Research Methodology in Organizational Studies

Despite the mounting number of criticisms of the use of a relatively restricted set of methodologies in the organizational sciences, few studies have attempted to empirically determine the extent of this restriction or the potential reasons why some methods are used so exclusively. For this review, the authors content-analyzed all of the articles from the 1985 volumes of the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes to determine the range of strategies used in organizational research. Our analysis of the literature does, indeed, suggest that there is a relatively limited set of research strategies and analytical procedures that represent the "methods of choice" in the organizational sciences. Potential reasonsfor thesefindings, as well as some of their implications are provided.