Drawing from advances in Organisation Studies and recent debates within Economic Sociology and the Sociology of Financial Markets, this paper proposes a theoretical framework that characterises the mutual adaptation between formal routines, rules and actual performances as iterative cycles of framing, overflowing and reframing of knowledge inputs and actions. This framework, combined with the ethnographic observation of the ‘engineering freeze ’ process at a leading automotive manufacturer, allows us to advance routines ’ theory by 1- capturing the dynamics of convergence and divergence between procedures and performances; and 2- improving our understanding of the influence of artefacts and distributed agencies on routines’ dynamics.

What evolutionary economics has to say about energy and

Abstract not found

This study of the path-dependent nature of innovation examines momentum processes in organizations. The traditional momentum literature argues that innovation experience creates organizational routines that increase the propensity to introduce innovations of the same type. Empirical research has found support for this acceleration form of momentum. More recent work raises methodological concerns about the acceleration results, while advancing deceleration arguments that suggest that prior innovations may reduce the need for subsequent innovation. This study argues that we need a broader view of momentum, focusing specifically on momentum in the form of temporal consistency of ongoing innovation. This view reflects the idea that firms have temporal targets for many of their innovative activities. To explore this expanded view of momentum, we examine how innovation experience facilitates the propensity and temporal consistency of ongoing innovation, while also considering how broader business experience as reflected in increasing organizational age may inhibit temporal consistency of ongoing innovation. Our analyses of generational product innovation in business productivity software support the more expansive view of momentum that includes temporal consistency. The results also suggest that both the acceleration and deceleration forms of momentum arise, depending upon the degree of consistency within historical