Punctuation and Path Dependence: Examining a Vertical IT Standard-Setting Process

This paper reports on a longitudinal interpretive case study of the Financial Services Technology Consortium eCheck project, and the failed attempts to promote eCheck and an enabling technology, FSML, as vertical IT standards. Based on interviews and archival data, a series of linked technical decisions are examined, covering a seven-year period. Early technical decisions put the design team’s work on a technical trajectory, which they chose not to abandon, contributing to the failure of these proposed standards. We discuss the evidence in light of technology evolution theory and offer suggestions for future research on vertical standards