Over the years, a number of scholars have questioned the merits of two core organization studies’ practices – null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST) and obsession with theory (OWT). I used neo-institutional organization theory to study the history of these two practices. I found that both may owe their core positions, at least as much or more, to their value for gaining legitimacy, as to substantive merit. Consequently, following the perspective of neo-institutional theory, it appears both may lack sufficient technical justification. Such a condition could account for some of our field’s leaders recently expressed concerns about our field’s slow progress.
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