Decision-making dynamics of digital user innovators: A temporal and regional perspective

This study examines how digital user entrepreneurs navigate decision-making under uncertainty across different phases of venture development and institutional contexts. Drawing on effectuation theory and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), we analyze nine cases from the European Union and Iran to explore how strategic logics shift over time in response to changing attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Our findings reveal that entrepreneurs tend to adopt effectual logic in early venture phases, later transitioning toward causation as institutional constraints and perceptions of agency evolve. We identify key divergences across contexts, particularly in how Iranian entrepreneurs reverse effectual strategies under growing uncertainty. This study contributes to entrepreneurship research by illustrating how TPB mechanisms mediate dynamic shifts between decision-making logics and provides practical implications for supporting digital entrepreneurs in uncertain environments.