IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbvent/v26y2011i3p375-390.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Causation and effectuation processes: A validation study

Author

Listed:
  • Chandler, Gaylen N.
  • DeTienne, Dawn R.
  • McKelvie, Alexander
  • Mumford, Troy V.

Abstract

We develop and validate measures of causation and effectuation approaches to new venture creation and test our measures with two samples of entrepreneurs in young firms. Our measure of causation is a well-defined and coherent uni-dimensional construct. We propose that effectuation is a formative, multidimensional construct with three associated sub-dimensions (experimentation, affordable loss, and flexibility) and one dimension shared with the causation construct (pre-commitments). As specified by Sarasvathy (2001), we also show that causation is negatively associated with uncertainty, while experimentation, a sub-dimension of effectuation, is positively correlated with uncertainty. The major contribution is the resulting validated scales that measure causation and effectuation.

Suggested Citation

  • Chandler, Gaylen N. & DeTienne, Dawn R. & McKelvie, Alexander & Mumford, Troy V., 2011. "Causation and effectuation processes: A validation study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 375-390, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:26:y:2011:i:3:p:375-390
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883-9026(09)00108-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald K. Mitchell & Lowell W. Busenitz & Barbara Bird & Connie Marie Gaglio & Jeffery S. McMullen & Eric A. Morse & J. Brock Smith, 2007. "The Central Question in Entrepreneurial Cognition Research 2007," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(1), pages 1-27, January.
    2. John Horn, 1965. "A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 30(2), pages 179-185, June.
    3. Bryan Caplan, 1999. "The Austrian Search for Realistic Foundations," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 65(4), pages 823-838, April.
    4. Diamantopoulos, Adamantios & Riefler, Petra & Roth, Katharina P., 2008. "Advancing formative measurement models," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 1203-1218, December.
    5. Mark Casson & Nigel Wadeson, 2007. "The Discovery of Opportunities: Extending the Economic Theory of the Entrepreneur," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 285-300, April.
    6. Coltman, Tim & Devinney, Timothy M. & Midgley, David F. & Venaik, Sunil, 2008. "Formative versus reflective measurement models: Two applications of formative measurement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 1250-1262, December.
    7. Jarvis, Cheryl Burke & MacKenzie, Scott B & Podsakoff, Philip M, 2003. "A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 199-218, September.
    8. Sarasvathy, Saras D. & Dew, Nicholas, 2005. "Entrepreneurial logics for a technology of foolishness," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 385-406, December.
    9. MB Sarkar & RAJ Echambadi & Jeffrey S. Harrison, 2001. "Alliance entrepreneurship and firm market performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 701-711, June.
    10. Henry Mintzberg, 1978. "Patterns in Strategy Formation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(9), pages 934-948, May.
    11. Isabelle Huault & V. Perret & S. Charreire-Petit, 2007. "Management," Post-Print halshs-00337676, HAL.
    12. Cadogan, John W. & Souchon, Anne L. & Procter, David B., 2008. "The quality of market-oriented behaviors: Formative index construction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 1263-1277, December.
    13. Lanny Herron & Harry J. Sapienza, 1992. "The Entrepreneur and the Initiation of New Venture Launch Activities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 17(1), pages 49-55, October.
    14. Sarasvathy, D. K. & Simon, Herbert A. & Lave, Lester, 1998. "Perceiving and managing business risks: differences between entrepreneurs and bankers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 207-225, January.
    15. Dew, Nicholas & Read, Stuart & Sarasvathy, Saras D. & Wiltbank, Robert, 2009. "Effectual versus predictive logics in entrepreneurial decision-making: Differences between experts and novices," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 287-309, July.
    16. Kathleen M. Eisenhardt & Claudia Bird Schoonhoven, 1996. "Resource-based View of Strategic Alliance Formation: Strategic and Social Effects in Entrepreneurial Firms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(2), pages 136-150, April.
    17. Peter J. Brews & Michelle R. Hunt, 1999. "Learning to plan and planning to learn: resolving the planning school/learning school debate," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(10), pages 889-913, October.
    18. Henry Kaiser, 1970. "A second generation little jiffy," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 35(4), pages 401-415, December.
    19. Nicholls-Nixon, Charlene L. & Cooper, Arnold C. & Woo, Carolyn Y., 2000. "Strategic experimentation: Understanding change and performance in new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 493-521.
    20. Gaylen N. Chandler & Douglas W. Lyon, 2001. "Issues of Research Design and Construct Measurement in Entrepreneurship Research: The past Decade," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(4), pages 101-113, July.
    21. Michael A. Hitt & R. Duane Ireland & S. Michael Camp & Donald L. Sexton, 2001. "Strategic entrepreneurship: entrepreneurial strategies for wealth creation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 479-491, June.
    22. Jianwen Liao & William Gartner, 2006. "The Effects of Pre-venture Plan Timing and Perceived Environmental Uncertainty on the Persistence of Emerging Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 23-40, August.
    23. Ruiz, David Martín & Gremler, Dwayne D. & Washburn, Judith H. & Carrión, Gabriel Cepeda, 2008. "Service value revisited: Specifying a higher-order, formative measure," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 1278-1291, December.
    24. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen, 1985. "Unemployment Through the Filter of Memory," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(3), pages 747-773.
    25. Forbes, Daniel P., 2005. "Are some entrepreneurs more overconfident than others?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 623-640, September.
    26. Herbert A. Simon & Massimo Egidi & Ricardo Viale & Robin Marris, 1992. "Economics, Bounded Rationality and the Cognitive Revolution," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 409.
    27. Diamantopoulos, Adamantios, 2008. "Formative indicators: Introduction to the special issue," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(12), pages 1201-1202, December.
    28. Wiltbank, Robert & Read, Stuart & Dew, Nicholas & Sarasvathy, Saras D., 2009. "Prediction and control under uncertainty: Outcomes in angel investing," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 116-133, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John T. Perry & Gaylen N. Chandler & Gergana Markova, 2012. "Entrepreneurial Effectuation: A Review and Suggestions for Future Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(4), pages 837-861, July.
    2. Baxter, Roger, 2009. "Reflective and formative metrics of relationship value: A commentary essay," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(12), pages 1370-1377, December.
    3. Magdalena Markowska & Dietmar Grichnik & Jan Brinckmann & Diana Kapsa, 2019. "Strategic orientations of nascent entrepreneurs: antecedents of prediction and risk orientation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 859-878, December.
    4. Ioanna Deligianni & Irini Voudouris & Spyros Lioukas, 2017. "Do Effectuation Processes Shape the Relationship between Product Diversification and Performance in New Ventures?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(3), pages 349-377, May.
    5. Cadogan, John W. & Lee, Nick, 2013. "Improper use of endogenous formative variables," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 233-241.
    6. Shirokova, G. V. & Bogatyreva, K. A. & Morris, M. H., 2014. "Expertise, university Infrastructure and cognitive logic: Assessing students who start ventures," Working Papers 6253, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University.
    7. Katrin M. Smolka & Ingrid Verheul & Katrin Burmeister–Lamp & Pursey P.M.A.R. Heugens, 2018. "Get it Together! Synergistic Effects of Causal and Effectual Decision–Making Logics on Venture Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(4), pages 571-604, July.
    8. Masoud Karami & Ben Wooliscroft & Lisa McNeill, 2020. "Effectuation and internationalisation: a review and agenda for future research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 777-811, October.
    9. Yanxia Li & Bo Zou & Feng Guo & Jinyu Guo, 2022. "Academic entrepreneurs’ effectuation logic, role innovation, and academic entrepreneurship performance: an empirical study," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 49-72, March.
    10. Koller, Sonia & Stephan, Ute & Ahmetoglu, Gorkan, 2022. "Ecological rationality and entrepreneurship: How entrepreneurs fit decision logics to decision content and structure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    11. Nick Lee & John W. Cadogan & Laura Chamberlain, 2013. "The MIMIC model and formative variables: problems and solutions," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(1), pages 3-17, March.
    12. Denis A. Grégoire & Naïma Cherchem, 2020. "A structured literature review and suggestions for future effectuation research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(3), pages 621-639, March.
    13. Metzger Matthew L. & King Jesse S., 2015. "Extending Constructivist Perspectives on Opportunity Production Through An Incorporation of Effectual Logics," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 5(4), pages 323-345, October.
    14. Qamaruddin Maitlo & Frida Thomas Pacho & Jia Liu & Tahseen Ahmed Bhutto & Wang Xuhui, 2020. "The Role of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy in Resources Acquisition in a New Venture: The Mediating Role of Effectuation," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    15. Bèzes, Christophe, 2014. "Definition and psychometric validation of a measurement index common to website and store images," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2559-2578.
    16. Grichnik, Dietmar & Smeja, Alexander & Welpe, Isabell, 2010. "The importance of being emotional: How do emotions affect entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation and exploitation?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 15-29, October.
    17. Sarstedt, Marko & Wilczynski, Petra & Melewar, T.C., 2013. "Measuring reputation in global markets—A comparison of reputation measures’ convergent and criterion validities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 329-339.
    18. Valdivieso Taborga, Carlos Eduardo, 2013. "Comparación de los modelos formativo, reflexivo y de antecedentes de evaluación estudiantil del servicio de docencia || Comparison of Formative, Reflective, and Antecedents Models of Students Evaluati," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 16(1), pages 95-120, December.
    19. Stroe, Silvia & Parida, Vinit & Wincent, Joakim, 2018. "Effectuation or causation: An fsQCA analysis of entrepreneurial passion, risk perception, and self-efficacy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 265-272.
    20. Zhuomin Shi & Zaoying Kuang & Ning Yang, 2017. "Why it is hard to explain Chinese face?—FACE measurement models and its influence on ecological product preference," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:26:y:2011:i:3:p:375-390. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusvent .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.