Effectual Behavior and Corporate Entrepreneurship

in the Digital Age

Stefano D’Angelo, Antonio Ghezzi, Angelo Cavallo, Andrea Rangone and Luca Marchetti

Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship, Digital Technologies, Effectuation, Absorptive Capacity, Digital Skills.

Abstract: While most studies have viewed effectuation as a tool to manage resources in the context of new ventures,

few of them have directly investigated the effects of effectuation as a tool for Absorptive Capacity (AC) in

the context of incumbent firms. Specifically, the relationship between the usage of an effectual logic and its

impact on the knowledge and learning abilities of individuals, remains underexplored in Corporate Entrepre-

neurship (CE) context. We reframe effectuation as a concrete activity that enhances knowledge absorption

and enlarges the scope of opportunities and in turn fosters entrepreneurial actions in organizations. Hypothe-

ses are thus developed to examine the relationship between effectuation and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO)

as well as the mediating role of AC. Moreover, as digital skills can support the learning and knowledge ab-

sorption process, digital skills are proposed as a moderator that influences the positive effects of effectuation

on AC. We test these hypotheses using the survey data from employees of an incumbent firm. The empirical

results generally support our hypotheses by showing that (i) effectuation positively influences AC, and (ii)

digital skills have a positive moderating effect on the relationship between effectuation and AC. No significant

results emerged concerning hypothesis (iii) AC mediates the relationship between effectuation and EO. These

findings contribute to our understanding of the role of effectuation in the context of CE in the digital era.

Implications for managers are also included.

1 INTRODUCTION

Effectuation, defined as “the process that takes a set

of means as given and focuses on selecting between

possible effects that can be created with that set of

means” (Sarasvathy, 2001), has been successfully in-

troduced to and then prospered in the field of entre-

preneurship (Sarasvathy et al., 2003; Dew et al.,

2009; Scazziota et al., 2023). Most existing studies in

entrepreneurship view effectuation as an approach to

overcome resource constraints and develop busi-

nesses starting from the available means (Chandler et

al., 2011; Dew et al., 2009). Moreover, a consistent

body of research investigates effectuation in the new

venture context (Villani et al., 2018; Read et al.,

2009). Some studies examine the conditions of

whether entrepreneurs mobilize effectual principles

when they launch new ventures in emerging indus-

tries (Sarasvathy, 2001). Other studies focus on how

entrepreneurs process risks and returns in new ven-

ture development (Perry et al., 2012). Recently,

scholars have started to investigate effectuation in the

corporate context (Parker et al., 2021). However, we

still know relatively little about when and why effec-

tuation processes are employed in corporate decisions

(Johansson and McKelvie, 2012; Von Briel et al.,

2018). In addition, most empirical effectuation stud-

ies have examined effectuation as a dependent varia-

ble (Perry et al. 2012), while the consequences of us-

ing effectual reasoning remain underexplored. Fur-

ther, research concerning the effect of effectuation on

other constructs such as learning and Absorptive Ca-

pacity (AC) is limited (Scuotto et al., 2022; Müller et

al., 2021). Indeed, a growing body of literature urges

to analyze effectuation in the digital entrepreneurship

field (Nambisan, 2017; Ghezzi, 2019). In a digital en-

trepreneurial process characterized by high uncer-

tainty, effectuation process is a necessary condition

(Kraus et al., 2018). Furthermore, digital skills can

help to reduce this uncertainty and support effectua-

tion process and experimentation (Ghezzi and

Cavallo, 2020; Peart et al., 2020). Here, we reframe

effectuation as a behavior enabling and fostering en-

trepreneurial actions and learning through experi-

mentation (Wiklund and Shepherd, 2011). More spe-

cifically, we propose effectuation as an enabler for the

506

D’Angelo, S., Ghezzi, A., Cavallo, A., Rangone, A. and Marchetti, L.

Effectual Behavior and Corporate Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age.

DOI: 10.5220/0011827200003467

In Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2023) - Volume 2, pages 506-513

ISBN: 978-989-758-648-4; ISSN: 2184-4992

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

experimentation of new opportunities enabled by dig-

ital technologies. Finally, at a broad level, Corporate

Entrepreneurship (CE) literature has been dominated

by contributions at firm-level (e.g., Rauch et al.,

2009; Corbett et al., 2013; Urbano et al., 2022), while

few studies have explored the phenomenon at indi-

vidual-level or team-level dimension (Pinchot, 1985).

And more, few studies have expressly modeled the

individuals’ intrapreneurial behaviour in digital con-

text (Pinchot and Soltanifar et al., 2021). Specifically,

in this study, we investigate the role of experimenta-

tion and digital technologies in CE through the theo-

retical lens of effectuation (see Figure 1). More spe-

cifically, we built a model analysing the role of effec-

tuation on Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), while

exploring the role of

(which captures, transforms,

and exploits knowledge) and digital skills that can en-

able effectuation process. The findings of this study

provide several contributions to the existing litera-

ture. First, we extend our understanding on the role of

effectuation in influencing CE. Effectuation is tradi-

tionally viewed in the literature as a behavior aimed

to overcome resource constraints (Sarasvathy, 2001).

This study, in contrast, examines the role of effectua-

tion in driving CE through generating and accumulat-

ing new knowledge. Second, this study complements

prior research by investigating the role of effectuation

in the corporate context. Prior studies primarily focus

on the context of new ventures. Third, this research

explores the role of digital skills as a moderator of the

relationship between effectuation and

, thus re-

vealing boundary conditions in the digital context

where firms can enhance the effects of effectuation.

Finally, this study offers implications for practice to

foster experimentation to innovate in organizations

while exploiting the potential of digital technologies.

Figure 1: Research framework.

2 THEORY AND HYPOTHESES

2.1 Effectuation and Absorptive

Capacity

The ability of a company to recognize new value and

external information, and successfully assimilate and

exploit them is known as absorptive capacity (AC)

(Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). Effectuation is largely

based on experimentation and could lead to processes

of learning by doing through trial-and-error experi-

ments which can favour AC routines (Parker et al.,

2021). Accordingly, effectuation impacts

in three

main ways: first, effectuation directly affects explor-

atory learning which is one of the three processes that

compose AC (Lane et al., 2006). Exploratory learning

is described as the key action directed by effectuation

logic to gain new knowledge and reduce uncertainty

(Cai et al., 2017). Second, according to the effectua-

tion logic, “action” reflects the experimental dimen-

sion defined by Chandler et al. (2011). Accordingly,

action is a tool for knowledge acquisition enlarging

the knowledge base (Djuricic and Bootz, 2019). Fi-

nally, companies which stimulate creativity and ex-

perimentation facilitate the effective use of AC in cre-

ating novel outcomes (Sakhdari and Burgers, 2018).

In sum, in conditions where effectual logic is applied,

will be stimulated, increasing the ability to cap-

ture new relevant knowledge and to pursue new op-

portunities. Accordingly, we propose:

H1: The use of effectual logic is positively related to

individual absorptive capacity.

2.2 Effectuation, Absorptive Capacity,

and Entrepreneurial Orientation

Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE) could be defined as

the process whereby firms pursue innovation, re-

newal, and venturing (Burgelman, 1983). It usually

implies practices as organizational rejuvenation, stra-

tegic renewal and domain redefinition (Covin and

Miles, 1999). Within CE domain, the concept of En-

trepreneurial Orientation (EO) refers to an organiza-

tional attribute reflecting how “being entrepreneur-

ial” is manifested in organizations or business units

(Covin and Slevin, 1989) through entrepreneurial ac-

tivities. As informed by literature (Martìn-Rojas et

al., 2020; Zahra et al., 2009), CE represents a positive

function of

, consisting in the recognition, assimi-

lation, and exploitation of knowledge that corporate

entrepreneurs should enhance and foster. The more

the capacity to absorb external knowledge the more

the individuals will undertake entrepreneurial actions

manifesting EO. The literature has provided evidence

about the relationship between AC and CE. It is

largely known that AC allows a company to blend

new external and internal knowledge (Lane et al.,

2006), which is an important condition for enabling

CE and foster entrepreneurial actions (Ireland et al.,

Effectual Behavior and Corporate Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age

507

2009). Even more, AC increases the ability to recog-

nize opportunities proactively instead of reactively

(Thorpe et al., 2005) stimulating EO. Thus, adapting

the previous considerations at individual level we hy-

pothesize:

H2: Individual absorptive capacity is positively re-

lated to individual entrepreneurial orientation.

Integrating H1 and H2 we propose that

AC medi-

ates the influence of effectuation on EO, hence effec-

tuation enhances

AC which in turn influences EO.

The more intensely the effectual logic is adopted by

individuals the more likely they will develop and im-

prove the ability to experiment and learn by doing. At

the same time, they can develop the ability to build

solid networks with external actors. This fosters ex-

ploratory learning (Cai et al., 2017), the recognition

of opportunities, and the possibility to grab external

knowledge improving AC. The action of effectuation

becomes a tool for knowledge acquisition (Djuricic

and Bootz, 2019). With an enlarged knowledge base

and the ability to manage and exploit such knowledge

individuals will be able to implement more entrepre-

neurial actions. Thus, we propose:

H3: Individual absorptive capacity mediates the rela-

tionship between effectuation and individual entre-

preneurial orientation.

2.3 The Moderating Role of Digital

Skills

Incumbent firms face the rapid progress of digital

technologies and the consequently increased pace of

innovation and dynamicity of the markets. Effectua-

tion can be considered as an experimentally driven

approach aiming at reducing uncertainty in such com-

plex environments characterized by the pervasiveness

of digital technologies. Individuals’ ability to manage

and exploit digital technologies can help organiza-

tions to better understand the possibilities offered by

digital technologies (Autio et al., 2017). Digital skills,

defined as the ability to develop and use ICT to par-

ticipate in an environment increasingly dominated by

electronically enabled information and the ability to

synthesize this information into effective and relevant

knowledge (Van Laar et al., 2017), can be helpful to

create and reshape the ways resources are used and

enlarge the set of solutions to solve problems. Specif-

ically, we argue that digital skills positively moderate

the relationship between effectuation and

AC for sev-

eral reasons. First, they can support exchange of in-

formation (both external and internal) thereby im-

proving AC (Rehman et al., 2020). Second, digital

skills can act as enablers for knowledge management

(Joshi et al., 2019). Third, digital skills could even

empower effectuation, by enabling a variety of possi-

bilities that represent a significant increase in the

number of possible means available for effectuation

(Leong et al., 2016). Accordingly, we propose:

H4: Digital skills positively moderates the relation-

ship between effectuation and individual absorptive

capacity.

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Sample and Data Collection

We test these hypotheses using the survey data from

an incumbent firm operating in the sector of energy

and gas. The survey was issued to a total of 300 indi-

viduals with a final number of 79 responses (26.3%

of response rate with 60 valid answers for a final per-

centage of 20% of valid answers). The questionnaire

included all the necessary scales to measure the dif-

ferent variables of the model, and each scale was se-

lected after detailed research aiming at checking its

validity and reliability through the literature (Chan-

dler et al., 2011; Bolton and Lane, 2012; van Laar et

al., 2017). The variables of interest in this study are:

(1) effectuation, (2) individual entrepreneurial orien-

tation, (3) digital skills, (4) individual absorptive ca-

pacity. Each scale is composed by different sub-at-

tributes. Specifically:

EFFECTUATION: Experimentation, Flexibility, Af-

fordable Loss, Precommitments.

ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION: Innova-

tiveness, Risk-Taking, Proactiveness.

DIGITAL SKILLS: Communication, Information

Management, Collaboration, Creativity, Problem

Solving, Critical Thinking.

ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: Recognition, Assimila-

tion, Transformation, Exploitation.

3.2 Reliability and Construct Validity

After data acquisition and cleaning it was necessary

to perform some preliminary analysis to guarantee the

validity of subsequent results. A first important step

consisted into checking for non-response bias. The

non-response bias refers to the possibility that people

who did not respond to the survey are very different

ICEIS 2023 - 25th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

508

from people who responded creating potential prob-

lems for the significance of the sample. Therefore, it

was important to test the eventual difference through

a t-test. In this case, the non-response bias was tested

by comparing two sub-samples: early respondents

and late respondents (Borg and Tuten, 2016). In a T-

test, the null hypothesis can be expressed as: 𝐻0: 𝜇1

= 𝜇2 (i.e., the two samples’ means are equal). To per-

form the T-test, however, the assumption of homoge-

neity of variance (i.e., both groups have the same var-

iance), needs to be tested. There were no significant

results underlining differences between the means of

the two respondents’ groups, so it could be possible

to move forward without additional considerations.

Then, besides the quality check of the sample, it was

necessary to test the reliability and validity of the con-

structs, and as indicator for the reliability, Cronbach’s

alpha was used (Table 1).

Table 1: Cronbach's Alphas of the different scales.

The value of the different alphas of the scales

showed values above the threshold of 0.7 (Cronbach,

1951), confirming their reliability. To validate the dif-

ferent scales, it has been performed a factor analysis,

and since all the constructs were taken from the liter-

ature it was sufficient to check them through confirm-

atory factor analysis to understand if there was corre-

spondence among the conceptual scales and the real

data. However, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)

works better with larger sample and being the sample

used for this study smaller than the level considered

sufficient for CFA, traditional indicators revealed a

lower level with respect to the standard ones. The av-

erage variance extracted (AVE) for all the variables,

hence, was extracted analysing the factor loadings of

exploratory factor analysis, revealing for each factor

a sufficient percentage of variance explained.

4 RESULTS

One of the first steps of the data analysis was to in-

vestigate existing relations among all the variables,

studying the correlation matrix. Looking at the varia-

bles analysed, it is possible to notice a relevant corre-

lation between

AC and digital skills and between ef-

fectuation and AC. These results encourage the

assumption made for the first hypothesis and the last

one. The results are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Correlations' matrix.

The results of the regression analysis are reported

in Table 3. To develop the empirical model, it was

adopted the statistical technique of multiple hierar-

chical regression (Cohen and Cohen, 1983). The re-

gression starts from an initial model containing only

the control variables and for each following step an

independent variable is added according to specific

criteria and a new model is generated. To draw the

conclusions the variation of 𝑅



and the level of sig-

nificance are analysed for each model. In the first two

models reported it is possible to see Individual Ab-

sorptive Capacity used as dependent variable to test

its relationship with effectuation, according to the

first hypothesis. In model 2 the variable of effectua-

tion is added, and the results show that the variable

has a great significance (p<0.01) and 𝑅



variation is

significant too (0.287). This allows to conclude that

the first hypothesis (H1) is supported: effectuation

positively impacts absorptive capacity of individuals.

Then it was immediately tested the role of digital

skills, introduced in model 3. The increase of 𝑅



consistent (0.133) and the significance is high

(p<0.001). Finally, it is tested the interaction of effec-

tuation and digital skills, the product of the two con-

structs is added in model 4, furtherly increasing 𝑅



even if with a lower impact and significance level re-

spect to the previous steps of the model. These results

bring evidence to support the last hypothesis (H4).

The second half of the mathematical framework

shows the models designed to study the impact on the

dependent variable of EO. Here, data do not enable to

confirm the second and the third hypotheses as for H1

and H4. In model 7 is shown the impact of effectua-

tion on EO as a direct effect, 𝑅



increase sensibly

(0.045) but, even if 𝑅



across all the different models

has an increase, the “delta” remains too small to con-

firm H2 and H3, even more the levels of significance

Construct

Items Alpha

Source

Entrepreneurial Orientation

10 0.817

Bolton D.L. & Lane

M.D. (2012)

D igital Skills

59 0 .965 Van Laar et al. (2018)

Lowik et al. (2012)

Chandler et al. (2011)

Individual Absorptive Capacity

Effectuation

(12 of effectuation)

0.78

xper

ment.

)

;

0.85 (Afford. Loss);

0.70 (Flexibility);

0.62 (Precommit.)

MEANS.D. 12 34567891011

GENDER 0.4333 0.49 1

AGE 41.38 9.18 -0.177 1

TENURE 9.86 9.8 -.332** .659** 1

PO SIT IO N 1.15 0.48 .289* -0.075 -0.099 1

ST UDY_TITLE 1.9 1.10 .358** -0.191 -0.242 0.061 1

FAMILYBACKGROUND 0.1833 0.39 .281* 0.174 0.046 -0.149 0.004 1

EN TREP_EXP 0.1167 0.32 .311* .287* -0.197 0.103 -0.014 0.23 1

EFFECTUATION 3.83 1.01 -0.175 0.145 0.012 0.019 -0.002 -0.13 0.02 1

EN T REPRENEURIAL O RIEN T ATION 3.39 0.97 0.063 0.076 -0.061 0.128 0.026 0.097 -0.017 0.165 1

DIGIT AL SKILLS 3.34 1.05 .372** -0.183 -.383** 0.205 .314* 0.06 0.185 .378** .268* 1

ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY 3.81 0.99 -0.021 0.095 -0.104 0.046 0.097 0.034 -0.018 .577** 0.198 .563** 1

** The correlation has significance at the level 0.01 (two tales).

* The correlation has significance at the level 0.05 (two tales).

Effectual Behavior and Corporate Entrepreneurship in the Digital Age

509

are not satisfactory. Mediation, however, has been

checked accordingly to the criteria explicitly indi-

cated in the literature (Baron and Kenny, 1986).

Table 3: Quantitative results of the regression models.

5 DISCUSSION

This study investigates how effectuation impacts CE

in incumbent firms, through individuals’ absorptive

capacity and digital skills. First, this study sheds light

on role of effectual behaviour to improve learning ca-

pabilities and exploit knowledge in organizations

(H1: Effectuation is positively related to individual

absorptive capacity). Experiential learning in this way

can be stimulated (Cai et al., 2017) and consequently

even absorptive capacity, with clear positive conse-

quences on opportunities. Results show a significant

increase of prediction of individual AC (𝛥𝑅



=0.28,

p<0.001) providing strong empirical information.

Second, our study sheds lights on the enabling role of

digital skills which characterise the last hypothesis

(H4: Digital skills positively moderates the relation-

ship between effectuation and individual absorptive

capacity). Given the same effectuation level, an

higher level of digital skills could help individuals to

recognise and absorb more knowledge and exploit it

through new opportunities. All these considerations

find an empirical boost in the last hypothesis of the

model, which results show a significant increase in

the prediction of AC (𝑅



= 0.53 overall and Δ𝑅



0.133, p<0.001) after the inclusion of effectuation and

digital skills. Finally, we observed that the hypothe-

sis H2 (H2: Individual absorptive capacity is posi-

tively related to EO), has not been confirmed by the

data gathered. However, the conceptual model devel-

oped provides further insights on the impact that a

good knowledge system within the firm has on entre-

preneurial opportunities. As evidenced in the litera-

ture, CE is often defined as a positive function of AC

(Zhara et al., 2009; Martìn-Rojas et al., 2020), since

recognition, assimilation, and exploitation of

knowledge foster individuals to undertake more en-

trepreneurial actions (Ireland et al., 2009). The same

is recognised for EO, stressing even the importance

of AC in developing EO in dynamic environments

(Ruiz-Ortega et al., 2023). All these insights sustain

the model developed here, and the results obtained

provide a stepping-stone for future research. These

results emerged may be useful for future research on

CE in the digital era.

6 CONCLUSIONS

6.1 Theoretical Contributions

Our findings contribute to the existing literature in

fourth aspects. First, the findings extend our under-

standing of the role that effectuation plays in enhanc-

ing entrepreneurship in incumbent organizations.

(Perry et al., 2012). Second, we uncover the link be-

tween effectuation and

AC (H1). Few studies have in-

vestigated the impact of effectuation on knowledge

and learning capabilities so far (Malsch and Guieu,

2019). In this study, we reframe effectuation as a be-

havioral theory that can enhance both external and in-

ternal absorption of knowledge with consequent en-

largement of the opportunity set to be seized with en-

trepreneurial actions. Third, we analyze the impact of

effectuation on CE mediated by

AC (H3). We shed

light on the role of effectuation and, in turn, experi-

mentation in supporting CE activities, which is a topic

that deserves further studies (Hampel et al., 2020).

Fourth, we consider the enabling role of digital skills

that update different, but related, research fields, i.e.,

experimentation and corporate entrepreneurship. This

work is one of the first empirical studies in the emerg-

ing area of digital corporate entrepreneurship (D’An-

gelo et al., 2021; Arvidsson and Mønsted, 2018).

6.2 Implications for Practice

Our study has two potential practical implications.

First, managers of large corporations could leverage

effectual logic that can benefit entire organizations.

This could be realized by looking at effectuation’s

principles and applying them in corporate routines. A

Dependent Variable

Absorptive Capacit y En treprene urial O rient ation

MODEL

Variables

BBBB BBBB

CONSTANT

-1.864*

(0.911)

-1.186

(0.769)

-1.011

(0.686)

-1.115

(0.683)

-1.583

(0.927)

-1.337

(0.965)

-1.399

(0.941)

-1.321

(0.97)

GENDER

-0.204

(0.338)

0.024

(0.284)

-0.22

(0.261)

-0.276

(0.261)

0.01

(0.344)

0.037

(0.345)

0.072

(0.347)

0.07

(0.35)

AGE

0.05*

(0.023)

0.03

(0.02)

0.033

(0.018)

0.035*

(0.017)

0.037

(0.024)

0.03

(0.025)

0.032

(0.024)

0.03

(0.025)

TENURE

-0.046*

(0.021)

-0.032

(0.018)

-0.021

(0.016)

-0.025

(0.016)

-0.032

(0.022)

-0.026

(0.023)

-0.028

(0.022)

-0.026

(0.023)

POSIT ION

0.192

(0.294)

0.12

(0.245)

0.024

(0.219)

0.065

(0.219)

0.339

(0.3)

0.314

(0.301)

0.319

(0.299)

0.311

(0.303)

STUD Y_TIT LE

0.093

(0.131)

0.058

(0.109)

-0.012

(0.099)

-0.033

(0.099)

-0.001

(0.133)

-0.013

(0.134)

-0.01

(0.133)

-0.014

(0.134)

FAMILYBACKGROUN D

0.182

(0.374)

0.324

(0.312)

0.241

(0.279)

0.271

(0.276)

0.326

(0.381)

0.302

(0.382)

0.364

(0.381)

0.343

(0.389)

EN TREP_EXPERIEN CE

-0.716

(0.528)

-0.649

(0.438)

-0.713

(0.391)

-0.672

(0.388)

-0.693

(0.537)

-0.598

(0.547)

-0.674

(0.536)

-0.632

(0.552)

EFFECT UATION

0 . 5 6 2 ***

(0.114)

0.349**

(0.116)

0.413**

(0.123)

D IGITAL SKILLS

0.486***

(0.128)

0.473**

(0.127)

EFFECTUATION * DIGIT AL SKILLS

0.154

(0.106)

ABSORPTIVE CAPAC ITY

0.132

(0.141)

EFFECT UATION

0.152*

(0.139)

MEDIATION

(EFEC TUATION AND AC)

0.115

(0.171)

R squared

0.114 0.401 0.534 0.553 0.062 0.098 0.103 0.106

R sq adj

-0.005 0.307 0.45 0. 462 -0,041 -0,044 -0.033 -0. 055

R squared

0.114 0.287 0.133 0.02 0.062 0.04 0. 005 0.003

*p<0.05; **p<0.01;***p<0.001; Standard errors in parentesis

ICEIS 2023 - 25th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

510

full comprehension by the top and middle manage-

ment of effectual mechanisms could bring beneficial

effects to the whole organization since a widespread

acceptance of the use of flexibility, risk-taking ap-

proach, and adoption of external knowledge should

be fostered with top-down approaches. The possibil-

ity to monitor effectuation process represents further

value for companies since it exists the possibility to

translate effectual logic in concrete experimentation

methods such as the lean startup approach (Harms

and Schwery, 2020; Ries, 2011). Second, this work

offers insights concerning investment decisions and

the promotion of digital technologies usage within

companies. In other words, digital technologies in-

crease the set of means available for employees and

managers, adding further resources for the effectua-

tion process. Even more, digital skills are an enabler

for

AC (Roberts, 2015) in incumbent organizations.

Thus, educating the corporate workforce through dig-

ital skills may help organizations experiment and ac-

celerate learning processes in organizations.

6.3 Future Research Developments

Overall, this research focuses on effectuation theory,

but future studies could investigate other interesting

and related theories such as bricolage theory (Backer

and Nelson, 2005) and exaptation theory (Dew et al.,

2004) in similar empirical contexts. In particular, ex-

aptation is suggested by Welter et al. (2016) to be at

the intersection between bricolage and effectuation

thus providing a new perspective to look at the entre-

preneurship field in the digital age.

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