Organizational Theories: Some Criteria for Evaluation
Abstract
A set of ground rules and vocabulary to facilitate focused discussion about the structure of organization and management theories are proposed. The many previous efforts at defining and evaluating theory help establish criteria for theory construction and evaluation. In the establishment of these criteria, description is distinguished from theory, and a matrix of criteria for evaluating the variables, constructs, and relationships that together compose a theory is developed. The proposed matrix may be useful both for defining the necessary components of good theory and for evaluating and/or comparing the quality of alternative theories. Finally, a discussion of the way theories fit together to give a somewhat broader picture of empirical reality reveals the lines of tension between the two main criteria for evaluating theory.
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Existing GVC frameworks and typologies do not provide detailed causal mechanisms, and thus do not constitute predictive theory of GVC.
“However, as mentioned above, existing GVC frameworks (e.g., Gereffi, 1994;Henderson et al., 2002) and typologies (e.g., Gereffi et al., 2005) do not provide detailed causal mechanisms (Bunge, 1997), and thus do not constitute predictive theory of GVC in a sense of offering ''a statement of relations among concepts within a set of boundary assumptions and constraints'' (Bacharach, 1989: 496).”
From Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature (2020) · cites this paper as Bacharach, 1989
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- Authors
- Bacharach, S. B.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bacharach, Samuel B.
- ORCID
- Bacharach, Samuel B.
- Venue
- The Academy of Management Review
- Publisher
- Academy of Management
- Published
- 1989-10
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 496
- ISSN
- 0363-7425 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2120489714
- Cited by
- 2,305
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 87 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 93 · 2023: 136 · 2022: 112 · 2021: 123 · 2020: 108 · 2019: 98 · 2018: 98 · 2017: 95 · 2016: 90 · 2015: 119 · 2014: 100 · 2013: 92 · 2012: 83
- FWCI
- 20.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Academy of Management Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management Theory and Practice
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Business Strategies and Management Research
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Keywords
- organizational theory, management theory, theory evaluation, theory development, theory comparison, theoretical integration
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