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

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.