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A structured literature review and suggestions for future effectuation research

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Abstract

In spite of all the scholarly attention it has garnered, effectuation research continues to face a series of theoretical and methodological challenges. In order to help move effectuation research forward, we content-analyze a comprehensive sample of 101 effectuation articles published in JCR®-listed journals between 1998 and 2016 (inclusively), with the specific aim of uncovering the main conceptual and methodological articulations that have underpinned effectuation research to date. In doing so, we not only uncover some the field’s achievements and shortcomings but also examine the extent to which published effectuation research addresses its most salient criticisms. We build on these observations to propose three recommendations for future advances, namely (1) conceiving effectuation as a “mode of action”; (2) developing new methodological indicators centered on effectuation’s concrete manifestations; and (3) examining the underlying dynamics explaining effectuation’s antecedents and consequences.

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Acknowledgements

We extend our warmest thanks to Professor Saras Sarasvathy for her keen editorial guidance; to Drs. Stuart Read, Gry Agnete Alsos, and René Mauer for their kind encouragements; to Jessica Chew for competent assistance in data collection; and to three anonymous reviewers for their useful observations and suggestions on prior versions of this manuscript. All errors and omissions remain ours.

Portions of this article’s analyses, observations, and suggestions for future research were presented at the 2017 EURAM Conference (Glasgow, Scotland) and at the 2017 Academy of Management Conference (Atlanta, GA). We thank participants for their observations.

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  1. Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, HEC Montréal, 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Saint-Catherine, Montréal, H3T 2A7, Québec, Canada

    Denis A. Grégoire

  2. Chair in Strategy and Society, HEC Montréal, 3000, Chemin de la Côte-Saint-Catherine, Montréal, H3T 2A7, Québec, Canada

    Naïma Cherchem

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Grégoire, D.A., Cherchem, N. A structured literature review and suggestions for future effectuation research. Small Bus Econ 54, 621–639 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00158-5

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