The Shift from Causation to Effectuation for International Entrepreneurs: Attitudes and Attitude Change versus Social Representations

Henrik G.S. Arvidsson, Dafnis

Abstract

This study aims to investigate attitudes and changes of attitude towards the decision-making logic of effectuation and causation of international entrepreneurs through traditional linear models of attitude change and non-linear through the framework of the theory of social representations. The study seeks to explain how and why international entrepreneurs shift from adopting causal logic to effectual logic when they gain more experience. This is a qualitative study based on ten interviews, which were organised using a convenience sample of international entrepreneurs who had studied business. Five of the entrepreneurs were women and the other five men. The study reveals that a shift of decision-making logic occurs mainly through high-effort processes after the entrepreneurial debut, and during the study period, attitudes towards a specific decision-making logic were formed mainly through low-effort processes. International entrepreneurs, during their education, and in their initial steps into the world of entrepreneurship following their tertiary education, have adopted causal logic, but later, due to their gained experiences, have more frequently implemented effectuation logic.