Market-level self-reinforcing mechanisms do not transfer cleanly to organizational analysis

Evidence

In the field of technology development and diffusion, different types of self-reinforcing dynamics have been identified (Arthur, 1994; Cowan, 1990; David, 1985; Katz & Shapiro, 1985; North, 1990). Since they have been developed at the market level, these mechanisms cannot readily be transferred to organizational analysis. In our view, four mechanisms in particular are likely to contribute to the development of organizational path dependence: coordination effects, complementarity effects, learning effects, and adaptive expectation effects. — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 76

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names the four mechanisms held to drive organizational path dependence: coordination, complementarity, learning, and adaptive expectation effects.
• XREF: Connects to standard increasing-returns literature on lock-in (Arthur, David, North).