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The purpose of this study is to empirically explore the relationship between a new venture top management team's (NVTMT’s) shared leadership and strategic performance in opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial bricolage by drawing on the upper echelons theory.

Data were collected from 344 new manufacturing ventures located in Eastern China. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) through the AMOS 23.0 software package. The confluence of the contextual factors of the new venture is examined by a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The results indicate that NVTMT shared leadership has an indirect and positive effect on strategic performance through opportunity recognition, especially in a highly uncertain environment, while the mediating effect of entrepreneurial bricolage is not significant. Furthermore, although the SEM results show that the impact of NVTMT shared leadership on entrepreneurial bricolage is negative, the fsQCA shows that NVTMT shared leadership can significantly and positively affect entrepreneurial bricolage in an environment with high uncertainty, ultimately enhancing strategic performance.

This study contributes to the shared leadership literature by proposing a model on how shared leadership shapes the strategic performance of new ventures via opportunity recognition and entrepreneurial bricolage. The findings not only enrich relevant research on the upper echelons theory, but also help in understanding the patterns of contextual conditions that facilitate the value-adding properties of NVTMT shared leadership.