Effectuation

Effectuation - Publications

Publications

Professor Saras D. Sarasvathy introduced effectuation as a new theory of entrepreneurship in a 2001 paper “Causation and Effectuation: Toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency,” published in the Academy of Management Review. Sarasvathy’s theory challenged the traditional understanding of entrepreneurial decision-making and behavior. In her paper, she drew a distinction between the traditional, “causal” reasoning—typical of managers who use historical data to predict outcomes in the environment—and the “effectual” reasoning that minimizes reliance on prediction and is used by expert entrepreneurs to deal with uncertainty.

Since the publication of that seminal paper more than two decades ago, effectuation has been developed as the most research-driven rigorous framework for the study and teaching of entrepreneurship in universities around the world.

More than 700 peer-reviewed articles have been published, including about 100 in top-tier journals, relating effectuation to a variety of key topics in the field of entrepreneurship and management including bricolage, co-creation and service dominant logic, experimentation, entrepreneurial opportunity and business model innovation, to name a few.

  • Books

    Effectuation Elements