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The purpose of this paper is to analyse how entrepreneurial bricolage empowers smallholder commercial farming, from a family business perspective.

The study employed a multiple case study design to analyse entrepreneurial bricolage in smallholder commercial farming in Uganda. It used multiple data collection methods and applied content analytical tchniques to establish cross-case correlations, patterns and relationships to aid in theory development and testing.

The study shows that entrepreneurial bricolage empowers smallholder commercialization through resource reallocation, improvization and prioritization as interconnected, self-reinforcing bricolage processes in smallholder farming. It provides evidence of how smallholder farms may not enact institutional limits, and overcome constraints imposed by their resource environments. It further reveals that smallholder commercial farms can be construed as family businesses given the interconnected relationship between farming business, family and smallholder farm(er).

The study was conducted in smallholder farms hence results may be used cautiously in other sectors and economies where resource environments are not structurally defined. However, it provides lessons for family businesses in developed countries particularly the micro- and small businesses. It also renders smallholder farming as a lucrative area for family business research.

This study deepens our understanding of bricolage in smallholder farming and provides a springboard for scholarship in enhancing smallholder commercialization. It proposes a model for entrepreneurial bricolage in smallholder commercial farming.

This article investigates the relationship between farm management skills, entrepreneurial bricolage and market orientation in smallholder farms.

The study used quantitative approaches to survey 378 smallholder farms in Uganda. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling to establish the relationship between farm management skills, entrepreneurial bricolage and market orientation.

Farm management skills positively predict market orientation while entrepreneurial bricolage partially mediates the relationship between farm management skills and market orientation.

The study utilized a survey design, which provides a cross-sectional view. Given that market orientation of smallholder farms can vary during the farm growth process, it becomes more informative to analyse how the independent and mediating variables cause a variation at different levels of market orientation.

Farm management training programmes that emphasize financial management skills and employ a household approach should be strengthened to enhance smallholder market orientation. Strategies for enhancing market orientation should also entail bricolage as a complementary behaviour to farm management.

We introduce entrepreneurial bricolage to the market orientation debate. The study brings alive the significance of entrepreneurial bricolage in smallholder farming. It also confirms the role of farm management skills in enhancing the market orientation of smallholder farms.