This article puts forth a model of academic discourse as a set of discursive moves occurring in a three-dimensional space (substantive, methodological and conceptual). The model is used to make sense of the dynamics of the intellectual landscape of organizational research, and to answer the question: When different theory groups (groups of scholars sharing a common set of discursive commitments) vie to explain a particular phenomenon or solve a problem relevant to the study of organizations, which — if any — is likely to become dominant in the literature and why? The article applies the model primarily to competitive interactions among certain types of theory groups. However, the article also shows how the model can be applied to understand both competitive and non-competitive interactions among theory groups, and both teleological and communicative intentions on the part of the movers.
Abbott, A.D.G. ( 1999) Chaos of the Disciplines. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
2.
Argyris, C. ( 1993) On Organizational Learning. Oxford : Blackwell.
3.
Bain, J. ( 1956) Industrial Organization. Boston, MA : Allyn and Bacon.
4.
Baker, G., Jensen, M.C. and Murphy, K. ( 1988) ‘Compensation and Incentives: Practice vs Theory’ , Journal of Finance63(3): 593-616.
5.
Barnes, H., Bloor, D. and Henry, J. ( 1996) Scientific Knowledge. New York : Cambridge University Press.
6.
Bazerman, M. ( 2006) Judgment in Managerial Decision Making. New York: John Wiley.
7.
Becker, G. ( 1976) A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
8.
Becker, G. ( 1982) The Economic Approach to Human Behavior. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
9.
Bell, J. ( 2004) Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics: Collected Papers on Quantum Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
11.
Bourdieu, P. ( 2006) Reflexivity and the Science of Science. Cambridge: Polity Press.
12.
Brams, S. ( 1995) ‘Game Theory and the Emotions’, Rationality and Society9(1): 91-124.
13.
Burt, R.S. ( 2000) ‘The Network Structure of Social Capital’ , in R. I. Sutton and B. M. Staw (eds) Research in Organization Behavior, Vol. 22. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
14.
Camerer, C. ( 1994) ‘Does Strategy Research Need Game Theory?’ , in R. Rumelt, D. Teece and D. Schendel (eds) Fundamental Issues in Strategy Research. Cambridge, MA : Harvard Business School Press.
15.
Caves, R.E. ( 1980) ‘Industrial Organization, Corporate Strategy and Structure’, Journal of Economic Literature18(1): 64-92.
16.
Cesvet, B., Babinski, T. and Alper, E. ( 2009) Conversational Capital: How to Create Stuff People Love to Talk About. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.
17.
Churchland, P. ( 1978) Matter and Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
18.
Coase, R. ( 1937) ‘The Nature of the Firm’, Economica4(16): 386-405.
19.
Cohen, J. ( 1981) ‘Can Human Irrationality be Experimentally Demonstrated?’ , Behavioral and Brain Sciences4(3): 317-70.
20.
Cyert, R.M. and March, J.G. ( 1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
21.
Davis, M. ( 1971) ‘That’s Interesting!: Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology’, Philosophy of the Social Sciences1: 309-44.
22.
Duhem, P. ( 1913) The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
23.
Einstein, A., Podolsky, B. and Rosen, N. ( 1935) ‘Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Reality be Considered Complete?’, Physical Review47: 777-80.
24.
Ellsberg, D. ( 1961) ‘Risk, Ambiguity and the Savage Axioms’ , Quarterly Journal of Economics75(4): 643-69.
25.
Elster, J. (ed.) (1985) The Multiple Self. New York: Cambridge University Press.
26.
Feyerabend, P.K. ( 1975) Against Method. London: Routledge.
27.
Fodor, J. ( 1983) The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
28.
Friedman, M. ( 1953) ‘The Methodology of Positive Economics’, Essays in Positive Economics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
29.
Ghoshal, S. ( 2005) ‘Bad Management Theories are Destroying Good Management Practice’, Academy of Management Learning and Education4(1): 75-91.
30.
Gigerenzer, G. and Goldstein, D.G. ( 1996) ‘Mind as Computer: The Birth of a Metaphor’ , Creativity Research Journal9(2 and 3): 131-44.
31.
Gigerenzer, G. and Selten, R. (eds) (2000) Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
32.
Gigerenzer, G., Swijtink, Z., Porter, T., Daston, L., Beatty, J. and Krüger, L. ( 1989) The Empire of Chance: How Probability Changed Science and Everyday Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33.
Gilboa, I. and Zemel, E. ( 1989) ‘Nash and Correlated Equilibria: Some Complexity Considerations’, Games and Economic Behavior1(1): 80-93.
34.
Granovetter, M. ( 1985) ‘Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness’, American Journal of Sociology91(3): 481-501.
35.
Greenwald, A.G., Leippe, M., Pratkannis, A. and Baumgardner, M. ( 1986) ‘Under What Conditions Does Theory Obstruct Research Progress?’, Psychological Review93(2): 216-29.
36.
Greenwood, R., Oliver, C., Sahlin, K. and Suddaby, R. ( 2008) ‘Introduction’, in R. Greenwood, C. Oliver, K. Sahlin and R. Suddaby (eds) The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism . London: SAGE.
37.
Habermas, J. ( 1987) The Theory of Communicative Action. Volume II: Lifeworld and System. Boston, MA: Beacon Press .
38.
Hayek, F. ( 1945) ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society’, The American Economic Review35(4): 519-30.
39.
Hoyningen-Huene, P. ( 1993) Reconstructing Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
40.
Jackson, M.O. ( 2007) Social and Economic Networks. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
41.
Jensen, M.C. and Meckling, W.H. ( 1976) ‘Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs and Ownership Structure’, Journal of Financial Economics3(1): 305-60.
42.
Jensen, M.C. and Meckling, W.H. ( 1992) ‘Specific and General Knowledge and Organizational Structure’, in L. Werin and H. Wijkander (eds) Contract Economics. Oxford: Blackwell.
43.
Jensen, M.C. and Meckling, W.H. ( 1994) ‘The Nature of Man’, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance7(2): 4-19.
44.
Kagel, J. and Roth, A.E. ( 1995) Handbook of Experimental Economics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
45.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. ( 1974) ‘Judgments under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases’ , Science185(4157): 1124-31.
46.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. ( 1982) ‘Judgments of and by Representativeness’ , in D. Kahneman, P. Slovic and A. Tversky (eds) Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, pp. 84-100. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.
47.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. ( 1984) ‘Choices, Values and Frames’, American Psychologist39(4): 341-50.
48.
Kahneman, D., Slovic, P. and Tversky, A. ( 1982) Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
49.
Kruglanski, A. and Webster, D.M. ( 1996) ‘Motivated Closing of the Mind: "Seizing" and "Freezing" ’, Psychological Review103(2): 263-83.
50.
Kuhn, T.S. ( 1962) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press .
51.
Kuhn, T.S. ( 1990) The Road Since Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
52.
Lakatos, I. ( 1970) ‘Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes’, in I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave (eds) Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, pp. 91-195. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
53.
Langer, E.J. and Moldoveanu, M.C. ( 2000) ‘The Construct of Mindfulness’, Journal of Social Issues56(1): 1-10.
54.
Laudan, L. ( 1990) Science and Relativism: Some Key Controversies in the Philosophy of Science. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
55.
Lawrence, P.R. and Lorsch, J.W. ( 1967) ‘Differentiation and Integration in Complex Organizations’ , Administrative Science Quarterly12(1): 1-47.
56.
Levitt, B. and March, J. ( 1988) ‘Organizational Learning’, Annual Review of Sociology14: 319-40
57.
MacMillan, E. ( 1993) Freud Evaluated: The Completed Arc. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
58.
McKelvey, B. ( 1982) Organizational Systematics: Taxonomy, Evolution, Classification . Berkeley: University of California Press.
McKelvey, B. ( 1999) ‘Avoiding Complexity Catastrophe in Coevolutionary Pockets: Strategies for Rugged Landscapes’, Organization Science10(3): 294-321.
61.
McKelvey, B. and Aldrich, H. ( 1982) ‘Populations, Natural Selection and Applied Organization Science’, Administrative Science Quarterly28(1): 101-28.
62.
Madhavan, R. ( 2003) ‘Network Evolution as a Multi-Level Phenomenon’ , in F. Dansereau and J. F. Yammarino (eds) Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Strategy, Research in Multi-Level Issues2: 265-73.
63.
March, J.G. and Simon, H.A. ( 1958) Organizations. New York: John Wiley.
64.
Merton, R.K. ( 1973) The Sociology of Science. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
65.
Michels, R. ( 1962) Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New York: Free Press.
Moldoveanu, M.C. ( 2002) ‘Language, Games and Language Games’ , Journal of Socio-Economics31(3): 233-51.
70.
Moldoveanu, M.C. and Baum, J.A.C. ( 2002) ‘Contemporary Debates in Organizational Epistemology’ , in J. A. C. Baum (ed.) Blackwell Companion to Organizations: 733-751. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
71.
Moldoveanu, M.C. and Langer, E.J. ( 2002) ‘False Memories of the Future: A Critique of the Application of Probabilistic Reasoning to the Study of Cognitive Processes’ , Psychological Review109(2): 358-75.
72.
Moldoveanu, M.C. and Nohria, N. ( 2002) Master Passions: Emotions, Narrative and the Development of Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press .
73.
Moldoveanu, M.C., Baum, J.A.C. and Rowley, T. ( 2003) ‘Information Regimes, Information Strategies and the Evolution of Interfirm Network Topologies’, in F. J. Yammarino and F. Dansereau (eds) Research in Multi-Level Issues, Vol. 2, pp. 221-64. Oxford: Elsevier .
74.
Nagel, E. ( 1961) The Structure of Science. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
75.
Newell, A. ( 1990) Unified Theories of Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
76.
Nelson, R. and Winter, S. ( 1982) An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard. University Press .
77.
Noda, T. and Bower, J.L. ( 1996) ‘Strategy Making as Iterated Processes of Resource Allocation’, Strategic Management Journal17(S1): 159-92.
78.
Numagami, T. ( 1998) ‘The Infeasibility of Invariant Laws in Management Studies’, Organization Science9(1): 1-15.
79.
Olson, M. ( 1998) Power and Prosperity. New York : Free Press.
80.
Penrose, E. ( 1959) The Theory of the Growth of the Firm. New York: John Wiley.
81.
Pfeffer, J.G. ( 1993) ‘Barriers to the Advance of Organization Science: Paradigm Development as a Dependent Variable’, Academy of Management Review18: 599-620.
82.
Pfeffer, J.G. ( 1995) ‘Mortality, Reproducibility and the Persistence of Styles of Theory’, Organization Science6(6): 681-6.
83.
Popper, K.R. ( 1959) The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Unwin Hyman.
84.
Popper, K.R. ( 1973) Objective Knowledge. London : Routledge.
85.
Popper, K.R. ( 1983) Realism and the Aim of Science. London : Routledge.
86.
Porter, M.E. ( 1980) Competitive Strategy. New York : Free Press.
87.
Putnam, H. ( 1985) ‘Reflexive Reflections’, Erkenntnis22(1-3): 143-53.
88.
Quine, W. van O. ( 1951) Ontological Relativity and Other Essays. New York: Columbia University Press.
89.
Rubinstein, A. ( 1999) Modeling Bounded Rationality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
90.
Russell, B. ( 1935) Power: A New Social Analysis. London : Routledge.
91.
Saloner, G. ( 1994) ‘Business Strategy and Game Theory’ , in R. P. Rumelt, D. Schendel and D. Teece (eds) Fundamental Issues in Strategy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
92.
Samuelson, P. ( 1938) ‘A Note on the Pure Theory of Consumers’ Behaviour’ , Economica5(17): 61-71.
93.
Savage, L. ( 1972) The Foundations of Statistics. New York: Dover. (Orig. pub. 1954.)
94.
Schelling, T. ( 1984) ‘The Intimate Contest for Control’ , in T. Schelling (ed.) Choice and Consequence. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
95.
Schmalensee, R. and Willig, A. ( 1989) Handbook of Industrial Organization. New York: Elsevier.
96.
Selznick, P. ( 1975) Leadership in Administration. New York : Harper and Row.
97.
Simon, H. ( 1947) Administrative Behavior. New York: Macmillan.
98.
Simon, H. ( 1985) ‘Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology with Political Science’, American Political Science Review79(2): 293-304.
99.
Skinner, B.F. ( 1950) Science and Human Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
100.
Soames, S. ( 2001) Understanding Truth. New York : Cambridge University Press.
101.
Sterman, J.D. and Wittemberg, J. ( 1999) ‘Path Dependence, Competition and Succession in the Dynamics of Scientific Revolution’, Organization Science10(3): 322-41.
102.
Suppes, P. ( 1957) Introduction to Logic. New York : Dover.
103.
Symon, G., Buehring, A., Johnson, P. and Cassell, C. ( 2008) ‘Positioning Qualitative Research as Resistance to the Institutionalization of the Academic Labour Process’, Organization Studies29(10): 1315-36.
104.
Taylor, C. ( 1992) ‘Interpretation and the Sciences of Man’ , in M. Martin and L. McIntyre (eds) Philosophy of Social Science , pp. 181-210. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
105.
Thaler, R. ( 2000) ‘From Homo Economicus to Homo Sapiens’ , Journal of Economic Perspectives14(1): 133-41.
106.
Thaler, R. and Sheffrin, S.M. ( 1981) ‘An Economic Theory of Self-Control’ , Journal of Political Economy89(2): 392-406.
107.
Tirole, J. ( 1988) The Theory of Industrial Organization. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
108.
Van de Ven, A. ( 1993) ‘The Institutional Theory of John R. Commons: A Review and Commentary’, Academy of Management Review18(1): 139-52.
109.
Van Maanen, J. ( 1995) ‘Fear and Loathing in Organization Studies’ , Organization Science6(6): 687-92.
110.
Von Neumann, J. and Morgenstern, O. ( 1944) Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press .
111.
Wang, H. ( 1995) ‘On "Computabilism" and Physicalism: Some Sub-Problems’ , in J. Cornwell (ed.) Nature’s Imagination: The Frontiers of Scientific Vision. New York: Oxford University Press.
112.
Weick, K. ( 1995) Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
113.
Wheeler, J. A. and Zurek, W. H. (eds) (1983) Quantum Theory and Measurement . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
114.
Williamson, O.E. ( 1975) Markets and Hierarchies. New York: Free Press.
115.
Williamson, O.E. ( 1985) The Economic Institutions of Capitalism. New York: Free Press.
116.
Williamson, O.E. ( 1991) ‘The Logic of Economic Organization’ , in O. E. Williamson and S. Winter (eds) The Nature of the Firm: Origins, Evolution and Development, pp. 90-115. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
117.
Williamson, O.E. ( 1993) ‘Transaction Cost Economics and Organization Theory’ , Industrial and Corporate Change2(1): 107-56.
118.
Williamson, O.E. ( 1995) The Mechanisms of Governance. New York : Free Press.
119.
Wittgenstein, L. ( 1953) Philosophical Investigations. New York : Macmillan.
