Identity and Non-Identity Thinking: Dialectical Critique of the Transaction Cost Theory of the Modern Corporation

Abstract

Identity thinking is the dominant mode of thinking in the management and social sciences. This paper contends that identity thinking is a mode of reasoning that contains certain inherent biases that inevitably lead to a partisan construal of the management research agenda. The prejudicial tendencies of identity thinking are prevalent in Chandler's and Williamson's theories of the origins and evolution of the modern corporation. We use the theories both to highlight the operation of identity thinking, and to introduce an alternative: Adorno's negative dialectics.