Open science and reform practices in organizational behavior research over time (2011 to 2019)

Abstract

The “credibility revolution” has fueled a number of initiatives to help bring scientific practices more in line with scientific ideals. These initiatives include increasing the sample size of studies, making data and materials publicly available, pre-registering data collection and analysis plans, publishing replication attempts, and publishing null results. To what extent have these practices become the norm in quantitative Organizational Behavior research? In the current study, using computer algorithms and human coders, we coded the reported use of several open science and reform practices in articles published in four prominent journals (Academy of Management Journal; Journal of Applied Psychology; Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes; and Organization Science) from 2011 through 2019. We found that although the vast majority of articles did not use any open science practices, some practices we coded were on the rise, especially in the last two to three years. While there is much room for improvement, these results suggest the field could be on the brink of important and sustained change.