Planning Effectuator : Exploratory Study of Swedish Tech Entrepreneurs

Abstract: This study investigates the use of two alternative ways of thinking: effectuation and causation logics on decision making in tech startups. Thestudy presents critical examination of the effectual principles: means driven, affordable loss, reliance on network, leveraging contingencies along with the causal approaches and their adoption in early stage tech startups. Thestudy discusses and elucidates the role of decision making and explores the usage of the two logics by ten tech entrepreneurs. The data wascollected in the month of April and May 2020 through semi-structured, in-depth interviews and reveals howand whytech entrepreneurs preferred to use the two decision making logics. Ourfindings suggest that effectuation and causation logics are often usedsimultaneously by tech entrepreneurs during the early stageto overcome the challenges faced during the startup’searlylifecycle.