Thriving in a self‐made niche: how to create a successful academic career in organizational behavior

Abstract Granting that organizational behavior may be a field with a weak paradigm, this can be viewed as an advantage rather than as a nemesis that makes success in an academic career nearly impossible for neophytes to the field. The weak paradigm allows many niches to emerge. A niche is an identifiable, circumscribed area of scholarly inquiry that can provide a good match with the individual's qualifications, interests, and career aspirations. Within these niches individual scholars can thrive. There a newcomer can find colleagues with similar interests, form partnerships, exchange information, and, in general, derive support for a career. Characteristics of niches are described and examples are provided. How niches evolve and the notion of creating one's own niche are discussed. The implications of the niche composition of organizational behavior for developing a successful academic career, and advice how to go about doing it, are provided. Tyros will fare much better if they adopt a niche strategy rather than seeing themselves as sitting ducks in a shooting gallery due to the role of chance factors in career advancement. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.