Effectuation and the think-aloud method for investigating entrepreneurial decision making

Abstract

Research on effectuation has the opportunity to advance from an intermediate development stage along two main directions. First, effectuation exists as an alternative to classical models for testing hypotheses; and second, effectuation has introduced a grounded approach that envisions new theoretical elements and further theories. In this chapter, I discuss the potential effectuation has for both theory testing and theory building. I present the methods from which effectuation theory emerged, namely the think-aloud method, and their protocols and content analysis. I offer hints for the implementation of such methods and provide an illustration from a related research project. I also discuss sample size and elicitation tool construction. I conclude with limitations of the effectuation approach to research.