ABSTRACT This article investigates the characterization of cascading phenomena within sociotechnical systems through a systematic review and the development of a conceptual modelling framework. Cascading phenomena, often described using terms such as ripple effect, domino effect, cascading failure, risk propagation and cascading effect, capture the far‐reaching impacts of disruptions in interconnected digital and physical systems. Although these terms have been widely examined individually, little effort has been made to integrate them into a unified framework across sociotechnical contexts. This study addresses this gap by synthesizing diverse terminologies and mapping key research streams, while also proposing a novel modelling framework that formalizes cascading dynamics. An example of supply chain disruptions is presented to illustrate how the framework can be applied to trace the causal and propagation chains of cascading events. The present research contributes to the literature on cascading phenomena and provides greater transparency for understanding and modelling such propagation dynamics. From both theoretical and practical perspectives, it supports future research in systematically identifying system vulnerabilities and simulating disruption propagation in complex systems.
Li et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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