Organizational Behavior Research in 2008 ~ 2011: A Brief Review and Future Direction for Chinese Research

Abstract

This paper summarizes organizational behavior research papers published in top tier English and Chinese journals in 2008 ~ 2011 by identifying the main research topics and research methods. We summarize the fields by computing and reviewing the research topics, main content in each topic, and research methods. Several noticeable findings emerge from our review: 1. The most widely studied topics in English and Chinese journals are similar, they include leadership, team, justice, creativity, trust, OCB and work-life balance. 2. Compared to English journals, Chinese journals are more focused on the "most widely studied" topics. 3. Papers published in the English journals are more likely to have multiple studies, to use multiple research methods, and to conduct cross-level studies than those published in Chinese journals.We suggest that Chinese scholars in organizational behavior can enhance the quality of their research by doing the following. 1. Choose research question s that are closely related to management phenomena in practice; 2. Do not simply follow the "trendy" topics and Western research paradigms; 3. Build new theories based on a thorough understanding of existing theories; 4. Apply multi-disciplinary approaches in theory building, and 5. Use multiple methods in design and capture the multilevel nature of management questions. We hope our paper will help improve the quality of organizational behavior research in China.