Bootstrapping: Reviewing the Literature, Clarifying the Construct, and Charting a New Path Forward

Abstract

We contend that exploring the construct of bootstrapping could be much more nuanced and interesting than the extant literature has revealed. Unfortunately, the extant literature is stymied by conflicting theoretical as well as empirical landscapes. We address the critical lacunas in the literature by (a) situating the construct of bootstrapping in its historical, chronological context; (b) providing clarity to a construct that is currently lacking; (c) summarizing the theoretical bases which currently apply to bootstrapping; and (d) proposing signaling theory as an appropriate and complementary perspective to use when examining bootstrapping. In addition, our work identifies multiple lines of compelling and novel research that emerge from our approach to the construct of bootstrapping via signaling theory.