Institutional history shapes organizations from the very first choices

Evidence

Such framing of the first stage in the rational choice tradition, however, paradoxically ignores the fact that the development of a path is embedded and connected with other developments; it cannot be considered a completely separate process without any imprints from the past. In brief, history matters in the Preformation Phase, too. In organizations, initial choices and actions are embedded in routines and practices, they reflect the heritage—the rules and the culture— making up those institutions (e.g., Child, 1997; March, 1994; Tolbert & Zucker, 1996). Institutions are “carriers of history” (David, 1994), and history cannot be intermittent; it does not matter only occasionally—it always matters! A conceptualization of the activities in the Preformation Phase thus cannot start from scratch; it has to account for institutional imprints. — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 30

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘Preformation Phase’ and David’s term ‘carriers of history’ for institutions.
• XREF: Connects to path-dependence literature (David, Arthur, North) and to organizational imprinting theory.