Self-Reinforcing Mechanisms in Organizational Fields: The Development of an Innovation Path in the Car Industry

Uli Meyer

Chapter 2 in Self-Reinforcing Processes in and among Organizations, 2013, pp 17-34 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Is it possible to identify mechanisms in the social sphere? While it is true that the social sciences cannot proffer deterministic processes like those described in physics or engineering, the concept of mechanisms can, nevertheless, also be applied usefully to identify and analyze patterns in the social world. This chapter examines the concept of mechanisms in general and self-reinforcing mechanisms in particular as pivotal to an understanding of inter-organizational dynamics. In addition to demonstrating how the study of organizations can profit from the concept of mechanisms, I also show how such mechanisms unfold at the level of organizational fields.

Keywords: Innovation Process; Market Orientation; Path Dependence; American Sociological Review; Road Safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-39283-0_2

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230392830_2

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