Navigating foreign markets with purpose
Effectuation logic in the internationalization of sustainability-oriented startups
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22412302 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rozaliia Pait (Technische Universität Berlin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 232 |
| Pages | 124810 |
| Publication date | 2026-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Technological Forecasting and Social Change (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0040-1625 • E-ISSN: 1873-5509 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.techfore.2026.124810 |
| OpenAlex | W7168250706 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 51 |
Sustainability-oriented startups seek to scale their social, environmental, and economic impact through foreign market entry. In doing so, ventures face extreme uncertainty arising from the combined challenges of early venturing, internationalization, and impact creation. Although entrepreneurial decision-making has been studied through the lenses of predictive planning, means-driven logic, and their coexistence, there remains a limited understanding of how these logics interact under complex, overlapping uncertainty. This study addresses this gap by examining how sustainability-oriented startups navigate internationalization decisions and how effectual and causal reasoning support them in resolving market-entry challenges. To achieve this, a qualitative study was conducted, drawing on data from 40 sustainability-driven startups engaged in international expansion into emerging markets in the context of a market-entry support program. The analysis reveals that in conditions of extreme uncertainty, such as those of internationalization of sustainability-oriented ventures into emerging markets, effectuation forms a strong core in the configuration of strategies used to resolve challenges, while causal logics serve to stabilize, resource, or close the effectual action. The study also underlines the hybridity of rationales behind market selection, where causal considerations around market conditions are inseparable from effectual stakeholder engagement and early commitments. Finally, the findings unveil how sustainability orientation manifests in market selection and effectual pivoting. Based on these insights, the study offers practical recommendations for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and support organizations to design targeted interventions and tools that enhance the internationalization efforts of sustainability-oriented ventures.
Context (archaeology) · Emerging markets · Internationalization · Multinational corporation · New Ventures · Scale (ratio) · Stakeholder · Sustainability · Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · International Business and FDI
Causation and Effectuation
Three Types of Perceived Uncertainty about the Environment
Longitudinal Field Research on Change
In Defense of Being “Native”
Seeking Qualitative Rigor in Inductive Research
Understanding the Diverse Scaling Strategies of Social Enterprises as Hybrid Organizations
The Impacts of Interplay and Congruence Between Effectuation and Causation on the Fundraising Opportunities, Successes, and Amount for Startups
Effectuation and causation models
Configurations of effectuation, causation, and bricolage
Narratives in entrepreneurial ecosystems
Unpacking green growth in SMEs
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |