The literature on effectual theory offers validated scales to measure effectual or causal logic in entrepreneurs’ decision-making. However, there are no adequate scales to assess in advance the effectual or causal propensity of people with an entrepreneurial intention before the creation of their companies. We aim to determine the validity and reliability of an instrument to measure that propensity by first analysing those works that provide recognised validated scales with which to measure the effectual or causal logic in people who have already started up companies. Then, considering these scales, we designed a scale to evaluate the effectual or causal propensity in people who had not yet started up companies using a sample of 230 final-year business administration students to verify its reliability and validity. The validated scale has theoretical implications for the literature on potential entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention and practical implications for promoters of entrepreneurship who need to orient the behaviour of entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of established businesses who want to implement a specific strategic orientation, entrepreneurs who want to evaluate the effectual propensity of their potential partners and workers, and academic institutions interested in orienting the entrepreneurial potential of their students.

关于效果理论的文献提供了经过验证的量表来衡量企业家决策中的效果逻辑或因果逻辑。然而，没有足够的尺度来预先评估具有创业意图的人在他们的公司成立之前的实际或因果倾向。我们的目标是通过首先分析那些提供公认的经过验证的量表的作品来确定衡量这种倾向的工具的有效性和可靠性，这些量表用来衡量已经创办公司的人的效果或因果逻辑。然后，考虑到这些量表，我们设计了一个量表来评估尚未创业的人的影响或因果倾向，使用 230 名最后一年工商管理学生的样本来验证其可靠性和有效性。