
Mats Alvesson
Professor

Has Management Studies Lost Its Way? Ideas for More Imaginative and Innovative Research
Author
Summary, in English
Despite the huge increase in the number of management articles published during the three last decades, there is a serious shortage of high-impact research in management studies. We contend that a primary reason behind this paradoxical shortage is the near total dominance of incremental gap-spotting research in management. This domination is even more paradoxical as it is well known that gap-spotting rarely leads to influential theories. We identify three broad and interacting key drivers behind this double paradox: institutional conditions, professional norms, and researchers' identity constructions. We discuss how specific changes in these drivers can reduce the shortage of influential management theories. We also point to two methodologies that may encourage and facilitate more innovative and imaginative research and revisions of academic norms and identities.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
Publishing year
2013
Language
English
Pages
128-152
Publication/Series
Journal of Management Studies
Volume
50
Issue
1
Links
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Topic
- Business Administration
Keywords
- interesting theories
- problematization
- research methods
- research
- problems
- research questions
- theory development
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1467-6486