Tracing event sequences over time is necessary to expose the mechanisms of path dependence.

Evidence

Because of the process character of the framework, a longitudinal research design is required, which traces sequences of events and actions in organizations (e.g., time chronologies, simple and complex time series). Only the examination of these detailed processes in time (and space) will allow us to identify and explicate the working of the fundamental social mechanism(s) underlying the constitution of organizational path dependence “from micro behaviors to system dynamics, and back” (Castaldi & Dosi, 2006: 108). — Jörg Sydow, Georg Schreyögg, and Jochen Koch, Organizational Path Dependence, 118

Categorization

• QUESTION: Raises whether micro-to-macro mechanism tracing is even feasible with conventional longitudinal data, and what ‘and back’ feedback actually looks like empirically.
• XREF: connects to: Path dependence plus recurrent mechanisms jointly explain contention’s regularities. — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 366