An empirical investigation of determinants of effectual and causal decision logics in online and high-tech start-up firms

Tobias Frese, Ingmar Geiger () and Florian Dost
Additional contact information
Tobias Frese: Freie Universität Berlin
Ingmar Geiger: Freie Universität Berlin
Florian Dost: Lancaster University Management School

Small Business Economics, 2020, vol. 54, issue 3, No 3, 664 pages

Abstract: Abstract Scholars have criticized effectuation research for being insufficiently embedded in a nomological network of practically relevant antecedents. To address this research gap, the current study uses a mixed-methods design. First, a qualitative study with 20 venturing experts (entrepreneurs and investors) validates various effectuation logics and uncovers the following four antecedents of effectuation and causation: founders’ perceived uncertainty, entrepreneurial experience, management experience, and investor influence. Second, a large-scale quantitative study of founders in online, software, and high-tech start-ups (n = 435) provides statistical support for the identified antecedents, using structural equation modeling and multigroup comparisons over early and later venture stages. The study confirms the multifaceted nature of effectuation; experimentation is the only effectual logic that reflects influences of all the determinants. Founders’ prior experiences affect experimentation and causation in the early venture stage, but not during the later stages. Investor influence displays the broadest array of effects on the decision logics, offering both theoretical embeddedness for effectuation and a new, practically relevant driver.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Uncertainty; Entrepreneurial and management experience; Investor influence; Venture stage; Mixed-methods design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C38 C83 L26 M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11187-019-00147-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:sbusec:v:54:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s11187-019-00147-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... 29/journal/11187/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s11187-019-00147-8

Access Statistics for this article

Small Business Economics is currently edited by Zoltan J. Acs and David B. Audretsch

More articles in Small Business Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().