This article builds on the call of various authors (e.g. George & Jones, 2000; Mitchell & James,2001; Rousseau & Fried, 2001) for a better representation of time in theory-building andresearch in organizational behavior (OB). It proposes a radical temporalist approach to the study of OB which combines a new way of conceptualizing and formulating research questions with an alternative methodology for empirical research. Abandoning the static notion of ‘variable’ the focus is placed on inherently dynamic ‘temporal phenomena’. On the basis of a generic model which assumes phenomena to be temporally bounded, an analytical scheme is proposed which relates the onset, duration and dynamics of henomenon A to those of phenomenon B. In this way, nine prototypical problem types are defined, all of which center around time. A research strategy is proposed which involves three major steps, i.e. (1) temporal modeling of OB phenomena, (2) the investigation of temporal relationships, and (3) the assessment of constancy and variety over longer time periods. After discussing some general methodological issues (related to time scale, time frame, time grid, observation/recording, and measurement) a number of methods for performing these three types of research are reviewed. They include: descriptive modeling, random coefficient modeling, latent growth modeling, event history analysis, time series analysis, analysis of variance, and multiple regression analysis. Finally, limitations of theradical temporalist approach and future challenges are discussed.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
file. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Maastricht : METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization in its series Research Memoranda with number
048.
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Bossert Walter & Peters Hans, 2006.
"Single-peaked choice,"
Research Memoranda
037, Maastricht : METEOR, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization.
[Downloadable!]
Other versions:
BOSSERT, Walter & PETERS, Hans, 2006.
"Single-Peaked Choice,"
Cahiers de recherche
2006-14, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
[Downloadable!]