Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Roe Robert A.
Author-workplace-name: METEOR
Title: Studying time in organizational behavior
Abstract: 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. 
Keywords: Economics ; 
Series: Research Memoranda
Creation-Date: 2005
Number: 048
File-URL: http://digitalarchive.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fedora/objects/guid:4c03df61-9565-4386-b27f-98bb9cd59fd1/datastreams/ASSET1/content
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 784000
Handle: RePEc:unm:umamet:2005048