This article shows how content analysis of textual archival data facilitates elaboration of adolescent theories. Drawing on the framework of a well-developed theory offered by Bacharach, the authors explain how specific protocols in content analysis can facilitate elaboration of three theoretical elements underdeveloped in adolescent theories: scientific robustness, relationship identification, and boundary establishment. Using an empirical example from a health care study, they illustrate the use of content analysis protocols to elaborate some theoretical elements of the attention-based view of the firm. The article contributes to content analysis and more generally to research methodology by specifying closer linkages between theory elaboration and content analysis.
Arndt, M., & Bigelow, B. (2000). Presenting structural innovation in an institutional environment: Hospitals' use of impression management. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 494-522.
2.
Bacharach, S.B. (1989). Organizational theories: Some criteria for evaluation . Academy of Management Review, 14, 496-515.
3.
Barker, J. (1993). Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self-managing teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 408-437.
4.
Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communications research. New York: Free Press.
5.
Daft, R.L., Sormunen, J., & Parks, D. (1988). Chief executive scanning, environmental characteristics, and company performance: An empirical study. Strategic Management Journal, 9, 123-139.
6.
D'Aveni, R.A., & Macmillan, I.C. (1990). Crisis and the content of managerial communications: A study of the focus of attention of top managers in surviving and failing firms. Administrative Science Quarterly , 35, 634-647.
7.
Dutton, J.E., & Jackson, S.E. (1987). Categorizing strategic issues: Links to organizational action. Academy of Management Review, 12, 76-90.
8.
Fiol, C.M., & O'Connor, E.J. (2003). Waking up! Mindfulness in the face of bandwagons. Academy of Management Review, 28, 54-70.
9.
Gephart, R.P. (1993). The textual approach: Risk and blame in disaster sensemaking. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 1465-1514.
10.
Gephart, R.P. (2004). From the editors: Qualitative research and the Academy of Management Journal. Academy of Management Journal , 47, 454-462.
11.
Golden-Biddle, K., Hinings, C.R., Casebeer, A., Pablo, A. & Reay, T.Organizational change in healthcare, with special reference to Alberta . 2006Canadian Health Services Research Foundation: http://www.chsrf.ca/final_research/ogc
12.
Green, S.E., Jr. (2004). A rhetorical theory of diffusion. Academy of Management Review, 29, 653-670.
13.
Hambrick, D.C., & Mason, P.A. (1984). Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review, 9, 193-207.
14.
Hinings, C.R., Sonpar, K., Golden-Biddle, K., & Reay, T. (2004). Task environment and institutional effects on organizational design in healthcare planning (Working paper). Alberta, Canada: University of Alberta.
15.
Hitt, M.A., Gimeno, J., & Hoskisson, R.E. (1998). Current and future research methods in strategic management. Organizational Research Methods , 1, 6-44.
16.
Jehn, K.A. (1997). A qualitative analysis of conflict types and dimensions in organizational groups. Administrative Science Quarterly , 42, 530-557.
17.
Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology . London: Sage.
18.
Lee T. W., Mitchell T.R., & Sablynski C.J. (1999). Qualitative research in organizational and vocational psychology, 1979-1999. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 55(2), 161-187.
19.
Locke, K., & Golden-Biddle, K. (1997). Constructing opportunities for contribution: Structuring intertexual coherence and ``problematizing'' in organization studies. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 1023-1062.
20.
Locke, K., Golden-Biddle, K., & Feldman, M. (2004). Imaginative theorizing in interpretive organizational research. In K.D. Nagao (Ed.) Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings (pp. B1-B6). Glassboro, NJ:
21.
McKinley, W., Mone, M.A., & Moon, G. (1999). Determinants and development of schools in organization theory. Academy of Management Review, 24, 634-648.
22.
Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Early steps in analysis. An expanded sourcebook: Qualitative data analysis (pp. 50-89). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23.
Miller, D., & Shamsie, J. (1996). The resource-based view of the firm in two environments: The Hollywood film studios from 1936-1965. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 519-543.
24.
Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R., & Wood, D.J. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review, 22, 853-886.
25.
Morris, R. (1994). Computerized content analysis in management research: A demonstration of advantages and limitations. Journal of Management, 20, 903-931.
26.
Neundorf, K.A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. London: Sage.
27.
Nigam, A., & Ocasio, W. (2005). Event attention, environmental sensemaking, and institutional change: An inductive analysis of the effects of public attention to Clinton's health care reform initiative (Working paper). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University.
28.
Ocasio, W. (1997). Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 18, 187-206.
29.
Ocasio, W., & Joseph, J. (in press). An attention based theory of strategy formulation: Linking decision making and guided evolution in strategy processes. Advances in strategic management (Vol. 22).
30.
Ofori-Dankwa, J., & Julian, S.D. (2005). From thought to theory to school. Organization Studies, 26, 1307-1329.
31.
Payne, S.C., Finch, J.F., & Tremble, T.R., Jr. (2003). Validating surrogate measures of psychological constructs: The application of construct equivalence to archival data. Organizational Research Methods, 6, 363-382.
32.
Pinder, C.C. (1977). Concerning the application of human motivation theories in organizational settings. Academy of Management Review, 2, 384-397.
33.
Porter, M.E. (1991). Towards a dynamic theory of strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 12, 95-117.
34.
Reay, T., & Hinings, C.R. (2005). The recomposition of an organizational field: Healthcare in Alberta. Organization Studies, 26, 351-384.
35.
Rumelt, R.P., Schendel, D.E., & Teece, D.J. (1994). Fundamental issues in strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
36.
Salancik, G.R., & Meindl, J.R. (1984). Corporate attributions as strategic illusions of management control. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29, 238-254.
37.
Scott, W.R. (1987). The adolescence of institutional theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 32, 493-511.
38.
Staw, B.M., McKechnie, P.I., & Puffer, S.M. (1983). The justification of organizational performance . Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 582-600.
39.
Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. New York: Cambridge University Press.
40.
Sutton, R.I., & Staw, B.M. (1995). What theory is not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 371-384.
41.
Vaughan, D. (1992). Theory elaboration: The heuristics of case analysis . In C. Ragin & H. S. Becker (Eds.), What is a case? Exploring the foundations of social inquiry (pp. 173-202). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
42.
Ventresca, M.J., & Mohr, J. (2002). Archival research methods. In J. A. C. Baum (Ed.), Companion to organizations (pp. 805-828). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
43.
Weber, R.P. (1990). Basic content analysis. London : Sage.
44.
Weick, K.E. (1989). Theory construction as disciplined imagination . Academy of Management Review, 14, 516-531.
45.
Weick, K.E. (1995). What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 385-390.
46.
Whetten, D.A. (1989). What constitutes a theoretical contribution? Academy of Management Review, 14, 490-495.
47.
Wolfe, R.A., Gephart, R.P., & Johnson, T.E. (1993). Computer-facilitated qualitative data analysis: Potential contributions to management research. Journal of Management, 19, 637-660.
