Fashion in Organization Theory: An Empirical Analysis of the Diffusion of Theoretical Concepts

Abstract

We discuss whether organization theory is susceptible to fashion. Theories of scientific progress often assert that scientists’ research is guided exclusively by the need to solve problems that are left unexplained by existing theories. In contrast, we argue that scientists, to some extent, create and follow fashions. We formulate a number of hypotheses on fashion in scientific communication and test them with a sample of 44 concepts that were published and discussed in 1784 articles in organization studies journals from the year 1960 until 2005. We suggest that conditions such as reputation of authors and of the outlets in which concepts are published, or the provision of a methodology for empirical analyses, increase the attractiveness of academic publications and eventually set off a fashion. Overall, our results show that fashion is present in communication within organization studies while demonstrating that the field is characterized by trends toward positivistic empirical studies and economic reasoning. We conclude by discussing whether fashion has positive or negative effects on theory development, whether it is avoidable at all in the field of science, and how evaluation systems impact on fashion and innovation in organizations theory.