2021 Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 28-34
Researchers in the field of organizational behavior (OB) would have a common understanding that OB’s identity is to study human behavior in organization. However, their studies have been criticized for neglecting organizational aspect in their research subjects. In other words, despite of the situation where there is a common view of the identity of OB research, a paradoxical situation that identity is being lost has been pointed out. Regarding this paradoxical situation, this paper reviews how this paradoxical issue of OB research has been discussed. Firstly, referring to Heath and Sitkin (2001), we discuss and identify where the aforementioned paradoxical situation lies. Secondly, considering how the existing research dealt with the situation, we show a few specific research topics that exemplify how the paradoxical problem emerges and the way researchers approach to it. Finally, given the review mentioned above, we discuss the future direction of OB research.
