This article, “OB in AMJ: What is Hot and What is Not?,” by Elizabeth Morrison, published in the Academy of Management Journal in 2010, provides a comprehensive overview of trends in micro-level Organizational Behavior (OB) research submitted to and published by AMJ over a decade. As an associate editor, Morrison observed a general curiosity about prevalent themes and “hot topics” in microlevel submissions but found herself unable to answer with certainty based solely on impressions. This led her to conduct an empirical investigation to identify actual patterns and trends.
The study was conducted in two parts:
- Analysis of Published Articles (2000–2009): Morrison identified 237 microlevel articles (approximately 40% of all articles) published in AMJ during this ten-year span, where either the independent or dependent variables (or both) were measured at the individual or group level. Each article was coded for keywords, level of analysis, methodology, and data source.
- Analysis of Submitted Manuscripts (2007–2009): She examined 437 micro-level papers sent out for full review to AMJ during her first two years as an associate editor, tallying topic area keywords and methods-related keywords.
Key findings from the published articles (2000–2009) revealed:
- Most common topics: “team processes/performance” (30%), “job performance” (27%), “organizational citizenship behavior” or “extra-role behavior” (14%), “leadership” (12%), and “job attitudes” (12%).
- Underrepresented topics: A number of topics, including “creativity,” “diversity,” “social exchange/psychological contracts,” “justice/fairness,” “goals,” “turnover,” “stress,” and “careers/career transitions,” appeared with relatively low frequency. Even rarer were topics like “conflict,” “power” or “influence,” “organizational climate,” “personality,” and “motivation”.
- Emerging trends: An increasing number of articles on “affect or emotions” (from less than one per year before 2007 to four per year from 2007-2009) and “organizational identification” were noted. Conversely, articles on “group or team process/performance” seemed to taper off.
- Methodology and Level of Analysis: While laboratory methods remained stable at around 15%, and qualitative articles fluctuated, a positive trend was observed in the proportion of longitudinal studies, which increased from less than 5% in the early 2000s to an average of 13% in the latter three years. The majority of micro-level studies were individual-level (66%), followed by group-level (22%) and multilevel (10%). A significant majority of papers (76%) utilized data from North America, a pattern that did not change over the decade.
Analysis of submitted manuscripts (2007–2009) showed:
- Most common submissions: “Groups/teams” (24%), “leadership” (16%), and “diversity” (14%) were the most frequent topic area keywords.
- Topics in accepted papers: While conclusions were drawn with caution due to the low acceptance rate, “creativity” (22%), “work-related attitudes and behaviors” (19%), “careers” (19%), “emotions and mood” (15%), and “group/team” (15%) were highly represented among accepted papers. Notably, “creativity” and “careers” had higher than average acceptance rates (around 16%), while “leadership” and “teams” had below-average acceptance rates despite being heavily submitted.
- Methodological trends in submissions: Multilevel analysis appeared promising, making up 11% of reviewed papers and 18% of accepted papers. However, laboratory studies and qualitative submissions remained low, suggesting a low submission rate rather than a bias against these methods.
Morrison concludes that AMJ is a “big tent” journal, welcoming diverse topics, theoretical paradigms, and methodologies, reinforcing that first-rate contributions come in many forms. She highlights areas of opportunity, particularly for more research on power and status, as well as other underrepresented topics such as counterproductive behaviors, positive organizational behavior, decision-making, social capital, and personality. The author also strongly encourages more submissions using laboratory studies and qualitative methods, and suggests revisiting “worn-out” topics like job design for new insights.
APA Reference: Morrison, E. W. (2010). OB in AMJ: What is hot and what is not? Academy of Management Journal, 53(5), 932–936.