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Enacting AI from the perspective of effectuation and causation

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  • Lupp, Daniel

Abstract

Entrepreneurs enact artificial intelligence (AI) in fundamentally different ways, from automating discrete tasks to engaging AI as a collaborative counterpart. Yet why entrepreneurs perceive and use the same technology so differently remains underexplained. Integrating effectuation and causation theory with an affordance perspective, this study examines how entrepreneurial decision-making logics shape the perception, aim of use, and type of interaction with AI. While prior research has treated technology primarily as a contextual factor, semi-structured interviews with 24 entrepreneurs reveal that effectuation and causation act as constitutive mechanisms that antecedently shape how AI affordances are perceived and enacted. Two distinct enactment principles emerge: Entrepreneurs with causal orientations pursue exploitative automation, perceiving AI as an operational tool for outcome-oriented tasks. Those with effectual orientations pursue co-creative augmentation, perceiving AI as a counterpart for process-oriented collaboration. This study extends effectuation theory by demonstrating how decision-making logics as constitutive mechanisms materialize in distinct technology enactments.

Suggested Citation

  • Lupp, Daniel, 2026. "Enacting AI from the perspective of effectuation and causation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:214:y:2026:i:c:s0148296326003012
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2026.116266
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