The path-constitution of organizational routines and technology artifacts: a morphogenetic approach

The concept of "path-dependence" has been largely adopted in management and organization theory to indicate how "history matters" in explaining strategic or operational persistence. In contrast, the notion of" path-creation" has been advocated to emphasize the role of human agency and deliberate choice and action. The paper aims at understanding the emergence of both phenomena at very micro-level through examining how the co-evolutionary trajectories (e.g. the path constitution) of organizational routines and its embedded technology artifacts shape a path-dependent or path-breaking dynamic. In addressing the socio-material nature of organizational routines, a critical realistic perspective is explicitly embraced since it is wellsuited to explore the technological artifact in both its material and social dimensions. In addition, a morphogenetic approach is adopted to trace the temporal unfolding dynamics that embedded technology and routines. Coherently with critical realism, technology is treated as a dynamic and changeable system where new components are gradually added or, alternatively, replaced to old ones during its temporal evolution, so exhibiting a variable influence on the self-reinforcing or path-breaking dynamics. We tackle the research question through conducting a longitudinal, explorative and inductive case study in an Italian middle size service firm. The case analysis shows how a number of social mechanisms, matched with certain context conditions, influence over time the emergence of specific paths in organizational routines and its embedded technology system, contributing to continuity and stability or, alternatively, to change and disruption.