THE PROCESS OF SCHEMA EMERGENCE: ASSIMILATION, DECONSTRUCTION, UNITIZATION AND THE PLURALITY OF ANALOGIES

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bingham, Christopher B.; Kahl, Steven J.
• 署名单位: University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; Dartmouth College
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2010.0723
• 发表日期: 2013
• 页码: 14-34
• 关键词: COGNITION; DESIGN; capabilities; flexibility; perceptions; TECHNOLOGY; heuristics; EVOLUTION; KNOWLEDGE; strategy

摘要

Schemas are a central concept in strategy and organization theory. Yet, despite the importance of schemas, little is known about how they emerge. Our in-depth historical analysis of how groups in the life insurance industry developed their schema for the computer from 1945-1975 addresses this gap. We identify three key processes assimilation, deconstruction, and unitization-that collectively explain and resolve an inherent tension related to schema emergence: how to make the unfamiliar familiar but conceptually distinct. We also find that each process relates to analogical transfer, but in a more pluralistic and dynamic way than the existing literature describes. Broadly, these findings have important implications for organizational change and managerial cognition.