CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 1,385Management and Organizational StudiesManagement Theory and PracticeInnovation and Knowledge Management

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 298 of the 301 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Paradox Research in Management Science: Looking Back to Move Forward

Open access
Schad, Jonathan, Lewis, Marianne W., Raisch, Sebastian, Smith, Wendy K.·2016·Academy of Management Annals
DOI 10.5465/19416520.2016.1162422
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Paradox studies offer vital and timely insights into an array of organizational tensions. Yet this field stands at a critical juncture. Over the past 25 years, management scholars have drawn foundational insights from philosophy and psychology to apply a paradox lens to organizational phenomena. Yet extant studies selectively leverage ancient wisdom, adopting some key insights while abandoning others. Using a structured content analysis to review the burgeoning management literature, we surface six key themes, which represent the building blocks of a meta-theory of paradox. These six themes received varying attention in extant studies: paradox scholars emphasize types of paradoxes, collective approaches, and outcomes, but pay less attention to relationships within paradoxes, individual approaches, and dynamics. As this analysis suggests, management scholars have increasingly simplified the intricate, often messy phenomena of paradox. Greater simplicity renders phenomena understandable and testable, however, oversimplifying complex realities can foster reductionist and incomplete theories. We therefore propose a future research agenda targeted at enriching a meta-theory of paradox by reengaging these less developed themes. Doing so can sharpen the focus of this field, while revisiting its rich conceptual roots to capture the intricacies of paradox. This future research agenda leverages the potential of paradox across diverse streams of management science.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.5465/19416520.2016.1162422

Cites

298 of 298 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Research works printed but not linked: 37

  1. Aristotle, 1933, Metaphysics. Books I-IX
  2. Aristotle, 1962, Nicomachean ethics
  3. Brandenburger A. M., 1996, Co-opetition
  4. Cameron K. S., 1988, Paradox and transformation: Toward a theory of change in organization and management, 1
  5. Capra F., 1975, The Tao of physics
  6. Cilliers P., 1998, Complexity and postmodernism: Understanding complex systems
  7. Confucius, 1977, The four books: Confucian analects, the great learning, the doctrine of the mean, the work of Mencius
  8. Cronin M. A., 2011, Academy of Management Annals, 5, 571, 10.5465/19416520.2011.590297 · DOI
  9. Derrida J., 1972, Positions
  10. Donaldson T., 1995, Academy of Management Review, 20, 65, 10.5465/amr.1995.9503271992 · DOI · Paper page
  11. Eggers J. P., 2013, Academy of Management Annals, 7, 295, 10.1080/19416520.2013.769318 · DOI
  12. Eisenhardt K. M., 1989, Academy of Management Review, 14, 532, 10.5465/amr.1989.4308385 · DOI · Paper page
  13. Eisenhardt K. M., 1988, Paradox and transformation: Toward a theory of change in organization and management, 137
  14. Engels F., 1946, Dialectics of nature
  15. Farjoun M., 2002, Academy of Management Journal, 45, 848, 10.2307/3069318 · DOI
  16. Farjoun M., 2010, Academy of Management Review, 35, 202
  17. Felin T., 2015, Academy of Management Annals, 9, 575, 10.1080/19416520.2015.1007651 · DOI
  18. Ford J. D., 1988, Paradox and transformation: Toward a theory of change in organization and management, 81
  19. Hampden-Turner C., 1981, Maps of the mind
  20. Handy C., 1994, The age of paradox
  21. Hegel G. W. F., 1807, Phenomenology of spirit
  22. Hegel G. W. F., 1812, Hegel’s science of logic
  23. Hobbes T., 1651, Leviathan
  24. Huy Q. N., 2001, Academy of Management Review, 26, 601, 10.2307/3560244 · DOI
  25. Kuhn T. S., 1962, The structure of scientific revolutions
  26. Lavie D., 2010, Academy of Management Annals, 4, 109, 10.1080/19416521003691287 · DOI
  27. McKnight D. H., 1998, Academy of Management Review, 23, 473, 10.5465/amr.1998.926622 · DOI · Paper page
  28. Orlikowski W. J., 2008, Academy of Management Annals, 2, 433, 10.1080/19416520802211644 · DOI · Paper page
  29. Putnam L. L., 1986, Organization communications: Emerging perspectives, 151
  30. 10.1080/19416520.2016.1162421 · DOI · Paper page
  31. Quinn R. E., 1988, Paradox and transformation: Toward a theory of change in organization and management
  32. Raisch S., Organization Science
  33. Schultz M., 1996, Academy of Management Review, 21, 529
  34. Tushman M. L., 1985, Research in Organizational Behavior, 7, 171
  35. Van Knippenberg D., 2013, Academy of Management Annals, 7, 1, 10.1080/19416520.2013.759433 · DOI · Paper page
  36. Weick K., 1999, Research in Organizational Behavior, 21, 81
  37. Zimmermann A., 2014, MIT Sloan Management Review, 55, 18

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 1,385

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Schad, J., Lewis, M. W., Raisch, S., & Smith, W. K.
Affiliations
University of Geneva (CH)
ORCID
Venue
Academy of Management Annals
Publisher
Academy of Management
Published
2016-01
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
5-64
ISSN
  • 1941-6067 (ISSN-L)
  • 1941-6520
DOI
10.5465/19416520.2016.1162422
OpenAlex
W4247573850
Cited by
1,385
References
301
Citations by year
2026: 199 · 2025: 194 · 2024: 160 · 2023: 145 · 2022: 144 · 2021: 175 · 2020: 121 · 2019: 104 · 2018: 72 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 15
FWCI
159.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Academy of Management Annals (publishedVersion)
  • Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion)
  • City Research Online (City University London) (acceptedVersion)
  • Library, Museums and Press - UDSpace (University of Delaware) (submittedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management Theory and Practice
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Innovation and Knowledge Management
Keywords
paradox theory, organizational tensions, ancient wisdom, future research agenda

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review