Branding, Legitimacy, and Trust in Early Growth: Cases Study Grassroots Coffee Entrepreneurship

This study explores how branding operates as a mechanism of legitimacy and trust formation within grassroots coffee entrepreneurship during the early growth stage. Situated within informal urban settings characterized by institutional voids and resource constraints, micro coffee ventures rely not only on financial capital but also on social embeddedness, relational legitimacy, and adaptive entrepreneurial practices. Using a qualitative interpretive approach with the Gioia methodology, this research examines four micro coffee enterprises operating for 23–25 months and categorized within the early growth phase in Bandar Lampung. Data were collected from eight informants, consisting of business owners and employees, to capture both strategic and operational perspectives. The findings reveal three interrelated aggregate dimensions. First, brand identity and value proposition are constructed through personal narratives, community orientation, and product authenticity rather than formalized strategic planning. Brand identity functions as a symbolic representation of meaning, while the value proposition provides rational validation through affordability, product consistency, and local differentiation. Second, digital visibility plays a significant role in trust formation. Social media engagement enhances brand salience and mental availability, while user-generated content and repost activities generate social proof that substitutes for formal reputational mechanisms. Third, entrepreneurial adaptation under resource constraints is manifested through bricolage practices and incremental capability development. The study contributes theoretically by integrating branding, legitimacy, and entrepreneurial bricolage within the micro-enterprise context. It demonstrates that branding functions as a socially embedded process enabling legitimacy construction and trust accumulation. Practically, sustainable growth depends on relational credibility, digital consistency, and adaptive capacity.