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In spite of the significance of the strategic change, its high rate of failure inspires us to explore how to successfully enact new strategic change in a different environment. Based on strategy as practice perspective and effectuation theory, this study aims to extend extant literature by identifying two approaches performing strategic change (e.g. causation strategic change or effectuation strategic change) and investigating their effects on firm performance and also boundary conditions (e.g. market uncertainty or technological uncertainty).

Based on a data set from 238 firms in China, the authors empirically test the hypotheses through regression analysis.

The findings indicate that causation and effectuation strategic changes can promote firm performance. However, the roles of the two approaches vary with the external environment. Specifically, market uncertainty strengthens while technological uncertainty weakens the positive effect of causation strategic change. In contrast, technological uncertainty strengthens the positive effect of effectuation strategic change on firm performance.

This study extends research literature of strategic change by identifying causation and effectuation strategic changes and investigating how their roles vary with market uncertainty and technological uncertainty. The findings guide firms to adopt a fit approach to perform a strategic change in different external environments.

Economy-wide crises create major challenges for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Existing studies emphasize the crucial role of contrasting behavioral strategies, effectuation and causation in SMEs' adaptation to crisis conditions. Yet, prior literature concentrated predominantly on exploring the impact of effectuation and causation on firm performance rather than survival. The authors present and empirically test a theoretical model explaining how behavioral strategies affect SME survival during an economy-wide crisis under different levels of environmental dynamism.

The authors propose a theoretical framework based on the combination of the effectuation literature and the emerging variance-based perspective on entrepreneurial actions. The theoretical model is then tested using a sample of Russian SMEs during a period of economic adversity and recovery (2015–2019).

The empirical results reveal that causation reduces the probability of firm survival in dynamic environments, while effectuation increases the chance of survival irrespective of the state of the environment. In a nutshell, the study provides evidence that the effectuation logic serves a viable way for SMEs to increase the chances of survival through the economic shock and subsequent recovery period.

For the first time in the literature, the authors demonstrate the role of behavioral strategy (effectual and causal) as a crucial antecedent of SME survival in the short and medium term, particularly during an economy-wide downturn. Furthermore, the study demonstrates the power of variability-based theorizing for explaining and predicting the survival/failure implications of entrepreneurial actions.

Drawing on the upper echelons theory, this study focuses on how top management team (TMT) heterogeneity affects breakthrough innovations and examines how strategic decision-making logic (including causation and effectuation) moderates the relationship between TMT heterogeneity and breakthrough innovation.

By conducting an empirical test of 227 sample firms in China, the authors applied linear hierarchical regression analysis to test the hypotheses on the TMT heterogeneityinnovation relationship and the moderating roles of causation and effectuation.

The empirical tests show that TMT heterogeneity positively affects breakthrough innovation, and both causation and effectuation positively moderate the positive relationship between TMT heterogeneity and breakthrough innovation. In addition, effectuation has a stronger moderating effect on the positive correlation between TMT heterogeneity and breakthrough innovation than causation.

This study extends the upper echelons theory to explain how the characteristics of TMTs affect firm innovation. Specifically, the authors explore the TMT heterogeneity–breakthrough innovation relationship from the perspectives of information processing and core competence and reveal the boundary condition of strategic decision-making logic in the correlation between TMT heterogeneity and breakthrough innovation. In this vein, the authors contribute to the literature by untangling the internal mechanisms between TMT heterogeneity and breakthrough innovation and extending the discussion on effectuation theory from the entrepreneurship domain to the innovation field. Furthermore, the research findings can provide helpful implications for TMTs to manage breakthrough innovation effectively.

Although it is acknowledged that entrepreneurial networks play a crucial role in fostering business model innovation (BMI) for start-ups, it is unclear how and when these networks affect BMI. This research developed a moderated mediation model to explore the impact of entrepreneurial networks on BMI in start-ups and examined the dual mediating effects of causation and effectuation, as well as the moderation of environmental dynamism.

The proposed framework was tested by hierarchical regression analyses and bootstrapping using samples of 248 start-ups in China.

The results showed that entrepreneurial networks significantly positively impacted start-up BMI. Causation and effectuation played dual mediating roles between entrepreneurial networks and BMI. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial networks-effectuation-BMI association was more substantial in highly dynamic environments, whereas the entrepreneurial networks-causation-BMI relationship was unaffected.

There are several theoretical contributions resulting from this research. The findings offer new insights for understanding the antecedents of start-up BMI from the network perspective. This research adds to the growing literature on resource orchestration (RO) by exploring the dual mediating influences of causation and effectuation in resource management. This investigation revealed the boundary condition between entrepreneurial networks and BMI by testing the moderating influence of environmental dynamism.

Start-ups must effectively use external resources embedded within networks to advance BMI. Start-up entrepreneurs should apply causation and effectuation to transform entrepreneurial network resources into BMI. Start-up entrepreneurs must dynamically manage resources in response to ever-changing environmental conditions. Resource acquisition and management of entrepreneurial networks can vary significantly in their influence on start-up BMI under different environmental contexts.

Unlike previous BMI research focused on internal organizational factors, this study highlighted the critical importance of entrepreneurial networks as a prerequisite for achieving start-up BMI, contributing to the literature on open innovation and resource-based view. Examining the dual mediating roles of causation and effectuation illustrated the bridging role of strategic decision-making logic in connecting resources to value creation, contributing to the developing RO literature. The moderating influence of environmental dynamism was explored, clarifying how start-up BMI benefits from entrepreneurial networks in differing situations. A framework for reconciling contradictory findings concerning the association between entrepreneurial networks and innovation is provided.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of causation and effectuation behaviour of Ethiopian entrepreneurs on the eventual performance of their newly established small firms. It adds new knowledge and insights to advance the theory of effectuation by extending its scope into the domain of entrepreneurial behaviour and firm performance and by testing one of the operationalized scales in an African context.

This empirical research is conducted amongst Ethiopian tour operators (n=118) based on primary data from the field. The scales are based on Chandler et al. (2011), which are adapted to fit to the tourism sector and validated in an African context using a two-stage exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Hierarchical multiple regression is used to assess the ability of entrepreneurs’ behaviour (i.e. causation and effectuation) at the startup phase to predict the eventual performance of their newly established firms (self-reported changes in employment size, sales, profit and assets) over three years (January 2012-2015).

The findings reveal a varied effect of causation and effectuation on financial and non-financial measures. Causation is positively related to an increase in employment size, whereas the overall effect of effectuation is positively related to financial performance measures, although its dimensions vary in their effects on sales, profit and assets increase. The paper concludes that causation and effectuation have varied implications on firm performance. In other words, unlike the findings of other research in Western contexts, a strong empirical support is not found to claim that effectuation is superior to causation in outcomes such as firm performance in Ethiopian context.

While this paper provides a new data set for entrepreneurship literature, its findings may lack generalisability. Not only it is industry specific (tourism sector), but also it is conducted in a single African country (Ethiopia). Despite its limitations, the paper adds new knowledge and insights for empirical studies in entrepreneurship field on the effects of entrepreneurs’ behaviour, such as causation and effectuation; on firm performance. Future research should focus on other economic sectors and in different African countries before making generalisations about the effect of causation and effectuation behaviour of African entrepreneurs on firm performance.

The findings of this paper can be used in other hospitality and tourism sectors like hotels and souvenir shops since tour operating business includes a broad range of service activities such as sightseeing, accommodation, transportation, recreational activities and shopping. Besides, these results have practical implications to prepare and provide business and management training tools to enhance entrepreneurial and managerial skills of owners of small tourism firms in Ethiopia. The findings of the study can also be applied in other African countries with similar culture and business environments to promote tourism development and success in Africa.

There have been hardly any empirical studies that are undertaken on the implications of entrepreneurial behaviour such as causation and effectuation on the performance of small tourism firms, particularly in an African context. The paper addresses this research gap in entrepreneurship literature in drawing on empirical evidence from small tourism firms (tour operators) in Ethiopia.

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of causation decision-making and effectual decision-making logic in challenging economic situations within agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana.

The authors collect and derive composite variables from effectuation, causation, financial capital availability (FCA) and crisis performance data through a randomized system based on literature precedents. This study analyzes the data using descriptive analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and ordinary least squared regression through STATA 15.

The authors find that effectual managers are indeed better off during crisis conditions. Also, there is a significant moderation relationship between the effectuation, FCA and crisis performance.

From strategic management and entrepreneurial process standpoint, the effectuation theory thrives within uncertain business environments. This notwithstanding, literature has often focused on hypothetical, uncertain business environments. The authors present plausible evidence of effectual business behavior from a real crisis, from small agriculture firms’ perspectives and an emerging economy context.

Research on new internet venture growth is lacking. The purpose of this paper is to address the gap by developing and testing a theoretical model that links venturing principles (effectuation or causation) to new internet venture growth through resource bundling (pioneering or stabilizing).

The proposed theoretical model is developed upon the entrepreneurship literature and resource-based view. Empirical data are collected from entrepreneurs and top executives in China via a survey. The Baron and Kenny (1986) mediation model assessment procedure is used to analyze the data.

Both effectuation and causation are positively associated with new internet venture growth. Effectuation leads to pioneering resource bundling, which in turn contributes to new internet venture growth. Causation also contributes to new internet venture growth, but through stabilizing resource bundling.

This research helps link the theory of effectuation to resource-based theory by revealing resource bundling as the mediator between effectuation, causation, and new venture growth. Moreover, the authors provide empirical evidence of the importance of resource bundling with entrepreneurial strategic decision logics to the growth of new internet ventures in transitional economies.

Entrepreneurs and managers of new internet ventures should leverage both venturing principles to support growth. Internet ventures generally are creative and innovative in nature, hence favor effectuation. But it will be unwise to ignore causation, which also leads to growth.

This is an original empirical research guided by theories. It is a novel insight to identify the mediating effect of resource bundling. This study likely will inspire more scholarly research on the subject. It also lays a solid foundation for further inquiry such as complementarities between effectuation and causation.

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has witnessed a daunting rise in firm-level practices; to some extent, it has been augmented by the factors such as globalization and technological shift. The wide variety of literature has explained the importance of EO for firm performance. However, it has not yet been explored at a firm-level the approaches of causation and effectuation through the prism of leader traits such as leader dominance and self-efficacy as administrative ability and EO as strategic manoeuvring with strategic decisions obliged as a spin of firms.

The authors used the quantitative method to analyse the proposed relationships. For this reason, the authors targeted the Chinese firms to collect the data through the semi-structured survey from December 2020 to March 2021 and contributed to the literature by investigating 480 valid responses of leaders from Chinese firms.

The findings support the incorporated view of causation and effectuation on EO, which serve as vital strategic manoeuvring along with leader traits for firm stability and growth.

This study assists the decision-makers (including the top management team, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer choose the particular approach (effectual or causal) to create the new venture/new product/new process or scale up the existing firm on another level for optimal benefits by considering their existing resources.

EO is a unidirectional process with three dimensions: innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking that could directly favour the firm by considering the well-known approaches (effectuation and causation) in crisis circumstances (like Covid-19). These approaches help the executives enhance their firm’s performance and maintain its sustainability and stability in crisis conditions by effectively using the available resources within its boundaries.

This study enriches the theory of effectuation by discussing the four independent dimensions of effectuation and their relationships with causation. Additionally, we fill the gap in prior literature by showing how entrepreneurial experience moderates the relationship between effectuation and innovativeness of the venture. Our study of 171 practising entrepreneurs regarding their entrepreneurial decision-making logic yielded multiple findings. The authors find that entrepreneurs rely on causation as well as effectuation in their decision-making; the more experienced entrepreneurs are, the more they actually use causation; and entrepreneurial experience moderates the relationship between effectuation and innovativeness of the venture firm.

To address the gap of divergent conclusions on the impact of knowledge search (KS) on performance, this paper aims to discuss the nonlinear relationships between KS and reverse internationalization enterprise (RIE) performance, and the co-moderation of causation and effectuation (C&E) on KS–performance.

The proposed theoretical model is developed by integrating the theory of knowledge-based view and decision rationality theory. The empirical study is based on survey data collected from 245 RIEs of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions in China. Hierarchical multiple regression and the appropriate U-test method are used to test the hypotheses.

Empirical results suggest that both focused and multi-focus searches have inverted U-shaped effects on RIE performance. Furthermore, causation weakens the curvilinear effect between multi-focus search and RIE performance, whereas effectuation strengthens the curvilinear effect but weakens the inverted U-shaped relationship between focused search and RIE performance. Results also indicate that the integration of C&E positively moderates the relationship between focused or multi-focus searches and RIE performance.

Findings reveal the nonlinear effects of focused and multi-focus searches on RIE performance and clarify the dispute over the mechanism of KS on performance by proposing the different moderating role of C&E. Moreover, this research provides deeper insight into contingency mechanisms between KS and performance by integrating the co-moderating role of C&E in RIEs.