Bricolage, Community Support, and Resilience: Women SME Owners Rebuilding After the 2023 Türkiye Earthquakes
Nurdan Gurkan
article (Uluslararası, Hakemli) | Yazar(lar): Nurdan Gurkan | Yıl: 2026 | Dergi/Kurum: JOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT | İndeks: WOS.SSCI | DOI: 10.1111/1468-5973.70141 | Anahtar Kelimeler: bricolage, business continuity, community support, crisis management, gendered constraints, institutional access, o
This study investigates how women business owners restored operational continuity following the 2023 T & uuml;rkiye earthquakes. While prior crisis management research recognises the importance of community support, improvisation, and resilience in recovery, these mechanisms have rarely been examined as a connected and gendered process. Drawing on 20 in-depth cases from heavily affected provinces, this study develops the Gendered Bricolage Pathways Model-a mechanism-based framework explaining how women-owned SMEs progress from disruption to stability. Findings reveal a four-stage recovery pathway: (1) community support functions as survival capital, enabling early operational restart; (2) bricolage serves as adaptive problem-solving under resource scarcity; (3) routine reconstruction restores predictability and workflow stability; and (4) resilience emerges as a capability rebuilt through operational regularity rather than as a personal trait. Institutional access moderates recovery pace, while caregiving responsibilities condition the feasibility of each stage. The study advances crisis management theory by conceptualising resilience as a process outcome of restored operations and by identifying gendered time scarcity as a structural determinant of recovery speed. Practical implications highlight the need for care-sensitive and low-barrier institutional programmes that can accelerate SME continuity in disaster-affected contexts. The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers and crisis managers designing equitable, community-integrated recovery systems.