Dynamic capabilities and routinization

Whereas some scholars argue that firms with dynamic capabilities rely on routinized processes, others maintain that these firms continuously occupy a fluid and non-routinized state. The purpose of this survey-based regression analysis study is to shed light on this theoretical divide by testing the effect of routinization on dynamic capabilities. The results suggest that firms with dynamic capabilities routinize at the strategic level. However, the findings also indicate that firms with dynamic capabilities do not routinize at the operational level. This study illuminates routinization as an important aspect concerning the nature of dynamic capabilities and identifies the organizational level as a decisive factor that lends partial support to the competing conceptualizations of the effect of routinization on dynamic capabilities. Therefore, these findings promote a better understanding of dynamic capabilities as knowledge-reconfiguring capabilities and offer a potential path toward reconciling the diverging academic discussion on dynamic capabilities.