Citation analysis in the organizational sciences.

Abstract

Citations made over a 20-year period in seven organizational science journals were systematically classified according to source. Citation analysis revealed that the number of articles concerning the study of organizations has increased substantially over the past two decades. The exchange of knowledge among three disciplines of organizational science (industrial psychology, sociology, and social psychology) was assessed utilizing three of Coombs's citation indices-self-feeding, producer-consumer, and inside-outside-and a cross-pollination index developed by the authors. Values for the indices suggest that journals and their contributors can be broadly identified as producers or consumers of knowledge. The index values also suggest that knowledge exchange among the three disciplines may be limited.Recently, a number of authors have decried the insulation that apparently exists among the many disciplines contributing to the study of organizations. Roberts, Hulin, and Rousseau (1978) call for the development of an interdisciplinary science of organizations. They suggest increased communication across disciplines to facilitate this development. Behling (1978) cautions that conflict among the many conceptual frameworks of organizational science can only be resolved by a willingness on the part of the advocates of the various disciplines "to communicate with their counterparts and to understand their viewpoints" (p. 199). Thus an examination of the exchange of knowledge between disciplines is an appropriate undertaking. One way to assess the extent of this exchange is through citation analysis. Manuscript citations (a) identify the locus of inspiration for research, (b) summarize the state of the art, (c) provide background information, and (d) critically analyze previous work (Weinstock, 1971). Analysis of citations also provides a means for assessing scientific communication (Parker, Paisley, & Garrett, 1967), scientific productivity (Bayer & Folger, 1966), and jour-Requests for reprints should be sent to

Scholarly Impact Revisited

“…Management scholars are very interested in providing answers to these questions because performance management systems in universities (Aguinis, 2013) and the allocation of resources and rewards to individuals and also departments are determined, at least in part, by the impact of their scholarly work (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 1992; Higher Education Funding Council of England [HEFCE], 2011). For example, the Academy of Management Review bestows its best-article-of-thedecade award to the article with the greatest relative impact (Crossan, Maurer, & White, 2011), and many universities classify journals in terms of their relative impact (Blackburn & Mitchell, 1981;van Fleet, McWilliams, & Siegel, 2000).…”

Incompatible Assumptions: Barriers to Producing Multidisciplinary Knowledge in Communities of Scholarship.

“…Despite their limitations, citations are a quantifiable measure of when knowledge is being shared that offers an observable "footprint" of the evolution of scientific knowledge with substantial implications for institutions and individuals (Judge, et al, 2007). Thus, we, like other scholars who have utilized similar data (e.g., Biehl et al 2006;Blackburn and Michell 1981;Judge et al 2007;Stremersch et al 2007) believe that they provide an accurate, if conservative, picture of the influence of scientific knowledge.…”

“…Model 1 tests the effects of a set of control variables suggested by past research on citation rates in organizational studies (Biehl et al 2006;Blackburn and Michell 1981;Judge et al 2007;Stremersch et al 2007). We control for methodology using dummy variables reflecting each article's methodology: laboratory experiment, ethnography or field study (omitted dummy).…”

“…Because organizations are multi-level and multi-faceted, many disciplines contribute to organizational studies, including psychology, sociology, economics, political science, anthropology and industrial relations. This diversity, while a notable feature across studies of organizational phenomena, is seldom in evidence within studies (Blackburn and Michell 1981;Salancik 1986). Biehl and his colleagues (2006), in a study of citation patters across business disciplines, found that scholars studying organizations tended to publish within a discipline, and that there was little cross-discipline citation.…”

“…The community of scholarship we study falls under the broad rubric of organizational studies, a large, interdisciplinary academic field focusing on knowledge about organizations that is also sometimes referred to as "management studies" (Blackburn and Michell 1981). Because organizations are multi-level and multi-faceted, many disciplines contribute to organizational studies, including psychology, sociology, economics, political science, anthropology and industrial relations.…”