Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T19:21:20.129Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Organizational Research

from Part I - Quantitative Data Collection Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2024

By
Victor E. Sojo  and
Melissa A. Wheeler
Edited by
John E. Edlund  and
Austin Lee Nichols
John E. Edlund
Affiliation:
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York
Austin Lee Nichols
Affiliation:
Central European University, Vienna
Get access

Summary

This chapter focuses on the study of organizations as complex and dynamic social systems. We start our discussion of quantitative organizational research by outlining what organizations are and why we need to study them. We dive into doing research in organizations with specific focus on using theory to guide research methods and three critical organizational dimensions that should inform research design choices: units and levels of analysis, structures and hierarchies, and time and change. We then present and analyze the potential and limitations of descriptive, correlational, and experimental designs in organizational research, using contemporary examples of research to ground our analysis. We also cover data collection considerations, sampling strategies, and sources of organizational data. We close this chapter with discussions of equity issues, in particular ethics, diversity, and inclusion in organizational research.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Research Methods and Statistics for the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Volume 2: Performing Research
 , pp. 116 - 139
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adamovic, M., Sojo, V., Schachtman, R., & Vargas, A. (2022). Explaining the relationship between ethnicity and depressive symptoms: The roles of climate for inclusion, job self-efficacy, and job demands. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 40, 903–928. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-022-09834-9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aguinis, H., Ramani, R. S., & Villamor, I. (2019). The first 20 years of organizational research methods: Trajectory, impact, and predictions for the future. Organizational Research Methods, 22(2), 463–489. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428118786564CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aguinis, H., & Vandenberg, R. J. (2014). An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure: Improving research quality before data collection. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1, 569–595. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091231CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antonakis, J., Banks, G. C., Bastardoz, N., Cole, M. S., Day, D. V., Eagly, A. H., et al. (2019). The Leadership Quarterly: State of the journal. Leadership Quarterly, 30(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2019.01.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aquino, K., & Lamertz, K. (2004). A relational model of workplace victimization: Social roles and patterns of victimization in dyadic relationships. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 1023–1034. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.6.1023.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). Business longitudinal analysis data environment (BLADE). www.abs.gov.au/about/data-services/data-integration/integrated-data/business-longitudinal-analysis-data-environment-blade (retrieved October 17, 2022).Google Scholar
Beal, D. J. (2015). ESM 2.0: State of the art and future potential of experience sampling methods in organizational research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2(1), 383–407. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032414-111335CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, T. E. (2005). Potential problems in the statistical control of variables in organizational research: A qualitative analysis with recommendations. Organizational Research Methods, 8(3), 274–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428105278021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckman, N., Birney, D., Beckman, J., Wood, R., Sojo, V., & Bowman, D. (2020). Inter-individual differences in intra-individual variability in personality within and across contexts. Journal of Research in Personality, 85, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2019.103909CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellé, N. (2015). Performance-related pay and the crowding out of motivation in the public sector: A randomized field experiment. Public Administration Review, 75(2), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12313CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, T. R. (2002). Understanding Social Science Research. SAGE Publications. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9780857020208.n3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bono, J. E., & McNamara, G. (2011). Publishing in AMJ – Part 2: Research design. Academy of Management Journal, 54(4), 657–660. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.64869103CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brewerton, P., & Millward, L. (2001). Organizational Research Methods. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849209533CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calderwood, L., & Lessof, C. (2009). Enhancing longitudinal surveys by linking to administrative data. In Groves, R. M., Kalton, G., Rao, J. N. K., Schwarz, N., Skinner, C., & Lynn, P. (eds.), Methodology of Longitudinal Surveys (pp. 55–72). https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470743874.ch4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callegaro, M., Baker, R., Bethlehem, J., Göritz, A. S., Krosnick, J. A., and Lavrakas, P. J. (2014). Online panel research. In Callegaro, M., Baker, R., Bethlehem, J., Göritz, A. S., Krosnick, J. A., and Lavrakas, P. J. (eds.), Online Panel Research (pp. 1–22). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118763520.ch1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1963). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Caplow, T. (1964). Principles of Organization. Harcourt Brace & World.Google Scholar
Chandler, J., Mueller, P., & Paolacci, G. (2014). Nonnaïveté among Amazon Mechanical Turk workers: Consequences and solutions for behavioral researchers. Behavior Research Methods, 46(1), 112–130. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-013-0365-7CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charlesworth, S., McDonald, P., & Cerise, S. (2011). Naming and claiming workplace sexual harassment in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 46(2), 141–161. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1839-4655.2011.tb00211.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, E., & McCann, T. V. (2005). Researching students: An ethical dilemma. Nurse Researcher, 12(3), 42–51. https://doi.org/10.7748/nr2005.01.12.3.42.c5947CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cortina, L. M., Fitzgerald, L. F., & Drasgow, F. (2002). Contextualizing Latina experiences of sexual harassment: Preliminary tests of a structural model. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 24(4), 295–311. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324834BASP2404_5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cortina, J. M., & Landis, R. S. (2013). Introduction: Transforming our field by transforming its methods. In Cortina, J. M. & Landis, R. S. (eds.), Modern Research Methods for the Study of Behavior in Organizations (pp. 1–25). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203585146CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunliffe, A. L. (2022). Must I grow a pair of balls to theorize about theory in organization and management studies? Organization Theory, 3(3), 26317877221109277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eden, D. (2017). Field experiments in organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4(1), 91–122. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062400CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, J. R. (2010). Reconsidering theoretical progress in organizational and management research. Organizational Research Methods, 13(4), 615–619. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428110380468CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eldridge, J. E. T., & Crombie, A. D. (2013). A Sociology of Organisations. Routledge.Google Scholar
Fisher, G. G., & Sandell, K. (2015). Sampling in industrial–organizational psychology research: Now what? Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8, 232–237. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2015.31CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garud, N., Pati, R., Sojo, V., Bell, S. J., Hudson, R., & Shaw, H. (2022). 3 ways hospitals can boost worker engagement. Harvard Business Review, February 16. https://hbr.org/2022/02/3-ways-hospitals-can-boost-worker-engagement.Google Scholar
Goodman, J. K., & Paolacci, G. (2017). Crowdsourcing consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(1), 196–210. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucx047CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grosser, T. J., Lopez-Kidwell, V., & Labianca, G. (2010). A social network analysis of positive and negative gossip in organizational life. Group & Organization Management, 35(2), 177–212. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059601109360391CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gulati, R., Lawrence, P. R., & Puranam, P. (2005). Adaptation in vertical relationships: Beyond incentive conflict. Strategic Management Journal, 26(5), 415–440. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.458CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harley, B. (2018). Sociology, the labour process and employment relations. In Wilkinson, A., Dundon, T., Donaghey, J., & Colvin, A. (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Employment Relations (pp. 81–92). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315692968CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hauser, D. J., & Schwarz, N. (2016). Attentive Turkers: MTurk participants perform better on online attention checks than do subject pool participants. Behavior Research Methods, 48(1), 400–407. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-015-0578-zCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heath, C., & Sitkin, S. (2001). Big-B versus Big-O: What is organizational about organizational behavior? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 43–58. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.77CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heath, C., & Staudenmayer, N. (2000). Coordination neglect: How lay theories of organizing complicate coordination in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 22, 153–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-3085(00)22005-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hedrick, T. E., Bickman, L., & Rog, D. J. (1993). Applied Research Design. SAGE Publications. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412983457CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holman, M. (2022). Citations as power. #MHAWS: Mirya Holman’s Aggressive Winning Scholars Newsletter. https://miryaholman.substack.com/p/citations-as-power (retrieved April 28, 2022).Google Scholar
Hunter, S. B., Miles, J. N. V., Paddock, S. M., & D’Amico, E. J. (2013). Evaluating treatment efficacy. In Miller, P. M. (ed.), Interventions for Addiction: Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders (pp. 589–597). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-398338-1.00061-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeong, S.-H., Mooney, A., Zhang, Y., & Quigley, T. J. (2022). How do investors really react to the appointment of Black CEOs? Strategic Management Journal, 44(7), 1733–1752. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3454CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johns, G. (2018). Advances in the treatment of context in organizational research. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 5(1), 21–46. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032117-104406CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerlinger, F. N., & Lee, H. B. (1999). Foundations of Behavioral Research. Harcourt College.Google Scholar
Kozlowski, S. W. J., & Ilgen, D. R. (2006). Enhancing the effectiveness of work groups and teams. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 7(3), 77–124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2006.00030.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landers, R. N., & Behrend, T. S. (2015). An inconvenient truth: Arbitrary distinctions between organizational, Mechanical Turk, and other convenience samples. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8(2), 142–164. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2015.13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKenzie, S. B. (2003). The dangers of poor construct conceptualization. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(3), 323–326. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070303031003011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maurer, C. C., & Qureshi, I. (2021). Not just good for her: A temporal analysis of the dynamic relationship between representation of women and collective employee turnover. Organization Studies, 42(1), 85–107. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840619875480CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdams, D. P., & Olson, B. D. (2010). Personality development: Continuity and change over the life course. Annual Review of Psychology, 61(1), 517–542. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100507CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Minbashian, A., Wood, R. E., & Beckmann, N. (2010). Task-contingent conscientiousness as a unit of personality at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(5), 793–806. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020016.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitchell, T. R. (1985). An evaluation of the validity of correlational research conducted in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 10(2), 192–205. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1985.4277939CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mulfinger, N., Sander, A., Stuber, F., Brinster, R., Junne, F., Limprecht, R., et al. (2019). Cluster-randomised trial evaluating a complex intervention to improve mental health and well-being of employees working in hospital – a protocol for the SEEGEN trial. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 1694. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7909-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Osis, J., & Donins, U. (2017). Structure analysis and design. In Osis, & Donins, (eds.), Topological UML Modeling (pp. 205–224). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-805476-5.00008-3Google Scholar
Overbeck, J. R., Neale, M. A., & Govan, C. L. (2010). I feel, therefore you act: Intrapersonal and interpersonal effects of emotion on negotiation as a function of social power. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 112(2), 126–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.02.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, M., Leahey, E., & Funk, R. J. (2023). Papers and patents are becoming less disruptive over time. Nature, 613(7942), 138–144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05543-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porter, C. O. L. H., Outlaw, R., Gale, J. P., & Cho, T. S. (2019). The use of online panel data in management research: A review and recommendations. Journal of Management, 45(1), 319–344. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318811569CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, M. E. (1991). Towards a dynamic theory of strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 12(S2), 95–117. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250121008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, M. (2006). Organizational theorizing: A historically contested terrain. In Clegg, S., Cynthia, H., Lawrence, T., & Nord, W. (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Organization Studies (pp. 19–54). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848608030.n2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roe, R. (2008). Time in applied psychology. European Psychologist, 13(1), 37–52. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016‐9040.13.1.37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwab, D. P. (2004). Research Methods for Organizational Studies. Routledge.Google Scholar
Schwerdt, G., & Woessmann, L. (2020). Empirical methods in the economics of education. In Bradley, S. & Green, C. (eds.), The Economics of Education, 2nd ed. (pp. 3–20). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815391-8.00001-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, N., Sabat, I., Martinez, L., Weaver, K., & Xu, S. (2015). A convenient solution: Using MTurk to sample from hard-to-reach populations. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8(2), 220–228. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2015.29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sojo, V., & Roberts, V. L. (2019). From apples and cases to barrels and orchards: Macro-level drivers of workplace abuse. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2019(1), 12323. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2019.12323symposiumGoogle Scholar
Sojo, V., Wood, R., & Genat, A. (2016). Harmful workplace experiences and women’s occupational well-being: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(1), 10–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684315599346CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spector, P. E. (2006). Method variance in organizational research: Truth or urban legend? Organizational Research Methods, 9(2), 221–232. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428105284955CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spector, P. E., Zapf, D., Chen, P. Y., & Frese, M. (2000). Why negative affectivity should not be controlled in job stress research: Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(1), 79–95. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1379(200002)21:1<79::aid-job964>3.0.CO;2-G3.0.CO;2-G>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stratemeyer, M., Sojo, V., Wheeler, M., Rozenblat, V., Lee, I., Peter, D., et al. (2018). Recruit Smarter [technical report]. Victorian Government (Australia). www.vic.gov.au/recruit-smarterGoogle Scholar
Trzebiatowski, T. M., Wanberg, C. R., & Dossinger, K. (2020). Unemployed needn’t apply: Unemployment status, legislation, and interview requests. Journal of Management, 46(8), 1380–1407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318823952CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Quaquebeke, N., Salem, M., van Dijke, M., & Wenzel, R. (2022). Conducting organizational survey and experimental research online: From convenient to ambitious in study designs, recruiting, and data quality. Organizational Psychology Review, 12(3), 268–305. https://doi.org/10.1177/20413866221097571CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vantilborgh, T., Hofmans, J., & Judge, T. A. (2018). The time has come to study dynamics at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(9), 1045–1049. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2327CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vetter, T. R., & Chou, R. (2014). Clinical trial design methodology for pain outcome studies. In Benzon, H. T., Rathmell, J. P., Wu, C. L., Turk, D. C., Argoff, C. E., & Hurley, R. W. (eds.), Practical Management of Pain (pp. 1057–1065). Mosby. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-08340-9.00080-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walter, S. L., Seibert, S. E., Goering, D., & O’Boyle, E. H. (2019). A tale of two sample sources: Do results from online panel data and conventional data converge? Journal of Business and Psychology, 34(4), 425–452. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-018-9552-yCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, M., Zhou, L., & Zhang, Z. (2016). Dynamic modeling. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3(1), 241–266. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev‐orgpsych‐041015‐062553CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, M., Wood, R., Sojo, V., & McGrath, M. (2016). A Question of Ethics: Navigating Ethical Failure in the Banking and Financial Services Industry. Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and Centre for Ethical Leadership.Google Scholar
Wickert, C., Post, C., Doh, J. P., Prescott, J. E., & Prencipe, A. (2021). Management research that makes a difference: Broadening the meaning of impact. Journal of Management Studies, 58(2), 297–320. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12666CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×