Entrepreneurial agency can deliberately create new paths but also reinforces old ones.

Evidence

A further challenging theoretical question is whether the emergence of paths does not simply occur but can also be deliberately brought about. The idea of (intentional) path creation was introduced by Garud and Karnøe (2001), who referred to Schumpeter (1942) and his conception of a “destroying” entrepreneurship. Creative agency and the power of generating momentum are seen as basic ingredients for path creation, although entrepreneurship, as influenced by its own history and important institutions, may well also be a source of path dependence (Staber, 2005). — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 122

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The twist is that the very agents who break paths are themselves products of history and institutions — the breaker and the lock-in share one mechanism.
• XREF: Connects to Schumpeterian creative destruction and to Zamyatin/DeLillo-style systems that absorb their own rebels.