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Violent geo-political conflicts are on the rise across the globe, particularly within fragile states. Using path-dependency theory, this paper aims to explore Fiji in the context of its public administrative history examining the legacies of history that have contributed to its ongoing conflicts.

An archival document analysis along with a theoretical thematic analysis was used to collect and assess data. Themes were identified that explain how and when the conflict became path-dependent.

Analysing conflict as path-dependent demonstrates how indirect rule while Fiji was under colonial rule, and the short time it has taken for the nation to transition from a colony to an independent State contributed to the eruption of conflicts in Fiji.

The research makes two key contributions, namely, it develops a theoretical understanding of conflict using path-dependency theory and it uncovers legacies of colonialism that have shaped conflict in Fiji.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and understand the contemporary management of electronic identification (e-ID) development to: identify and formulate challenges and reflect upon the use of a combination of perspectives. To generate knowledge on this issue, we investigate e-ID development in Sweden from: an e-government systems development lifecycle perspective and a project challenge and critical success factor (CSF) perspective.

This is a qualitative case study covering an analysis of the three years in a larger project focusing e-ID in a public e-service setting. Empirical sources have been face-to-face interviews; official documents and different kind of forums for presentations and discussions in, for example, hearings arranged by authorities; meetings with the coordinating agency, and practitioners’ networks events.

This study concludes that there are significant challenges involved in managing e-ID development because of its contextual and integrated character. Challenges involve the organization and management of the program and can be traced back to e-government, general project management literature and theory on path dependency. Based on this study, we can question, e.g. governance models, centralization and a narrow focus on the technical artefact. Our study is also an illustration of a possible way to analyse e-ID within an e-government initiative.

The present study shows that an e-ID can be considered as a back office-enabler for launching e-services, but also highlights the need for management of the artefact as an integral part of e-service development because it is intertwined with the use of e-services from a user perspective. This aspect together with the insights related to challenges and success factors including path dependency provides implications for future practice of e-ID management and development in particular and information systems artefact development in general.

This paper addresses challenges related to the development of e-ID in a public e-service setting. Few studies have theoretically combined a lifecycle perspective on challenges and success factors related to e-ID development while also focusing different dimensions of path dependency as an example of a challenging area within a program frame. Studying e-ID as a contemporary phenomenon from a contextual perspective in line with sociomaterial thinking – with a focus on the interplay between technology and people –can also help us to understand and discuss artefact development in general.

The study systematically analyses the path dependency and path-shaping of borrowed education policy, tracing it from the global through the national to individual schools. It also revisits the case schools after five years to map the school level policy paths.

Recently, path-dependency heuristics have drawn attention in predicting educational policy trajectories. However, these studies are primarily theoretical, and those empirical studies do not capture what happens at the school level. This paper fills the research gap by presenting a model that synthesises the research from diverse fields and is informed by findings from a longitudinal case study of educational outsourcing in public schools in Hong Kong and Korea.

The findings highlight path dependency interactions across educational levels diachronically and synchronically, while aptly incorporating the creative ways school leaders exercise their agency therein. The paper concludes with new insights into policy trajectory and education outsourcing.

The study substantiates and extends previously suggested theoretical models on the paths of travelling educational policies and identifies the factors that shape the paths. It also sheds light on how school leaders navigate the structures that constrain their actions or create a new path and pursue their educational goals.

Contends that path‐dependency provides an accurate, but under‐theorised description of organisational behaviour. By incorporating insights from actor‐network theory, we can better understand the processes by which organisations become “locked‐in” to behaviour patterns, but also how we might begin to break free from them. It seems that we must pay greater attention to the role of durable materials in networks, and to the strategies of simplification employed within organisations to deal with the complexity that surrounds them. In order to understand path‐dependency we must also look wider than traditional management theory towards a more semiotic understanding of organisational communication. All of these findings point to managers having to reconsider their role, especially with regard to the power that they may or may not hold, and to move towards an approach based more on the governance of their organisations than attempting to control every aspect under their jurisdiction. Concludes by providing some appropriate strategies through which this might be achieved.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how change processes are dependent on historical events, geographical conditions, strong stakeholders and social norms developed over long‐time periods. The paper poses the question: what is the role of path dependencies in mergers between hospitals when motives of the mergers are ambiguous and the context of the change initiatives is characterized by conflicting goals?

The primary objective of this study is to describe the experience of three hospitals that were merged into a hospital enterprise, with the focus on a change in activity from 2003 to 2006. This fieldwork allowed a longitudinal study. The empirical data were generated from observations, interviews, document studies and newspaper clippings.

The investigations showed that the merger forced the hospitals to change, but the new organization – the different components of the merged hospital – followed different pathways to handle the externally imposed changes. Parallel processes evolved, and these processes were rooted in the historical and geographical conditions. Further, the paper illuminates the unique strengths of qualitative research methods that allowed a deeper understanding of these change processes.

The paper's findings add to our knowledge on the complex relations between externally imposed organizational change and the nature of internal organizational behaviour when intertwined with strong stakeholders. The paper particularly highlights the possible consequences when there is little interaction between the changes of systems and the practices of the professionals in hospitals when the processes are heavily influenced by path dependencies rooted in historical and geographical traditions.

The aim of this paper is to enhance the understanding of architects’ perceptions of the propensity to adopt innovations in building construction.

Based on a theoretical underpinning of the multilevel perspective on socio-technical transitions, a web-based questionnaire (n = 412) was used to empirically investigate Swedish architects’ perceptions of innovativeness in the building construction industry. Specifically, the study looks at perceptions of the level of innovativeness (propensity to adopt innovations), relevant barriers to the adoption of innovations, the influence of different actors and ways of facilitating innovativeness.

Architects perceive a low level of innovativeness in the Swedish building construction industry because of a number of barriers of varying relevance. These barriers belong to interwoven regulative, normative and cognitive rules (i.e. institutions) that guide actor behaviour, which contribute to the path dependency of the industry. The site-specific nature of building construction, promotional activities from suppliers and the level of competition in the industry is perceived as being of little relevance. The findings suggest that a number of interventions are necessary to facilitate innovativeness of the Swedish construction industry. To change the lock-in mechanisms of the established cognitive and normative rules, regulative rules need to change as well. According to architects, contractors and construction clients are the most influential and therefore have the most power to change the rules associated with path dependency.

The focus on a single construction professional in Sweden necessitates a discussion on these perceptions from the standpoint of other actors.

Architects perceive a need for change in the construction industry and suggest that changed regulative rules can help overcome path dependency and facilitate innovativeness. Considering the strong interrelatedness of the lock-in mechanisms that guide the actors of the industry, policies may be needed to encourage and support the establishment for more sustainable development.

A multilevel perspective is used to analyse the type of barriers to innovativeness that the architects perceive as relevant and how they contribute to the resistance to change and path dependency in the building construction sector.

In this study, the authors revisit Alberta's public-private partnership (P3) program after 20 years of field level experience by retracing its historical emergence and institutional evolution given its political context. Specifically, the authors adopt a path dependence perspective to reconstruct and reexamine Alberta's P3 program emergence, reflect on the successes achieved, and articulate challenges that must be overcome to institutionalize P3s as part of Alberta's infrastructure delivery environment in the future.

Adopting a constructivist approach and a case-based methodology, the authors (re)analyze the activities of governmental agents, private industry, and other actors as part of a new infrastructure policy introduced in 2002 to transform the provincial institutional landscape to accommodate P3.

The authors find Alberta's P3 emergence was driven by the necessity of its infrastructure deficits, political expediency, and resource scarcity. Furthermore, with well-entrenched conservative political actors as gatekeepers, Alberta's P3 implementation demonstrated stability and incremental change simultaneously, consistent with core elements of path dependency. Following the introduction of P3 in Alberta, the province lacked formal institutional structures that would transition its P3 program from good to great and enable it to become firmly embedded in the public infrastructure delivery landscape. With the subsequent absence of P3-convinced (political) leadership and uncertainty about its P3 policy direction, Alberta was unable or unwilling to consolidate the progress made at the start of the program.

Most recently, the emergence of new political leadership in Alberta has (re)catalyzed policy progress, pointing toward a more methodical program approach, and suggesting a rediscovered confidence in P3s in the province with the establishment of a P3 Office (P3O), including nascent formal rules for unsolicited bids. These recent changes in our view make for a much more anchored policy and could lead to program sustainability and eventual institutionalization. Given the unpredictability of the recent political change, a more robust analysis of the relationship between political party control, leadership, and P3 stability is required to anticipate future policy and organizational obstacles.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contributions of path-dependency and some contextual social capital drivers to housing tenure transitions in Britain. Different situations have continued to shape young adults’ housing tenure decisions. However, very little research has been done to investigate the impact of some social capital drivers, such as neighbourhood integration and strength of parental intimacy, on housing tenure decisions in Britain.

This paper is carried out by tracking a sample of young adults in the British Household Panel Survey from 1991 to 2015 until they make tenure transition. Multinomial fixed-effects logistic regression of time to tenure transition was useful for the models, incorporating established economic and demographic drivers and with the inclusion of contextual social capital variables.

The inclusion of the number of years of parental home ownership experience tends to improve on previous path-dependency indicators of tenure transition. With additional years of parental home ownership experience, British young adults are more likely to remain or return to parental housing. Also, individuals that exchange better with their neighbours are less likely to switch tenure. On the other hand, regularity of contact with parents showed a positive relationship with home ownership or parental housing transitions.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, no study has explored the impact of the duration of socialisation in parental housing and also the impact of some other social capital drivers, such as neighbourhood integration and strength of parental intimacy, on housing tenure decisions among young adults. Hence, it is believed that the findings will further assist policymakers in understanding the dimensions and drivers of tenure shifts.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the compatibility of actor network theory (ANT) and new institutional sociology (NIS) in analysing a case study of accounting change.

This is an interpretive case study.

The Finnish case city experienced several path‐dependent changes concerning performance measurement (PM), financial reporting and the adoption of enterprise resource planning system (ERP). New tools such as the ERP have a potential to transform the actors and to change the agency of the actors. Furthermore, the concepts drawing on both ANT and NIS can together enrich analyses of accounting changes.

The case analysis suggests guidelines for using ANT and/or NIS in accounting studies.

Understanding accounting developments as an intentional and path‐dependent process affected and constrained by complex networks, pressures and actors should contribute to better management of accounting changes.

Being informed by both ANT and NIS improves our understanding of accounting change and stability, serendipity, practice variations, changes beyond the minimum required to satisfy external requirements, and of the continued use of some accounting tools despite their limited functionality. Furthermore, we introduce the concepts dynamic agency and constrained transformation for studies of accounting change.

To explore and explain differences in reform of activation policies, comparing the shifts in governance in France and The Netherlands from the 1990s onwards.

The paper is based on in‐depth case studies of the reform process in activation policies, using documentary sources and interviews with several stake‐holders. The theoretical scope is the debate on institutional change, path‐dependency and convergence.

Although both countries demonstrate converging tendencies in the transformation of their activation policies, there are remarkable differences in the new modes of governance. Moving away from a traditionally hierarchical organisation, France is gradually developing a network model with more emphasis on decentralisation. Alternatively, The Netherlands privatised their public employment services and explore principal – agent realtions in activation. The institutional context of both nation, in particular the concept of path‐dependency, seems crucial in the explanation of these differences. However, some new elements are path‐breaking in a national context but do not illustrate converging trends.

This comparative study is aimed at the fields of employment services, social benefits and social assistance in two countries. For a more complete approach of the changes is activation policies, further research is needed to include other fields of social policy and other nations whithin Europe.

The paper develops both empirical and theoretical conclusions on the path‐dependent and convergin elements in transforming labour market coordination throughout Europe.