Rigor and Relevance in Organization Studies: Idea Migration and Academic Journal Evolution

Abstract

This paper addresses the issues of rigor and relevance in organizational studies in the context of idea migration and journal evolution. The paper argues that creeping parochialism can happen to any journal, which reflects the evolving narrowness within boundaries of academic sub-communities. Evidence suggests that ideas do migrate across academic sub-communities, although the underlying process is not well understood and the idea flow is not symmetrical. Two kinds of knowledge relevance are discussed - the value for end users such as managers in organizations, and the value for one's own or other academic sub-communities. Evidence about the journal article review process is also analyzed along with the amount of time required to recognize the significance of a published article. Implications of these points for a journal such as Organization Science are discussed.