ryan, and Coughlan 2008). It was important that several fields are examined to provide a broader picture of entrepreneurial leadership, competencies and DIY. Keywords such as entrepreneurship, leadership, entrepreneurial leadership, DIY innovation, laboratories and entrepreneurial leadership competencies were employed as search strings in databases such as Emerald, Web of Science, Sage, Taylor and Francis, SpringerLink, Science Direct and ABI/PROQUEST. Such approaches were useful to synthesise extant literature based on entrepreneurial leadership and DIY research.

Entrepreneurship and leadership

The research on entrepreneurship and leadership has spanned over several decades. Notwithstanding the extensive investigation that has taken place in both disciplines, there yet remain some substantial overlaps and parallels in historical and conceptual viewpoint in both fields (Cogliser and Brigham 2004; Harrison, Paul, and Burnard 2016a, 2016b; Harrison, Burnard, and Paul 2018). Historically, entrepreneurship and leadership literature share the same process of theory evolution. Initially, both fields focused on innate qualities and characteristics of leaders and entrepreneurs that subsequently led to the emergence of the ‘trait theory’. Later, the effect of followers and contextual factors emerged in theories of both disciplines. In this regard, various researchers attempted to pinpoint the capabilities of leaders and entrepreneurs through which they influence their followers and enact organisational vision (Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004; Bagheri, Lope Pihie, and Krauss 2013). However, inconsistent research findings of leaders’ and entrepreneurs’ capabilities induced the researchers toward a dynamic shift from the traits and situational factors to an evolutionary dynamic learning process (Kempster and Cope 2010). As a result of this learning process, both entrepreneurs and leaders learn personal and functional competencies to cope with the challenges of competitive and turbulent environments (Bagheri and Pihie 2011; Leitch and Volery 2017). To date, various scholars have investigated the similarities of both fields and highlighted several overlapping characteristics of leaders and entrepreneurs such as innovativeness, risk-taking propensity and envisioning capabilities . Given the similarities of both fields, some studies have recognised entrepreneurship as a type of leadership on the ground of their common behaviour irrespective of contextual differences (Vecchio 2003; Bagheri, Lope Pihie, and Krauss 2013). However, some researchers express a contrary opinion regarding an entrepreneur as a leader. They argue that an entrepreneur is more than a leader as the role of the entrepreneur is more challenging in terms of starting the venture from the scratch and facing various challenges of tricky situations to succeed (Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004). Both entrepreneurs and leaders have different complexities in personality, skills and attributes since an entrepreneur needs to perform various roles in different situations simultaneously. Therefore, for the success and development of a new venture, an entrepreneurial leader needs to develop a particular set of competencies (Swiercz and Lydon 2002; Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004 ; Bagheri and Harrison 2020;).

The theoretical and conceptual overlaps between the two fields led to the emergence of a new phenomenon known as ‘entrepreneurial leadership’. The emergence of entrepreneurial leadership as a new paradigm of enquiry, not only helps in fabricating research and practice in the entrepreneurship and leadership arena but also shares distinct properties that both fields lack separately (Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004; Clark and Harrison 2018, 2019). Table 1 presents some studies that have investigated entrepreneurial leadership as a convergence of entrepreneurship and leadership.

Table 1. Some studies that have investigated entrepreneurial leadership as the convergence of entrepreneurship and leadership.

Name of author(s)	Focus of the study
Vecchio (2003)	This study draws on parallels of leadership and entrepreneurship. It argues that entrepreneurship is a subset of leadership as most entrepreneurship behaviours are the same as leadership behaviours though these behaviours differ contextually.
Cogliser and Brigham (2004)	This study focused on the areas in which entrepreneurship and leadership overlap. The authors argue that entrepreneurship and leadership share various overlapping characteristics such as vision, influence, innovation and creativity and planning.
Fernald, Solomon, and Tarabishy (2005)	This study reviewed 136 papers from entrepreneurship and leadership and highlighted eight common characteristics of entrepreneurs and leaders. These characteristics are the ability to motivate, achievement orientation, creativity, flexibility, patience, persistence, risk-taking and vision.
Harrison et al. (2020)	This paper explored the association of entrepreneurship, leadership and entrepreneurial leadership. The study argues that entrepreneurial leadership emerged as a new paradigm from the convergence of entrepreneurship and leadership, and it shares various similarities from both fields of studies.

Entrepreneurial leadership: definition and competencies

Entrepreneurial leadership (EL) is still at the embryonic stage of conceptual and theoretical development and is defined as a distinct form of leadership that is effective in dealing with the challenges and complexities of a highly turbulent environment (Swiercz and Lydon 2002; Cogliser and Brigham 2004; Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004; Harrison 2018; Clark, Harrison, and Gibb 2019). Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie (2004, 242) define entrepreneurial leadership as ‘leadership that creates visionary scenarios that are used to assemble and mobilise a “supporting cast” of participants who become committed by the vision to the discovery and exploitation of strategic value creation’. EL’s initial definition mainly focused on entrepreneurial leaders’ attributes and characteristics. At the same time, recent conceptualisation views entrepreneurial leadership as a process in which leaders use an interpersonal and a systematic approach to mobilise a group of followers to achieve organisational vision. Based on Gupta et al.’s definition, entrepreneurial leaders need to perform two different tasks; scenario enactment and cast enactment. In scenario enactment, entrepreneurial leaders build new ideas and identify ongoing future opportunities to sustain their venture. While in cast enactment, entrepreneurial leaders inspire and influence their followers to ensure their commitment to achieving the objectives of scenario enactment (see, e.g. Bagheri and Pihie 2011). A sample of studies that have defined entrepreneurial leadership and the definitions proposed are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Sample of studies that have defined entrepreneurial leadership and the definitions proposed.

Name of author(s)	Entrepreneurial leadership definitions
Cogliser and Brigham (2004)	Entrepreneurial leadership should involve idea generation, idea structuring and idea promotion, where idea generation is critical in the early stages of a venture and idea structuring and promotion in the latter stages. Therefore, an entrepreneurial leader does not only need to recognise opportunities, but he or she must also be able to marshal the resources necessary to reach the potential of that opportunity.
Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie (2004)	Entrepreneurial leadership creates visionary scenarios that are used to assemble and mobilise a supporting cast of participants who become committed to the discovery and exploitation of strategic value creation
Surie and Ashley (2008)	Leadership capable of sustaining innovation and adaptation in high-velocity and uncertain environments.
Leitch, McMullan, and Harrison (2013)	Entrepreneurial leadership is the leadership role performed in entrepreneurial ventures, rather than in the more general sense of an entrepreneurial style of leadership.
Harrison, Burnard, and Paul (2018)	Entrepreneurial leadership defines a role of leadership that utilises diverse skills towards developing opportunities within challenging circumstances.

The evidence shows that entrepreneurial leadership with characteristics of innovation, customer and competitor orientation has a positive impact on business performance (see, e.g. Harrison, Paul, and Burnard 2016a; Harrison, Burnard, and Paul 2018). The role of entrepreneurial leadership skills is critical in new venture formation, performance and growth. Entrepreneurial leadership competencies are also recognised as crucial for leaders in leading a current organisation in a growing competitive and challenging environment (Bagheri and Pihie 2011; Bagheri and Harrison 2020). Various authors have explored the competencies of entrepreneurial leaders in a different context. For instance, Swiercz and Lydon (2002) highlighted two competencies of entrepreneurial leaders, namely, self-competencies and functional competencies. Self-competencies are concerned with the leader’s entrepreneurial orientation at both individual and organisational levels which include proactiveness, innovativeness and risk-taking. In contrast, functional competencies are task-oriented, which include operations, finance, marketing and human resources (Swiercz and Lydon 2002; Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004; Frederick, Kuratko, and Hodgetts 2007).

Although Swiercz and Lydon (2002) contribution laid the foundation of requisite competencies of entrepreneurial leaders, there is a paucity of discussion in the literature about the specific competencies required for entrepreneurial leaders in leading various entrepreneurial activities successfully (Swiercz and Lydon 2002; Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004). Guo (2009) illuminated three core competencies of healthcare entrepreneurial leaders including healthcare environment and system competencies, organisation competencies and interpersonal competencies. Bagheri and Pihie (2011) explored challenges and competencies of student entrepreneurial leaders leading entrepreneurial projects; they identified three critical competencies of entrepreneurial leaders that are the catalyst for leading entrepreneurial projects comprising; (1) creating a close relationship with and among group members, (2) employing a learning and developmental approach toward delegating tasks to group members and (3) building group members’ self-efficacy. Bagheri and Pihie (2012) investigated the entrepreneurial leadership competencies of students through the lens of experience and social interaction. They found that entrepreneurial leadership competencies can be developed through the ongoing process of experiential and socially interactive learning. Bagheri, Lope Pihie, and Krauss (2013) exploring personal competencies of Malaysian student entrepreneurial leaders, identified four personal competencies, namely, proactiveness, innovativeness, love of challenges, and versatility. Furthermore, Ngigi, McCormick, and Kamau (2018) investigated entrepreneurial leadership competencies of mid-level CEOs in the context of Kenya and highlighted two categories of competencies including relational competencies and the task-oriented competencies. These relational competencies include effective bargaining, diplomacy while task-oriented competencies involve innovativeness, proactiveness and flexibility. Moreover, Bagheri and Harrison (2020) drawing on skills, competencies, roles and behaviour of entrepreneurial leaders in the context of Iran and Scotland, developed a multi-dimensional scale of entrepreneurial leaders. Omeihe et al. 2020 discussed the skills and attributes of entrepreneurial leaders within the fashion industry of Nigeria; and identified five key skills (technical skills, conceptual skills, interpersonal skills, entrepreneurial skills and expectation management skills) and attributes (hard work, long-term view, passion and length of service, creativity, innovation and vision) of entrepreneurial leaders.

However, the existing literature on entrepreneurial leadership competencies presents a limited perspective. The role of entrepreneurial leaders is more diverse. An entrepreneurial leader needs to address various challenges simultaneously such as technological challenges, environmental issues, public safety and ethical consideration in organisational activities. The above studies mainly focused on personal and functional competencies, interpersonal competencies, system competencies and technological competencies. These studies discuss the components of entrepreneurial leadership competencies separately. Therefore, entrepreneurial leadership research lacks a comprehensive competency model that covers all aspects of competencies. More importantly, there is no discussion in the literature about DIY entrepreneurial leaders and their competencies in driving innovation at DIY labs. This study by reviewing current literature on EL competencies attempts to fill the gap by proposing a comprehensive entrepreneurial leadership competency model in a DIY context.

Entrepreneurial leadership competencies and DIY labs

This study drawing on current EL competency models attempts to develop a competency model for DIY entrepreneurial leaders. In the following segments, we define entrepreneurial leadership competencies and their approaches.

EL literature identifies two approaches in which entrepreneurial leaders carry out their entrepreneurial roles. First, ‘work-oriented approach’ that is concerned with requisite entrepreneurial leadership competencies for performing various functions in different stages of new venture creation and business growth. Second, ‘socio-cultural and situated approach’ an approach which implies that entrepreneurial leadership development is a social process that evolves through the gradual learning process in a particular community context (Kempster and Cope 2010; Bagheri and Pihie 2011).

The current literature on entrepreneurial leadership competencies overlooks various essential competencies of entrepreneurial leaders. For instance, Swiercz and Lydon (2002) highlighted personal and functional competencies of entrepreneurial leaders and ignored some crucial aspects of entrepreneurial leadership competencies such as interpersonal, ethical and technological competencies. Guo (2009) proposed a model of healthcare entrepreneurial leaders’ competencies comprising, healthcare environment and system competencies, organisation competencies, and interpersonal competencies. However, Guo’s competency model also lacks some essential entrepreneurial leadership competencies such as ethical competencies which are crucial for healthcare to perform their task honestly and maintain healthcare privacy. Moreover, they also need to develop technological skills to deal with the latest technologies in the healthcare operation. Bagheri and Pihie (2011) focused on interpersonal, task delegation and self-efficacy competencies of entrepreneurial leaders. However, they also disregarded technological, environmental and ethical competencies that entrepreneurial leaders need to build and sustain their venture in the long run. Moreover, Ngigi, McCormick, and Kamau (2018) explored relational competencies and the task-oriented competencies of Kenyan mid-level CEOs; however, their competency model does not focus on technological, interpersonal and ethical competencies of entrepreneurial leaders that are also crucial for mid-level CEOs.

Drawing on the existing entrepreneurial leadership competency literature, this study evaluates their competency models and identifies their limitations and suggests a comprehensive competency model focusing on DIY labs. One of the main limitations of previous studies is their focus on individual competencies in terms of personal, functional, interpersonal and technological competencies. None of these studies provides a comprehensive entrepreneurial leadership competency model that covers varying roles of entrepreneurial leaders. Therefore, this paper puts forward a comprehensive entrepreneurial leadership competency model by combining the essential competencies of entrepreneurial leaders that have been discussed in prior research at individual capacities.

Personal competencies

Entrepreneurial leaders’ self-competencies comprise proactiveness, innovativeness and risk-taking. Proactiveness is concerned with being ready for the future through planning instead of reacting and responding to the occurrence of the event. Proactiveness is an entrepreneurial leaders’ personality trait that helps them to make subsequent plans for the future of their business (Bagheri and Pihie 2011). Proactiveness enables entrepreneurial leaders to sense the future challenges, identify business opportunities and recognise and plan for forthcoming changes (Okudan and Rzasa 2006; Frederick, Kuratko, and Hodgetts 2007).

Innovativeness refers to the entrepreneurial leader’s capability of being creative in recognising business opportunities, using resources efficiently and finding an innovative solution to problems (Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004; Okudan and Rzasa 2006; Chen 2007; Bagheri and Pihie 2011; Bagheri and Harrison 2020). Unlike traditional leaders, entrepreneurial leaders have creative skills that enable them to think and act on novel ideas and value creation (Surie and Ashley 2008). DIY labs engage in research and product development activities independently and their long-term sustainability rests on continuous innovation. For instance, innovative use of scraps and other DIY tools, identifying and exploiting business opportunities and niches neglected by large firms, and applying scarce resources more efficiently, require specific creative skills to generate useful and innovative ideas. These competencies are crucial for DIY labs that are associated with digital platforms and offer innovative read and write services through digital customisation across various online platforms.

Risk-taking is an integral part of the entrepreneurial process and is concerned with the inclination of entrepreneurial leaders to accept the fear of uncertainty and launch their venture owning the responsibility of future contingencies (Chen 2007). Entrepreneurial leaders take calculated risks in the launching of new ventures. Unlike managers, entrepreneurial leaders are more risk-takers as they are engaged in various business activities at different phases of the new venture creation and development process (Thomas and Mueller 2000). In the same vein, DIY labs are independent research and business hubs and aim to undertake research commercialisation activities at micro-level. Therefore, for leading the successful research activities in DIY labs, leaders must have risk-taking propensity to gain commercial benefit from their endeavours.

Functional competencies

Entrepreneurial leaders perform diverse roles in new venture creation process. Besides the personal competencies, they also need to develop specific competencies related to performing various challenging tasks. These competencies include marketing, finance and human resource competencies (Swiercz and Lydon 2002). Nonetheless, there is more claim for scholarly work on specific entrepreneurial leadership functional competencies (Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004). As majority of DIY labs are run by individual entrepreneurs, they have limited resources to hire experts for each segment of organisational activities such as marketing, finance and business management. Therefore, these functional roles must be carried out by entrepreneurial leaders themselves. In this regard, entrepreneurial leaders need to learn basic finance and accounting, marketing tools, techniques and their applications and organisational management to successfully lead their DIY ventures.

Interpersonal competencies

For successful entrepreneurial leaders, development of interpersonal competencies is inevitable. Guo (2009) suggests that entrepreneurial leaders can build their interpersonal competencies through the principles of effective communication, human resources, and motivation. Interpersonal competencies mainly involve the self-development of entrepreneurial leaders; how entrepreneurial leaders conceive themselves, their strengths, weakness, areas of improvement and their self-impact on other members of the organisation (Harrison, Burnard, and Paul 2018). In this regard, entrepreneurial leaders must develop relationships and maintain professional networks that lead to superior team performance in the workplace. Entrepreneurial leaders need to develop an environment that facilitates a transparent exchange of ideas, emotions and understanding from both poles in the communication process. Clear inflow and outflow of information at the workplace enhances employees’ capabilities to develop their communication behaviour and subsequently makes them more creative at dealing with their respective tasks. Similarly, entrepreneurial leaders associated with DIY must develop their interpersonal competencies to facilitate innovative idea generation and opportunity exploitation.

Technological competencies

Technological competence is concerned with the entrepreneurial leader's capability of using various technologies at the workplace such as office automation, robots, machine learning and the internet of things (Songkünnatham 2018; Putsom, Suwannarat, and Songsrirote 2019). Technological competence enables entrepreneurial leaders to use technology and latest equipment proficiently to oversee their business operation effectively (Putsom, Suwannarat, and Songsrirote 2019). It requires specific consideration from leaders because it is the only type of competence that rapidly changes. Technological competence enhances employee’s innovativeness, business performance and organisational competitive advantage (BolíVar-Ramos, GarcíA-Morales, and García-Sánchez 2012). In DIY labs, entrepreneurial leaders perform various scientific research work, offer online services on the digital platforms, and use multiple DIY tools independently. Therefore, they must focus on the development of technological competency to perform state of the art research and commercialise their products using digital platforms.

Environmental competencies

DIY labs are operated remotely, and most of them are unregulated. The researchers express deep concern over the unregulated operations of DIY labs towards the environment. On the one hand, DIY labs are recognised as the source of growth specifically in scientific research. For instance, DIY bio-synthetic biology where better tools and models are developed to explore and exploit the living system. In this regard, engineers and biologists design and develop innovative bio-molecular components and devices that facilitate the creation of cheaper drugs, targeted therapies for diseases like cancer (Khalil and Collins 2010; Landrain et al. 2013). On the other hand, junior scientists and engineers undertaking projects such as engineered bacteria in untraditional research centres present severe safety and security threats to stakeholders and the environment (Landrain et al. 2013). Therefore, along with other entrepreneurial leadership competencies, environmental competence is also crucial for the sustainable growth and success of DIY labs. Entrepreneurial leaders must focus on the system where DIY labs operate, and they should enhance their understanding of how to improve its lab activities and align their operations ensuring environment and public wellbeing.

Ethical competencies

Researchers often criticise the missing element of the ethical dimension in entrepreneurial leadership. It is argued that pragmatism enables entrepreneurs to achieve innovation and accomplishment (Surie and Ashley 2008). However, the ethical dimension assists entrepreneurial leaders to develop the legitimacy essential for value creation, discovery and change ethics in organisations. It is inevitable that a conceptual foundation for entrepreneurial leadership needs ethics as an integral part. Ethics and entrepreneurial leadership are aligned through pragmatic and action-oriented approach to moral grounds in organisations that enable building trust and commitment among organisational members (Surie and Ashley 2008). As a result of this approach, organisations can achieve better value creation and sustainable innovation. It is important for entrepreneurial leaders to assess their actions and their impacts through the prism of long-term credibility. As entrepreneurial leaders’ role is characterised as evolving in nature, it results in altering the current norms and forming a new one. In this manner, growing practice and standard in various domains should reflect ethical behaviour and its reinforcement (Surie and Ashley 2008). Similarly, the leadership of DIY labs carries out different experimental and research work in independent labs; their actions have long term footprints on society and the environment. Therefore, ethics and values must be part of their leadership practices to meet both ends. Figure 1 presents a combined competency model for entrepreneurial leaders. These competencies are further explained below:

Figure 1. Competency model for DIY entrepreneurial leaders.

Entrepreneurial leadership and innovation at DIY labs

Various studies suggest that the role of leaders is critical in terms of inspiring the followers and stimulating their innovative work behaviour and performance (Soriano and Martínez 2007; Chen et al. 2014; Bagheri 2017). In this regard, several studies have found a significant positive relationship between leadership style and employees innovative work behaviour, opportunity recognition, creative capabilities and sustainable growth of the various types of businesses (De Jong and den Hartog 2010; Koryak et al. 2015; Chen, Li, and Leung 2016; Bagheri 2017). Specifically, the role of leadership has a significant impact on driving innovation in high-tech businesses and managing the innovation process (Waldman and Bass 1991). According to Tung and Yu (2016), employees are not creative themselves; instead, it is the supporting role of leaders that stimulates their creativity.

Notwithstanding the emphasis of various studies on the role of leadership style on individual innovation, limited studies focused on the impact of leadership style in fostering innovation and employees’ opportunity recognition (De Jong and den Hartog 2010; Kang, Solomon, and Choi 2015; Koryak et al. 2015). The research on the role of leadership styles in driving innovation shares inconsistent findings. In this connection, some leadership styles are more capable of supporting, managing and implementing organisation’s innovation strategies. However, some scholars argue that generic leadership styles (e.g. transformational/transactional) may not be suitable in dealing with the complex innovation processes and driving employee innovative behaviour (Sharifirad 2013; Dóci, Stouten, and Hofmans 2015). Particularly, leaders associated with high-tech businesses, marshal substantial resources for scientific, and technological research and development activities. They need these resources to develop specific leadership competencies to successfully lead the innovation and opportunity recognition process in their businesses (Chen et al. 2014; Bagheri 2017). In this context, the evidence from numerous studies suggests that entrepreneurial leadership plays a positive role in fostering employees’ innovation and opportunity recognition in the growing competitive business world (Swiercz and Lydon 2002; Freeman and Siegfried Jr 2015; Karol 2015).

Entrepreneurial leaders and their team must be creative to generate innovative ideas to identify business opportunities in market or technology (Chen 2007). Damanpour (1991) suggests that organisations of the current era witness multifaceted challenges due to growing workforce complexity and turbulent business environment. Therefore, the top management leadership style has become an enabling factor in directing organisational innovation. Since an individual or team of entrepreneurs create most new ventures, the role of the lead entrepreneur is a determining factor for organisational innovation in several ways. First, entrepreneurial leaders articulate the organisation vision and envisage the scenarios to followers. They convince their followers in achieving the goals through envisaging challenges, absorbing uncertainty, maintaining flexible behaviours and winning commitment (Ireland and Hitt 1999; Timmons 1999; Gupta, MacMillan, and Surie 2004). Second, entrepreneurial leaders with attributes of patience, enthusiasm, flexibility, communication and networking competence build an entrepreneurial culture in organisations (Timmons 1999). Third, entrepreneurial leaders with aggressive behaviour towards business opportunities, risk-taking, innovative propensity and proactive behaviour capitalise on business opportunities more quickly than their competitors (Lumpkin and Dess 1996). Fourth, entrepreneurial leaders are recognised as change agents and they facilitate creative problem solving and encourage team creativity. They empower the team member in improving their task and achieving superior goals (see, e.g. Chen 2007). Therefore, entrepreneurial leadership and its characteristics of innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness are essential for leaders at DIY labs in finding innovative solutions to their underlying problems to remain sustainable.

Discussion

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges of DIY labs and to develop a competency model for entrepreneurial leaders in DIY labs. This paper by reviewing and synthesising existing literature on entrepreneurial leadership and DIY identified the challenges of DIY labs and proposed a competency model for entrepreneurial leaders in DIY labs. The proposed model comprises of six essential entrepreneurial leadership competences that entrepreneurial leaders need to develop in DIY labs namely, personal competencies, functional competencies, interpersonal competencies, technological competencies, ethical competencies and environmental competencies.

Although these competencies have been discussed in prior studies at an individual level, this paper aimed to advance entrepreneurial leadership competency literature by proposing a more comprehensive and integrated competency model. By integrating the various aspects of leadership capabilities, the model helps entrepreneurial leaders to play a diversified role in dealing with the challenges of the DIY labs and driving innovation. Prior studies highlighted that unstructured organisational format, lack of dedicated leadership, environmental and public safety are some of the major challenges that DIY confront today. Therefore, by adopting the proposed competency model, entrepreneurial leaders can identify and exploit business opportunities in a more effective manner.

Research and practical implications

The model offers several implications for research within leadership and the DIY arena. First, the model can be used as baseline for investigating the competencies of DIY entrepreneurial leaders. Second, the model enhances the understanding of entrepreneurial leadership competencies and facilitates future theory development. Finally, the researchers evaluating the different aspects of the proposed model, may add more components making it suitable for effective performance of DIY labs and other sectors.

The model proposed by this paper guides DIY entrepreneurial leaders in improving organisational performance and achieving sustainable innovation. Besides, by applying the competency model, DIY entrepreneurial leaders can build the trust of government and other regulatory bodies by ensuring public and environmental safety. As a result, they will be able to obtain more financial resources to expand their operations. The proposed competency model can be used as a tool by DIY leaders to understand the competencies and use it for self-improvement and achieving organisational vision. It can be applied by policy makers and other regulatory bodies in devising strategies for DIY labs.

Future research directions

Notwithstanding the significant implication of the entrepreneurial leadership competency model in leadership and entrepreneurship research and practice, there is a further need for empirical evidence to assess the reliability and validity of the DIY entrepreneurial leadership competency model. The model may be tested by considering the data from various geographical locations by cross-comparison to examine the cultural and contextual impact on the phenomenon. Further research on how DIY entrepreneurial leaders can learn and develop these capabilities, also enrich the research on entrepreneurship, leadership and DIY. More empirical investigation is required to assess which aspect of EL competency model is more influential on DIY performance. Future studies may apply the model on the context of new ventures and SMEs. Such studies may compare entrepreneurial leadership style with other leadership styles (e.g. transformational and transactional) as an antecedent of innovation in DIY labs.

Conclusion

The extant literature highlights that entrepreneurial leadership is an emerging phenomenon and there is paucity of discussion about entrepreneurial leadership assessment tools and its applicability in large and small organisations (Leitch and Volery 2017). However, the evidence from the literature supports the premise that entrepreneurial leadership is a leadership approach suitable for coping with the challenges of complex and uncertain business environments. In this regard, the research highlights that DIY labs experience various challenges such as unstructured leadership, environmental and public safety challenges and managing innovation and creativity. Therefore, DIY labs require a more flexible, risk-taking and opportunity driven leadership style that can facilitate swift opportunity identification and exploitation. For DIY labs to sustain their competitive advantage, they should adopt an entrepreneurial leadership style. This is important for long-term innovativeness. Given the multifaceted challenges of DIY labs, leaders within this context will need to develop their personal, functional, interpersonal, technological, environmental and ethical competencies to cope with the ever-growing challenges.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fida Ahmed

Mr Fida Ahmed is a PhD candidate at the University of the West of Scotland and conducting his research on entrepreneurial leadership with specific focus on the competencies of entrepreneurial leaders working as group at business incubation centres in context of Pakistan.

Christian Harrison

Dr Christian Harrison is the programme leader of the MSc Leadership and Management and MSc International Management in the School of Business and Creative Industries in the University of the West of Scotland. He is the author of numerous published peer-reviewed papers on Entrepreneurial Leadership which is his major research interest and serves as the Director of Studies of several doctoral students. He is also the Chair of the Leadership and Leadership Development Special Interest Group of the British Academy of Management. Christian works extensively as a consultant on leadership development within organisations. He is the founder of the NGO, The Leadership Mould Initiative International. The NGO supports students and moulds future leaders. He is also the author of the book entitled ‘Leadership Theory and Research: A Critical Approach to New and Existing Paradigms’, which is published by the globally renowned publishing company; Palgrave MacMillan.