A framework for applying organizational routines in empirical research: linking antecedents, characteristics and performance outcomes of recurrent interaction patterns

This article proposes a framework for applying the concept of organizational routines in empirical research. The framework is built up in three steps: (i) reviewing the methods for operationalizing organizational routines that have been employed in empirical research; (ii) identifying the most important characteristics of organizational routines, to serve for describing them; and (iii) developing propositions that systematically link organizational routines to their antecedents and outcomes.