Problematic Persistence of Innovation: Breakdowns and Sociotechnical Maintenance of the World's Most Enduring Herbicide Technology

Innovation research tends to focus on emerging technologies, overlooking the processes that enable some mature technologies to remain in use longer than others. Existing explanations for why some technologies persist tend to emphasize either firm-level choices within a market-based selection environment, or institutionalized barriers to sociotechnical transitions. Neither perspective carefully considers how breakdowns in sociotechnical systems can initiate maintenance processes, repairing both material malfunctions and strained sociopolitical relationships. We draw on STS theories of maintenance to offer new insights into the longevity of technologies, particularly those that prove repeatedly problematic, illustrated in our focal case study of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide. By conceptualizing maintenance as a mode of value creation and capture, we extend existing theories of technological persistence. We identify three mechanisms underpinning strategic maintenance processes and theorize on the temporal aspects of how those mechanisms operate across sociotechnical levels. Furthermore, we highlight the unequal distribution of agency for repair work, raising ethical and political questions about the social value of maintaining problematic technologies.