Causation, effectuation and bricolage in entry mode decisions

The theoretical perspectives of causation, effectuation and bricolage have emerged to understand entrepreneurial decision-making with respect to exploitation of market opportunities. The aim of this paper is to identify the role and impact of logics during internationalization and, in particular, to trace causation, effectuation and bricolage logics in entry-mode selection. A two-staged literature review was used to take stock of extant knowledge and to shed light on emerging research gaps and problems. The results show that entrepreneurs in their internationalization decisions can follow one, a combination, or a sequence of logics depending on the venture's or international lifecycle, their (perceptions of) internal and external context, network relations, and experience. Likewise, entry modes such as JV, Strategic Alliance and Export can be driven by different logics or their combinations, while the FDI entry mode is predominantly driven by causation logic. We also noted that bricolage has received little attention in empirical and theoretical work and, thus, is a future avenue for research.