Routine contraction in good times: An example of a typical prototype development routine

The general wisdom in the routine literature is that routine contraction happens as a response to adverse situation. This study examines routine contraction even during non-adverse situations. Here, routine contraction is operationalized as the shrinkage of resources. The data is hand collected from the public website of the National SCRABBLE® Championship, 2010. Here, each SCRABBLE® routine is an analogy of a prototype development routine. The higher order relationships between SCRABBLE® routines and prototype development routines in a second generation Stage Gate® product development process are mapped following structure mapping theory. The results of panel regressions indicate that the performance of a routine at a particular time (t0) positively affects contraction of the same routine at an immediately later time (t1). Efficiency moderates this relationship. Routine contraction may happen even in good times. The paper closes with theoretical contribution and managerial implications of these results.