From Lock-In to Transformation: A Path-Centric Theory of Emerging Technology and Organizing

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Pentland, Brian T.; Yoo, Youngjin; Recker, Jan; Kim, Inkyu
• 署名单位: Michigan State University; Michigan State University's Broad College of Business; University System of Ohio; Case Western Reserve University; University of Hamburg
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2021.1543
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 194-211
• 关键词: patterns of action; dynamic network; performing and patterning; GENERATIVITY; AFFORDANCES; routine dynamics; simulation

摘要

We offer a path-centric theory of emerging technology and organizing that addresses a basic question. When does emerging technology lead to transformative change? A path-centric perspective on technology focuses on the patterns of actions afforded by technology in use. We identify performing and patterning as self-reinforcing mechanisms that shape patterns of action in the domain of emerging technology and organizing. We use a dynamic simulation to show that performing and patterning can lead to a wide range of trajectories, from lock-in to transformation, depending on how emerging technology in use influences the pattern of action. When emerging technologies afford new actions that can be flexibly recombined to generate new paths, decisive transformative effects are more likely. By themselves, new affordances are not likely to generate transformation. We illustrate this theory with examples from the practice of pharmaceutical drug discovery. The path-centric perspective offers a new way to think about generativity and the role of affordances in organizing.