关键词: 学术创业, 因果逻辑, 效果逻辑, 叙事分析

Abstract: Given the importance of promoting university technology commercialization, having a better understanding of academic entrepreneurs’ decision-making logic that affects their entrepreneurial activities becomes a significant research objective. This paper implements a qualitative, narrative approach to investigate academic entrepreneurs’ decision-making logic associated with their entrepreneurial activities. Findings draw on the lived experience of three academic entrepreneurs and tell a collective story of how causation and effectuation affect their actions, and engenders outcomes for their ventures. First, findings suggest that causation and effectuation have complementary advantages and they are intertwined over every phase of the entrepreneurial process. Second, there is a dominant logic to different phases of academic entrepreneurship in that the R&D ability and resource supports of universities can trigger the use of effectuation, whereas entrepreneurs’ self-efficacy and prior experience can promote the adoption of causation logic. Third, the principles of causation and effectuation not always appear at the same time. Entrepreneurs do not avoid contingencies even if they are causation-inclined. These results contribute to not only academic entrepreneurship and effectuation theory, but also practical significance.

Key words: Academic entrepreneurship, Causation, Effectuation, Narrative approach