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Why and how do theory groups get ahead in organization studies? Groundwork for a model of discursive moves

University of Toronto, Canada, micamo{at}rotman.utoronto.ca

This article puts forth a model of academic discourse as a set of discursive moves occurring in a three-dimensional space (substantive, methodological and conceptual). The model is used to make sense of the dynamics of the intellectual landscape of organizational research, and to answer the question: When different theory groups (groups of scholars sharing a common set of discursive commitments) vie to explain a particular phenomenon or solve a problem relevant to the study of organizations, which — if any — is likely to become dominant in the literature and why? The article applies the model primarily to competitive interactions among certain types of theory groups. However, the article also shows how the model can be applied to understand both competitive and non-competitive interactions among theory groups, and both teleological and communicative intentions on the part of the movers.

Key Words: discourse theory • organization theory • sociology of knowledge

Strategic Organization, Vol. 7, No. 3, 235-276 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1476127009341625


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