Rigor and relevance in organization studies: Idea migration and academic journal evolution

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Daft, Richard L.; Lewin, Arie Y.
• 署名单位: Vanderbilt University; Duke University
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1070.0346
• 发表日期: 2008
• 页码: 177-183
• 关键词: academic publication; idea migration; rigor and relevance

摘要

This perspective paper addresses the issues of rigor and relevance in organizational studies in the context of idea migration and journal evolution. We argue that creeping parochialism can happen to any journal, which reflects an evolving narrowness within boundaries of academic subcommunities. Evidence suggests that ideas do migrate across academic subcommunities, although the underlying process is not well understood and the idea flow is not symmetrical. Two kinds of knowledge relevance are discussed-the value for end users such as managers in organizations, and the value for one's own or other academic subcommunities. We argue that the most important mission of Organization Science (OS) is to be a source journal for academic subcommunities in organization studies by attracting and publishing new theories and ideas that increase the varieties of knowledge about organizations.