Linking Entrepreneurial Innovation to Effectual Logic

Abstract

The terms “innovation” and “effectuation” are frequently used but not in the same thought. In this order, publications linking innovation to effectuation are presented and discussed through a methodology based on the publish and perish tool. In the last two decades, effectuation has become an active criterion in entrepreneurship research. However, previous studies do not interconnect effectuation to the different innovation approaches. In order to overcome this gap, this paper focuses on studying innovation in an effectual context and linking different innovation approaches to effectual logic. Indeed, effectuation is a way of thinking that serves entrepreneurs in the processes of opportunity identification and new venture creation. Effectuation includes a set of decision-making principles expert entrepreneurs are observed to employ in situations of uncertainty (as defined in Society for Effectual Action). This article outlines the four most-studied innovation approaches from the date of their apparitions until January 2021: frugal innovation, disruptive innovation, lean start-up, and design thinking. In this context, effectuation as the essence of innovation must be clarified as a method that has similarities and differences with frugal and disruptive innovation, lean start-up, and design thinking. To validate the proposed theorical model, a bibliometrics tool, named “Harzing publish” or “perish”, is used. The main finding of this research affirms that the two most linked innovation approaches to effectuation are “lean start-up” and “design thinking”, compared to “frugal innovation” and “disruptive innovation”. In an entrepreneurial innovation context, design thinking and lean start-up are flexible tools that can stimulate and validate the effectual cycle.