The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtv051There is increasing interest in the study of exaptation as a key evolutionary force that generates novelty
in economic systems. This article contributes to this growing literature by showing how entrepreneurial
behavior may effectually construct new market niches enabled by exapted innovations. Put
differently, new technologies-whatever their source-may not spontaneously create new market
niches. Instead, exaptation and niche construction-two unconventional forces in evolutionary
theorizing-challenge conventional conceptualizations of markets as independent selection
mechanisms
