Abstract
This study aims to examine which theories have been mainly used in organizational behavior research by conducting a quantitative analysis of article abstracts published between 2015 and 2024 in three leading journals: Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Vocational Behavior. The results reveal that theoretical usage is highly uneven, following a power-law distribution in which a small number of theories—such as conservation of resources theory, self-determination theory, and social exchange theory—dominate the field. Most of these frequently used theories originate not from organizational behavior itself but from neighboring disciplines such as psychology and sociology. Furthermore, an analysis of how these theories are employed shows that they are rarely the direct object of empirical testing; rather, they are primarily used as foundational frameworks for developing hypotheses and analytical models. These findings suggest that organizational behavior research functions largely as an applied field that advances through the adaptation and utilization of existing theories.
