Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Explaining the process and effects of new routine introduction with a notion of micro-level entrepreneurship

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Journal of Evolutionary Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand the process of new routine introduction and its effects on organizational structure and performance. To achieve this, it proposes a model of new routine introduction based on a notion of micro-level entrepreneurship. The model tracks the source of new routine antecedents, defined as factors motivating the conception and/or adoption of ideas for new routines, tying them to organizational structure and performance. Currently, the literature on routine micro foundations lacks this kind of integrative, holistic model to spur fruitful connections between nascent and dispersed contributions related to the origins of new routines. Applying a process approach in the context of a single case study, the research analyzes 23 instances of new routine introduction at an Australian consulting firm called Secure. The results reveal that ideas for new routines were heavily influenced by endogenous factors such as the personal preferences of enterprising managers and internal pressure. While market-related factors were omnipresent, endogenous factors were remarkably preponderant, influential, and oftentimes mixed with exogenous factors such that an either/or distinction in the origins of flexibility- and efficiency-oriented routines did not hold. The findings also shed light on a paradox related to new routine introduction in which the act of introducing new routines intended to improve performance actually undermines it by inciting conflict. Ultimately the model of new routine introduction bestows a central role on the enterprising manager, showing how they oscillate between managerial and micro-level entrepreneurial action in the pursuit of adaptation and growth. This study’s bringing back of the individual and his or her subjectivity into the routine introduction process is in line with recent calls for further research, as is its provision of an empirically detailed case-based analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Secure and all personal names used in this paper are pseudonyms

References

  • Abell P, Felin T, Foss N (2008) Building micro-foundations for the routines, capabilities, and performance links. Manag Decis Econ 29(6):489–502

    Google Scholar 

  • Aldrich HE, Yang T (2014) How do entrepreneurs know what to do? Learning and organizing in new ventures. J Evol Econ 24:59–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker MC (2004) Organizational routines: a review of the literature. Ind Corp Chang 13:643–678

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker MC (2005) The concept of routines: some clarifications. Camb J Econ 29:249–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker MC, Knudsen T, March JG (2006) Schumpeter, Winter, and the sources of novelty. Ind Corp Chang 15(2):353–371

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennet, A. & George, A. L. (1997). Process tracing in case study research. Paper presented at the MacArthur Foundation Workshop on Case Study Methods, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (BCSIA), Harvard University, October 17-19

  • Bertels S, Howard-Grenville J, Pek S (2016) Cultural molding, shielding, and shoring at Oilco: the role of culture in the integration of routines. Organ Sci 27(3):573–593

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloodgood JM, Hornsby JS, Burkemper AC, Sarooghi H (2015) A system dynamics perspective of corporate entrepreneurship. Small Bus Econ 45(2):383–402

    Google Scholar 

  • Bridoux, F., Coeurderoy, R. & Durand, R. (2016) Heterogeneous social motives and interactions: The three predictable paths of capability development. Strategic Management Journal, forthcoming, https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2605

  • Brown SL, Eisenhardt KM (1997) The art of continuous change: linking complexity theory and time-paced evolution in relentlessly shifting organizations. Adm Sci Q 42(1):1–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant PT (2014) Imprinting by design: the microfoundations of entrepreneurial adaptation. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 38(5):1081–1102

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant, P., Lazaric, N., & Niang, M. (2012). When past and present collide: The consequences of conflict between imprinted memory and contemporary experience (No. halshs-00908420)

  • Burgelman RA (1983) Corporate entrepreneurship and strategic management: insights from a process study. Manag Sci 29(12):1349–1364

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgelman RA (1991) Intraorganizational ecology of strategy-making and organizational adaptation: theory and field research. Organ Sci 2(3):239–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgelman RA (1994) Fading memories: a process theory of strategic business exit in dynamic environments. Adm Sci Q 39(1):24–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Burns J (2000) The dynamics of accounting change inter-play between new practices, routines, institutions, power and politics. Account Audit Account J 13(5):566–596

    Google Scholar 

  • Cacciatori E (2012) Resolving conflict in problem-solving: systems of artefacts in the development of new routines. J Manag Stud 49:1559–1585

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen MD, Bacdayan P (1994) Organizational routines are stored as procedural memory: evidence from a laboratory study. Organ Sci 5(4):554–568

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen MD, Burkhart R, Dosi G, Egidi M, Marengo L, Warglien M, Winter S (1996) Routines and other recurring action patterns of organizations: contemporary research issues. Ind Corp Chang 5(3):653–698

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohendet P, Llerena P (2003) Routines and incentives: the role of communities in the firm. Ind Corp Chang 12(2):271–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohendet P, Grandadam D, Simon L, Capdevila I (2014) Epistemic communities, localization and the dynamics of knowledge creation. J Econ Geogr 14(5):929–954

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins J (2001) Good to great. Random House, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Coriat, B., & Dosi, G. (1995). Learning how to govern and learning how to solve problems: on the co-evolution of competences, conflicts and organisational routines. IIASA Working Paper, WP-95-006

  • D’Adderio L (2014) The replication dilemma unravelled: how organizations enact multiple goals in routine transfer. Organ Sci 25(5):1325–1350

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan RB (1976) The ambidextrous organization: designing dual structures for innovation. The Management of Organization 1:167–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson AC, Bohmer RM, Pisano GP (2001) Disrupted routines: team learning and new technology implementation in hospitals. Adm Sci Q 46(4):685–716

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt KM (1989) Building theories from case study research. Acad Manag Rev 14(4):532–550

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt KM (2000) Paradox, spirals, ambivalence: the new language of change and pluralism. Acad Manag Rev 25(4):703–705

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt KM, Martin JA (2000) Dynamic capabilities: what are they? Strateg Manag J 21(10–11):1105–1121

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenhardt K, Furr N, Bingham C (2010) Microfoundations of performance: balancing efficiency and flexibility in dynamic environments. Organ Sci 21(6):1263–1273

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman MS (2000) Organizational routines as a source of continuous change. Organ Sci 11(6):611–629

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman M, Pentland BT (2003) Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change. Adm Sci Q 48(1):94–118

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman MS, Pentland BT, D’Adderio L, Lazaric N (2016) Beyond routines as things: introduction to the special issue on routine dynamics. Organ Sci 27(3):505–513

    Google Scholar 

  • Felin, T., & Foss, N. J. (2005). Strategic organization: a field in search of micro-foundations

    Google Scholar 

  • Felin T, Foss NJ (2009) Organizational routines and capabilities: historical drift and a course correction toward microfoundations. Scand J Manag 25:157–167

    Google Scholar 

  • Felin T, Foss NJ (2011) The endogenous origins of experience, routines and organizational capabilities: the poverty of stimulus. J Inst Econ 7(2):231–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Felin T, Foss NJ (2012) The (proper) microfoundations of routines and capabilities: a response to Winter, Pentland, Hodgson and Knudsen. J Inst Econ 8(2):271–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Glaser B, Strauss A (1967) The discovery of grounded theory: strategies of qualitative research. Wiedenfeld and Nicholson, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Greve HR (2008) A behavioral theory of firm growth: sequential attention to size and performance goals. Acad Manag J 51(3):476–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Guth, W. D., & Ginsberg, A. (1990). Guest editors' introduction: corporate entrepreneurship. Strategic Management Journal, 5-15

  • Hayton JC, Kelley DJ (2006) A competency-based framework for promoting corporate entrepreneurship. Human Resource Management: Published in Cooperation with the School of Business Administration, The University of Michigan and in alliance with the Society of Human Resources Management 45(3):407–427

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitt MA, Ireland RD, Sirmon DG, Trahms CA (2011) Strategic entrepreneurship: creating value for individuals, organizations, and society. Acad Manag Perspect 25(2):57–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson, G (2003) The Mystery of the Routine: The Darwinian Destiny of An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change. Revue économique 54(2):355–384

  • Hodgson GM, Knudsen T (2004) The firm as an interactor: firms as vehicles for habits and routines. J Evol Econ 14(3):281–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Ireland RD, Hitt MA, Camp SM, Sexton DL (2001) Integrating entrepreneurship and strategic management actions to create firm wealth. Acad Manag Perspect 15(1):49–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Ireland RD, Hitt MA, Simon DG (2003) A model of strategic entrepreneurship: the construct and its dimensions. J Manag 29(6):963–989

    Google Scholar 

  • Ireland RD, Covin JG, Kuratko DF (2009) Conceptualizing corporate entrepreneurship strategy. Enterp Theory Pract 33(1):19–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Jansen JJ, Tempelaar MP, Van den Bosch FA, Volberda HW (2009) Structural differentiation and ambidexterity: the mediating role of integration mechanisms. Organ Sci 20(4):797–811

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen RJ, Szulanski G (2007) Template use and the effectiveness of knowledge transfer. Manag Sci 53(11):1716–1730

    Google Scholar 

  • Kantur D (2016) Strategic entrepreneurship: mediating the entrepreneurial orientation-performance link. Manag Decis 54(1):24–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellermanns FW, Eddleston KA (2006) Corporate entrepreneurship in family firms: a family perspective. Enterp Theory Pract 30(6):809–830

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimberly JR, Bouchikhi H (1995) The dynamics of organizational development and change: how the past shapes the present and constrains the future. Organ Sci 6(1):9–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Kremser W, Schreyögg G (2016) The dynamics of interrelated routines: introducing the cluster level. Organ Sci 27(3):698–721

    Google Scholar 

  • Langley A (1999) Strategies for theorizing from process data. Acad Manag Rev 24(4):691–710

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazaric N (2008) 10 Routines and routinization: an exploration of some micro-cognitive foundations. Handbook of organizational routines 205

  • Lazaric N (2011) Organizational routines and cognition: an introduction to empirical and analytical contributions. J Inst Econ 7(2):147–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazaric N, Denis B (2005) Routinisation and memorisation of tasks within a workshop: the case of the introduction of ISO norms. Ind Corp Chang 14(5):873–896

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazaric N, Raybaut A (2005) Knowledge, hierarchy and the selection of routines: an interpretative model with group interactions. J Evol Econ 15(4):393–421

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazaric N, Mangolte PA, Massué ML (2003) Articulation and codification of collective know-how in the steel industry: evidence from blast furnace control in France. Res Policy 32(10):1829–1847

    Google Scholar 

  • Leonard-Barton D (1990) A dual methodology for case studies: synergistic use of a longitudinal single site with replicated multiple sites. Organ Sci 1(3):248–266

    Google Scholar 

  • March J (1991) Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning. Organ Sci 2:71–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall N., Tsekouras G. and Maron A. (2010). Creating routines for innovation: insight from an organizational experiment. Presented at the 5th International Conference on organizational knowledge, learning and capabilities. Boston, USA, 3-6 June, 19p

  • Nelson R, Winter S (1982) An evolutionary theory of economic change. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson R, Winter S (2002) Evolutionary Theorizing in Economics. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16(2):23–46.

  • Parmigiani A, Howard-Grenville J (2011) Routines revisited: exploring the capabilities and practice perspectives. Acad Manag Ann 5(1):413–453

    Google Scholar 

  • Penrose ET (1959) The theory of the growth of the firm. Sharpe, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Pentland BT (1999) Building process theory with narrative: from description to explanation. Acad Manag Rev 24(4):711–724

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi M (2015) Personal knowledge: towards a post-critical philosophy. University of Chicago Press

  • Raisch S, Birkinshaw J, Probst G, Tushman ML (2009) Organizational ambidexterity: balancing exploitation and exploration for sustained performance. Organ Sci 20(4):685–695

    Google Scholar 

  • Rerup C, Feldman MS (2011) Routines as a source of change in organizational schemata: the role of trial-and-error learning. Acad Manag J 54:577–610

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindehutte M, Morris MH (2009) Advancing strategic entrepreneurship research: the role of complexity science in shifting the paradigm. Enterp Theory Pract 33(1):241–276

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumpeter JA (2008) The theory of economic development, 1934. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma P, Chrisman J (1999) Toward a reconciliation of the definitional issues in the field of corporate entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, Spring 1999:11–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Sørensen JB, Stuart TE (2000) Aging, obsolescence, and organizational innovation. Adm Sci Q 45(1):81–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor A, Helfat CE (2009) Organizational linkages for surviving technological change: complementary assets, middle management, and ambidexterity. Organ Sci 20(4):718–739

    Google Scholar 

  • Teece DJ (2007) Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance. Strateg Manag J 28(13):1319–1350

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter SG (2006) Toward a neo-Schumpeterian theory of the firm. Ind Corp Chang 15(1):125–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter SG (2013) Habit, deliberation, and action: strengthening the microfoundations of routines and capabilities. Acad Manag Perspect 27(2):120–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter SG, Szulanski G (2001) Replication as strategy. Organ Sci 12(6):730–743

    Google Scholar 

  • Witt U (2011) Emergence and functionality of organizational routines: an individualistic approach. J Inst Econ 7(02):157–174

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin RK (1984) Applied social research methods series. Case study research: design and methods. Sage Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahra AS, Randerson K, Fayolle A (2013) Corporate entrepreneurship: where are we? Where can we go from here? M@n@gement 16(4):357–361

    Google Scholar 

  • Zbaracki MJ, Bergen M (2010) When truces collapse: a longitudinal study of price adjustment routines. Organ Sci 21(5):955–972

    Google Scholar 

  • Zollo M, Winter SG (2002) Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Organ Sci 13:339–351

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study was funded with a grant from la Chaire transversale de recherche en entrepreneuriat et innovation de la Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Paris (granted 24 November 2014).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ESCP Europe, 79 Avenue de la République, 75011, Paris, France

    Robert Charles Sheldon & Fabien de Geuser

  2. TBS Business School, Place Alphonse Jourdain, CS 6681031068, Toulouse Cedex 7, France

    Eric Michael Laviolette

Authors
  1. Robert Charles Sheldon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eric Michael Laviolette
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fabien de Geuser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric Michael Laviolette.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendices

Annex 1

Table 3 Verbatim text related to the identification and classification of new routines
Full size table

Annex 2

Table 4 Verbatim text related to the identification and classification of antecedents
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sheldon, R.C., Laviolette, E.M. & de Geuser, F. Explaining the process and effects of new routine introduction with a notion of micro-level entrepreneurship. J Evol Econ 30, 609–642 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-019-00655-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-019-00655-6

Keywords

JEL codes

Search

Navigation