Effectuation versus Causation: A Case Study of an It Recruitment Firm

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the internationalisation process of an IT recruitment firm and follow the development of the firm from the idea stage to the post internationalisation stage. The study conducted deep-level interviews with the executive teams of the firm to examine the use of causation and effectuation respectively and to identify which decision-making logic was dominating, from the idea stage through to post internationalisation. The study revealed that the decision-making logic of effectuation vs causation was chosen based on the expectations and perceptions of the future, meaning that psychological factors intervened more often than the actual events unfolding. The study is based on only one case study of a firm operating as a recruiter in the IT sector and there should be caution regarding the generalisability of the findings.