University of Twente Student Theses
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Supporting Entrepreneurial Logic : AI’s Role in Causal Effectual and Hybrid Decision-Making
Brugger, Joseph (2025) Supporting Entrepreneurial Logic : AI’s Role in Causal Effectual and Hybrid Decision-Making.
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| Abstract: | This thesis is about how AI-driven insights support entrepreneurial decision-making in startups during the survival stage, with the focus on causal and effectual logic. Based on Sarasvathy’s theory of effectuation and the Churchill & Lewis growth model, the study investigates how AI tools help founders in the survival stage and how they can be integrated. Using an abductive approach, the research connects empirical insights from eight semi-structured interviews with startup founders to existing theory. Through a structured Gioia analysis, the findings show that decision-making during the survival stage is not done strictly with either causal or effectual logic. Instead, founders tend to apply both logics this is called a hybrid approach. AI appears to support this hybrid mode by structuring uncertainty, increasing operational efficiency, and facilitating access to decision-relevant information. Particularly in tasks such as forecasting or data analysis. Every entrepreneur mentioned that AI does not replace entrepreneurial judgment but functions as a support tool which provides information on which they can decide. The study argues that hybrid decision-making should research as a third concept of decision-making approaches in future research. Moreover, as startups are getting more secure and moving on to later stages, AI’s role may expand, which opens opportunities for longitudinal comparative studies. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 85 business administration, organizational science |
| Programme: | International Business Administration BSc (50952) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106732 |
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