Effectuation and causation configurations for business model innovation: Addressing COVID-19 in the gastronomy industry

Rainer Harms; Carina Alfert; Cheng-Feng Cheng; Sascha Kraus

doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102896

Effectuation and causation configurations for business model innovation: Addressing COVID-19 in the gastronomy industry

Int J Hosp Manag. 2021 May:95:102896. doi: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102896. Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Authors

Rainer Harms^{1

2}, Carina Alfert¹, Cheng-Feng Cheng³, Sascha Kraus⁴

Affiliations

¹ University of Twente, Faculty of Behavioural, Management, and Social Sciences, NIKOS/ESIM, P.O. Box 217, 7522 NB Enschede, the Netherlands.
² National Research University Higher School of Economics, Research Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies & Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, Myasnitskaya Ulitsa 20, 101000 Moscow, Russian Federation.
³ National Taichung University of Science and Technology, No.129, Sec.3, Sanmin Rd, North Dist., Taichung City 404, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 11, 39100 Bolzano, Italy.

Abstract

The gastronomy sector is among those that are hit particularly hard by a loss of customers and regulatory uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis. When established ways of doing business become almost impossible, business model innovation (BMI) is a possible reaction to this high uncertainty level. Effectuation and causation are decision-making logics that may lead to BMI and help a firm navigate uncertainty. We investigate configurations of causation and effectuation components associated with a high BMI level during the first wave of COVID-19. We perform fuzzy-set-qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on a sample of 143 gastronomy entrepreneurs in Münster county, Germany. We identify two paths that lead to a high BMI level: "the planning soloist" and "the hedging networker." We conclude that innovators among the gastronomy entrepreneurs use effectuation and causation components in complex configurations.

Keywords: Business model innovation; COVID-19; Configurations; Effectuation; Gastronomy entrepreneurs; fsQCA.