Phenomenological assumptions and knowledge dissemination within organizational studies
By: Corinne Bendersky and Kathleen L. McGinn
Contributors: McGinn, Kathleen L.; Harvard Business School
Series: Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 09-043; Working paper (Harvard Business School) -- 09-043
Publisher: Harvard Business School
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 38
Description: Phenomenological assumptions—assumptions about the fundamental qualities of the phenomenon being studied—affect the dissemination of knowledge from sub-fields to the broader field of study. Microprocess research in organizational studies reveals implicit phenomenological assumptions that vary in the extent to which micro-processes are treated as parts of larger systems. We suggest that phenomenological assumptions of recursive interactions between the phenomenon and the environment will make the relevance of micro-process research findings to broader organizational questions easier to discern, and therefore more likely to disseminate to the larger field of organizational research. We empirically assess this assertion by analyzing studies of negotiation published in top peer-reviewed management, psychology, sociology, and industrial relations journals from 1990 to 2005. Our findings illuminate a continuum of open systems to closed systems phenomenological assumptions revealed in this microprocess research. Analysis of the citation rates of the articles in our data set by non-negotiation organizational research reveals that more open systems assumptions increase the likelihood that a negotiation article will be cited in organizational studies, after controlling for other, previously identified effects on citation rates. Our findings suggest that sub-fields can increase the impact they have on the broader intellectual discourse of their field by situating their phenomena in rich contexts that illuminate the connections between their findings and questions of interest to the broader field.
Notes: "September 2008 "--Publisher's web site.

Includes bibliographical references.