Struggling and Thriving: Effectuation in Social and Economic Stress

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

First of all, I want to congratulate you on a very well written paper, adressing an important and actual topic regarding the social life of the Iranian people. I have a few comments to make:

- at the end of the Introduction section, I suggest that you present the structure of your paper (Section 2 deals with the literature review of effectuation theory ....., Section 3 presents the study's context, section 3 presents the methodology, etc, etc)

- The literature review section is very well written, clearly showcasing the connection between the theoretical aspects and the research hypothesis of your study

- the methodology section is very well written and you clearly present the measures used in your survey, their source and the factor loadings of each item. The only problem that I see here is that your tables exceed the margins of the paper. You should format Table 1 as you formatted "Table 1 continued"

- The same formatting problem appears with tables 2, 3 and Figure 1, they exceeds the margins of the paper

- in the discussion section, you should clearly address and discuss each of your 4 hypothesis and state if your results are supporting these hypothesis. 

- the theoretical and policy implications are very well written.

- in the conclusion section you should clearly state (in a few words) wether your 4 research hypothesis were supported or not.

Author Response

Reviewer 1:

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

First of all, I want to congratulate you on a very well written paper, adressing an important and actual topic regarding the social life of the Iranian people. I have a few comments to make:

Our response

Thank you for your positive and constructive comments. We have done our best to address the comments. Please see the revisions in the manuscript and the responses below:

- at the end of the Introduction section, I suggest that you present the structure of your paper (Section 2 deals with the literature review of effectuation theory ....., Section 3 presents the study's context, section 3 presents the methodology, etc, etc)

Our response

Thank you for your comment. We now have added a new paragraph to the end of the introduction to present the structure of the paper. (P. 3).

- The literature review section is very well written, clearly showcasing the connection between the theoretical aspects and the research hypothesis of your study

Our response

Thank you for your positive comment.

- the methodology section is very well written and you clearly present the measures used in your survey, their source and the factor loadings of each item. The only problem that I see here is that your tables exceed the margins of the paper. You should format Table 1 as you formatted "Table 1 continued"

Our response

Thank you for your positive comment. Please see our reformatted Table 1.

- The same formatting problem appears with tables 2, 3 and Figure 1, they exceeds the margins of the paper

Our response

Thank you for your positive comment. Please see our reformatted Table 1, 2, 3 and Figure 1

- in the discussion section, you should clearly address and discuss each of your 4 hypothesis and state if your results are supporting these hypothesis. 

Our response

Thank you for your comment. Please see our revisions in the first paragraph of the Discussion section.

- the theoretical and policy implications are very well written.

Our response

Thank you for your positive comment.

- in the conclusion section you should clearly state (in a few words) wether your 4 research hypothesis were supported or not.

Our response

Thank you for your comment. We added a sentence to state that our hypotheses were supported.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is well structured, with clear hypotheses. There are proper SPSS analyses of results.

 

The article describes some consequences in Iran due to the international sanctions. The psychological approach is quite successful to give a new role of the entrepreneurs in a complicated environment. The content of the article faces a specific research. The article is well structured, with clear four hypotheses. The authors have done careful literature review.  It is not necessary to make any improvements about the methodology. Conclusion is consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and do they address the main question posed. References are appropriate I keep my original position this article to be published.

Author Response

Reviewer 2:

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is well structured, with clear hypotheses. There are proper SPSS analyses of results.

 The article describes some consequences in Iran due to the international sanctions. The psychological approach is quite successful to give a new role of the entrepreneurs in a complicated environment. The content of the article faces a specific research. The article is well structured, with clear four hypotheses. The authors have done careful literature review.  It is not necessary to make any improvements about the methodology. Conclusion is consistent with the evidence and arguments presented and do they address the main question posed. References are appropriate I keep my original position this article to be published.

Our response

Thank you for your positive comment about our paper. We appreciate it.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article presents issues related to effectuation in social and economic stress. The research was carried out in Iran. The study provides an insider view on a less studied oriental context. The culture has a direct influence on members of a society’s perception of uncertainty and sustainability, and the way they cope with it. The discussed topic is impressive from a scientific point of view and the article may be of interest to an international audience. The analysis presented in the theoretical part contains relatively new and interesting data. The topic is relevant in the field of journal.

The article presents and organizes knowledge within the study area in a logical manner. The proportions of particular parts have generally been selected in a correct way. The layout of the paper is correct. It is clear and transparent.

The main question addressed by the research is: How do citizens respond when provisioning systems are severely changed and curtailed? The authors put forward four hypotheses, which they then verify.

In their research, the authors used the statistical methods of data analysis.

The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented. The references are appropriate.

To sum up, reviewed article is interesting and very descriptive, but there is place for corrections:

1.     The abstract of the article should contain the adopted research methodology, and description research (with the indication that the research concerns Iran).

2.     Table 1 requires correction. It’s split and unequal (it looks like 2 different tables).

3.     Figure 1 requires correction. Some numbers and text are not fully visible.

Optional:

1.     I suggest adding information about the research area in the title of the article.

Author Response

Reviewer 3:

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article presents issues related to effectuation in social and economic stress. The research was carried out in Iran. The study provides an insider view on a less studied oriental context. The culture has a direct influence on members of a society’s perception of uncertainty and sustainability, and the way they cope with it. The discussed topic is impressive from a scientific point of view and the article may be of interest to an international audience. The analysis presented in the theoretical part contains relatively new and interesting data. The topic is relevant in the field of journal.

The article presents and organizes knowledge within the study area in a logical manner. The proportions of particular parts have generally been selected in a correct way. The layout of the paper is correct. It is clear and transparent.

The main question addressed by the research is: How do citizens respond when provisioning systems are severely changed and curtailed? The authors put forward four hypotheses, which they then verify.

In their research, the authors used the statistical methods of data analysis.

The conclusions are consistent with the evidence and arguments presented. The references are appropriate.

To sum up, reviewed article is interesting and very descriptive, but there is place for corrections:

Our response

Thank you for your positive comment about our paper. We have addressed your comments as follows:

 

1. The abstract of the article should contain the adopted research methodology, and description research (with the indication that the research concerns Iran).

Our response

Thank you for pointing this out. We have now added the information to the abstract.

2. Table 1 requires correction.It’s split and unequal (it looks like 2 different tables).

Our response

Thank you for pointing this out. Please see the reformatted Table.

3. Figure 1 requires correction. Some numbers and text are not fully visible.

Optional:

Our response

Thank you for pointing this out. Please see the reformatted Figure 1.

1. I suggest adding information about the research area in the title of the article.

Our response

Thank you for your suggestion. We really think that the title is capturing our core idea and if you don’t mind, we would like to keep the title.

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The title does not reflect the content of the article and needs to be reformulated. In fact, the work focuses on a very specific country with unique characteristics. The authors have linked issues of economic and social stress to a political problem with the United States since the 1960s. This goes against the ethics of scientific research. Indeed, a researcher should be interested in discovering facts and laws, irrespective of temporary and not eternal conflicts.

 

Therefore, the results of the study cannot be considered as truths until the authors have neutralized the effect of the political conflict.

 

The abstract does not align with the journal's guidelines and lacks the necessary elements to accurately reflect the content and originality of the work.

 

The methodology lacks rigor as the authors opted for online data collection, making it difficult to identify individuals directly affected by the study and who truly contribute value.

The results of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are not detailed enough to demonstrate the validity of the findings.

Author Response

Reviewer 4:

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The title does not reflect the content of the article and needs to be reformulated. In fact, the work focuses on a very specific country with unique characteristics. The authors have linked issues of economic and social stress to a political problem with the United States since the 1960s. This goes against the ethics of scientific research. Indeed, a researcher should be interested in discovering facts and laws, irrespective of temporary and not eternal conflicts.

 Therefore, the results of the study cannot be considered as truths until the authors have neutralized the effect of the political conflict.

Our response

-Thank you for pointing this out. In addressing your concern, we have reduced the emphasis on the US sanctions and have talked about ‘international sanctions’ on Iran's economy. We have also revised both the introduction and the discussion sections remarkably to ensure there is no political lens in the paper.

Please note that this paper takes a macromarketing perspective and is intended to study the impact of sanctions on citizens' everyday lives and how people remedy this by applying effectual heuristics in their decisions and actions. As such, the aim is not critiquing the sanctions as political-economical tools, but the mechanisms used by citizens to cope with them. With sanctions being used on several economies nowadays, we believe this study is scientific research showing different aspects of the impact of the sanctions and the mechanisms used by people to cope with them.

The abstract does not align with the journal's guidelines and lacks the necessary elements to accurately reflect the content and originality of the work.

 Our response

Thank you for your comment. Please see our revised abstract.

-The methodology lacks rigor as the authors opted for online data collection, making it difficult to identify individuals directly affected by the study and who truly contribute value.

Our response

Thank you for your comment. We added a few lines in support and justification of the online survey as a valid way for data collection in entrepreneurship research, including a paper recently published in SEJ: Scheaf, D. J., Loignon, A. C., Webb, J. W., & Heggestad, E. D. (2023). Nonresponse bias in survey‐based entrepreneurship research: A review, investigation, and recommendations. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

The results of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) are not detailed enough to demonstrate the validity of the findings.

Our response

Thank you for pointing this out. Please see the added results for PCA in section 4.3

 

 

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I ultimately suggest to the authors of this article to consolidate the implications and limitations of the research in the conclusion of the paper. In the case of other responses, the authors have put in considerable effort to enhance the quality of the article

Author Response

Thank you for your positive comment. We added a few sentences to the conclusion to consolidate the implications and limitations of this study.  (section 7)