.png?width=200&height=82&name=Effectuation%20Extended%20Logo%20(200%20%C3%97%2082%20px).png "Effectuation Extended Logo (200 × 82 px)")
.png?width=100&height=41&name=Effectuation%20Extended%20Logo%20(200%20%C3%97%2082%20px).png "Effectuation Extended Logo (200 × 82 px)"){kind=small}
Effectuation Publications Library
Access Journal Articles and Chapters Referencing Effectuation
Welcome to the Publications Library
You can search, filter and access papers and abstracts below.
Have a paper to submit? Go Here
Complexity Science at a Crossroads: Exploring a Science of Emergence
2016
Benyamin Lichtenstein
Complexity scholarship has flourished in organization science for many years, with important implications for managers, organizations, and networks. But the academic expressions of complexity-current publications using complexity science-is dwindling: only 0.2% of papers at last year’s Academy of Management meeting were complexity- based. Has complexity ‘petered out’ in some way? Rather than redouble energy in that direction, this paper argues for a focus on the core phenomenon that is studied by complexity, namely emergence. Two steps are suggested toward a ‘science of emergence.’ First, emergence can be seen as a process and as an outcome; both explanations are equally valid and important. Second, the causes of emergence are not unitary: research suggests that we should see at least four distinct causal mechanisms for emergence. This paper presents those four ‘prototypes’, and reflects on the duality of process/outcomes in emergence, with the goal of incorporating them within a single discipline. Overall, my emphasis is on the flourishing literature on emergence in organization science.