Specifying the Role of Events in Path Dependence

Abstract

Events should be part and parcel of any analysis of path-dependent organizational processes, as it is a characteristic of such processes that events trigger self-reinforcing dynamics that may lock in organizations to a certain path (Sydow, Schreyögg, and Koch, 2009). Path dependence is thus distinguished from mere imprinting by initial conditions. Even when acknowledging that “in organizations initial choices and actions are embedded in routines and practices” (Sydow et al., 2009, p. 692), one can think of so many possible interactions within “a mixture of limiting conditions and chance events” (Martin and Sunley, 2006, p. 424) that generalizing about when and how events trigger paths seems futile. Still, the aim of this contribution is to specify the role of events in path-dependent organizational processes by exploring three different empirical cases. To clarify matters, below I will first distinguish two categories of events: external events and initial choices, whereby external events in interaction with initial conditions may lead to initial choices. In an event-based account of path dependence, a path literally consists of a succession of concrete steps: a sequence of events is one of the possible mechanisms giving continuity to paths (Beyer, 2010). Early events may trigger path-dependent processes by both reactive and reinforcing sequences as conceived by Mahoney (2000).