When Technology Never Quite Arrives: The Perpetual Emergence of Condition-Based Maintenance

Paper in proceeding, 2026

Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) has for decades been portrayed as a breakthrough in maintenance management, lined with promises of predictive capability, optimal service timing, and improved asset performance. Yet, despite continuous technological progress, its implementation in industrial practice remains fragmented and slow. This observation underpins a broader theoretical question: how do new technologies enter, adapt to, and transform operations? Drawing on an in-depth multiple-case study of five industrial organizations, two of which were followed longitudinally, we investigate how contextual contingencies influence the implementation and use of CBM. Our analysis shows that CBM is not a universal or substitutive technology, but a context-dependent operational practice, the form and purpose of which evolves as organizations interpret and adapt it to their own conditions. We develop the notion of dynamic contingency, extending the traditional contingency perspective in operations management from a static fit between practice and context to a temporal fit that accounts for evolving technological maturity, data availability, and organizational learning. In light of this we discuss how the creative destruction brought about by CBM is rather complementing than replacing existing maintenance routines. By conceptualizing CBM as a dynamic and contextually adaptive socio-technical practice, we begin to shape a new conceptual foundation for understanding the introduction of emerging technologies in operations.