Chance, imitative, and strategic antecedents to multimarket contact

We redirect research attention on multimarket contact from its consequences to its antecedents. Our empirical examination of the evolution of dyadic m ultimarket contacts among California commuter airlines from 1979 through 19 84 reveals that multimarket contact arises from chance market contacts amon g competitors pursuing uncoordinated strategies, trait-based imitation unre lated to multimarket contact, vicarious learning related to multimarket con tact, and strategic attempts to develop multimarket contact based on insigh t gained through experiential learning.