The Intertwining Impact of Intraorganizational and Routine Networks on Routine Replication Dynamics: An Agent‐Based Model

Abstract

Organizational routines are means through which organizations can reutilize best practices and so their replication, i.e., duplicating beneficial routines across context, is a key value-creating strategy. However, it is difficult to map network effects on routine replication. Here, we investigated routine replicating dynamics considering two types of network contexts, namely, (1) connections between different (geographically distributed) units in a decentralized organization and (2) the coupling relation between routines, i.e., a bundle of different routines involved in each unit. By considering routine replication as one kind of template-based activities between different units, we examined interrelations between routines with a NK-based fitness landscape model. Our results show that when there is an appropriate level of absorptive capacities (i.e., when organizations are capable of identifying and acquiring externally generated knowledge), there is an optimal combination of these two types of networks, which is beneficial to routine replicating practices and organization adaptation. Furthermore, we also found that intraorganizational variations, including template-duplicating errors and innovative activities, are instrumental to enhance adaptive changes. Our findings suggest measures to control and manage best practice diffusion across organizations.

Systematization of absorptive capacity microprocesses for knowledge identification in project management

“…Indeed, our study shows that there are several other factors in the knowledge identification process. For example, in addition to the microprocesses identified through the SLR including research and development (R&D), problem formulation, use of networking, brainstorming sessions (Latukha, 2018;Felin et al, 2015;Li-Ying et al, 2016;Alford and Duan, 2018), events (Costello and McNaughton, 2016;Gao et al, 2018), benchmarking, interdisciplinary research, networking (Schneckenberg et al, 2015), activity replication and processes, meetings, workshops, seminars, learning by doing, monitoring and scanning processes (Lewin et al, 2011), we were also able to identify new microprocesses by analyzing the interviews of the project professionals.…”

The Mediating Role of Responsible Innovation in the Relationship between Stakeholder Pressure and Corporate Sustainability Performance in Times of Crisis: Evidence from Selected Regions in China

“…Organizational routine is repetitive, identifiable and interdependent patterns of behavior involving multiple actors [ 60 , 61 ], and are divided into two categories based on a capability perspective: conventional routine and flexible routine [ 62 ]. Conventional routine refers to the general competence patterns of organizations, which contain stable, explicit, continuous and solidified knowledge, while flexible routine emphasizes the dynamic capabilities of enterprises, which contain more complex, implicit and diverse knowledge [ 20 ].…”

The business model as a generative replicator

“…As the literature on ‘replication as strategy’ has long shown, the deliberate transfer of knowledge and routines from one business unit to another within the same firm is complex and subject to ‘copy errors’ (Gao et al ., 2018; Szulanski and Jensen, 2006; Winter and Szulanski, 2001). 6 These difficulties are likely to be more significant in cases involving diffusion between competing firms, where firm i may have much to lose in the replication of its BM by firm j , leading the former to prevent copying by the latter (Casadesus-Masanell and Zhu, 2013).…”