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Cited by 113Management and Organizational StudiesPublic Policy and Administration ResearchPolicy Transfer and Learning

Life Histories of Innovations: How New Practices Become Routinized

Yin, Robert K.·1981·Public Administration Review
DOI 10.2307/975720
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Abstract

A fire department in a southern city initiated a new paramedic service in 1973. Four years later, the service was so pervasive that the department avoided citywide budget cuts, and the was considered a routine part of the department's operations. Innovations like this one continually emerge in urban bureaucracies. Little is known, however, about how such practices become routinizedi.e., how they become part of standard practice. Instead, most previous research has focused on earlier steps in the innovation process, such as adoption (Rogers, 1962; and Warner, 1974) or implementation (Berman and McLaughlin, 1978). Yet, to develop a full theory of organizational innovation (Becker and Whisler, 1967; Clark and Guba, 1965; and Rowe and Boise, 1974) requires an understanding of the routinization process. In addition, policy initiatives must account for the long-term consequences of innovation and must deal with routinization. This is true whether a municipal service practice is based on new technology (e.g., Lambright and Flynn, 1977) or on organizational changes such as municipal decentralization (e.g., Yin and Yates, 1975). The routinization process was studied by examining the life histories of six types of innovations, to assure a variety of settings and bureaucratic practices:'

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  • The early literature on sustainability focused largely on institutionalization and routinization.

    “Whereas the early literature on sustainability focused largely on institutionalization and routinization (e.g., integrating a new set of practices into the routine operations of an organization) (129, 149), there has been recognition over the past 20 years that institutionalization may impede organizations or communities from adopting more effective practices when new evidence emerges (135).”

    From The Sustainability of Evidence-Based Interventions and Practices in Public Health and Health Care (2018) · cites this paper as [149]

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Authors
Yin, R. K.
Corresponding author
Yin, Robert K.
Venue
Public Administration Review
Publisher
JSTOR
Published
1981-01
Volume
41
Issue
1
Pages
21
ISSN
0033-3352 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2307/975720
OpenAlex
W1965576939
Cited by
113
References
18
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 4
FWCI
4.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Public Administration Review (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
  • Social Sciences › Public Administration › Public Policy and Administration Research
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policy Transfer and Learning
Keywords
organizational innovation, ambulance services, fire departments, municipal services, policy initiatives, organizational change

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