Accumulating Knowledge in the Organizational Sciences

Abstract

In some fields, research findings are rigorously curated in a common language and made available to enable future use and large-scale, robust insights. Organizational researchers have begun such efforts [e.g., metaBUS ( http://metabus.org/ )] but are far from the efficient, comprehensive curation seen in areas such as cognitive neuroscience or genetics. This review provides a sample of insights from research curation efforts in organizational research, psychology, and beyond—insights not possible by even large-scale, substantive meta-analyses. Efforts are classified as either science-of-science research or large-scale, substantive research. The various methods used for information extraction (e.g., from PDF files) and classification (e.g., using consensus ontologies) is reviewed. The review concludes with a series of recommendations for developing and leveraging the available corpus of organizational research to speed scientific progress.