infonet-economy

Organizational change research has frequently examined organizations’ short-term responses to external change. However, such a short-term, linear time perspective fails to explain how firms adapt to changes that manifest themselves repeatedly and over time, such as climate change. We therefore develop a dynamic model of organizational entrainment to environmental changes that emphasizes the importance of a cyclical time perspective for firms’ long-term adaptation. This paper responds to prior calls to adopt a time lens perspective to better understand organizational adaptation patterns. We provide an integrative framework on organi- zational entrainment and absorptive capacity that allows researchers to delineate ‘‘when’’ and ‘‘how fast’’ organizations adapt to external changes depending on their time perspective.