Greg Fisher

Effectuation, Causation, and Bricolage: A Behavioral Comparison of Emerging Theories in Entrepreneurship Research

This study provides a critical examination of how different theoretical perspectives in entrepreneurship research translate into individual behavior, and whether such behavior is evident in the creation and development of new ventures. Using an alternative templates research methodology, the behaviors underlying the theories of effectuation, causation, and bricolage are evaluated to see whether such behaviors are observable in case study data describing the early development of six new ventures. The analysis highlights behavioral similarities and differences between the various theoretical perspectives in entrepreneurship research, providing insight into how these perspectives contrast and complement one another, and how they could be integrated in future research.

Catching Fire and Spreading It: A Glimpse Into Displayed Entrepreneurial Passion in Crowdfunding Campaigns.

Crowdfunding is an emerging phenomenon that enables entrepreneurs to solicit financial contributions for new projects from mass audiences. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion and emotional contagion theory, the authors examined the importance of displayed entrepreneurial passion when seeking resources in a crowdfunding context. They proposed that entrepreneurs’ displayed passion in the introductory video for a crowdfunding project increases viewers’ experienced enthusiasm about the project (i.e., passion contagion), which then prompts them to contribute financially and to share campaign information via social-media channels. Such sharing further facilitates campaign success. In addition, the authors proposed that perceived project innovativeness strengthens the positive effect of displayed passion on social-media exposure and the funding amount a project garners. They first tested their hypotheses in 2 studies using a combination of survey and archival data from the world’s 2 most popular crowdfunding platforms: Indiegogo (Study 1) and Kickstarter (Study 2). They then conducted an experiment (Study 3) to validate the proposed passion contagion process, and the effect of displayed entrepreneurial passion at the individual level. Findings from these 3 studies significantly supported their hypotheses. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of their findings.

Community Based Advantage

Community Based Advantage (CBA) is the advantage a firm gets from integrating its activities within a community, such that the firm not only provides community members with something that they need, value or desire, but the firm’s activities also contribute to the development and well-being of the community. CBA integrates ideas from the traditional strategic management literature, where the focus is on how firms gain a competitive advantage, with ideas about communities and social capital from sociology, to derive a definition and theoretical rationale for the concept of community based advantage. Six sources of CBA are derived and described and the benefits that firms may create for communities are examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of CBA.