Abstract
Studies of organizational success and other aspects of management are critical in understanding and improving critical areas of African economic stability. This article seeks to urge high levels of rigor in South African research in this area, notably empirical research, proposing several aspirational research principles. First, the article considers claims of uniqueness versus the practical value of embedding research as a replication in a well-considered wider body of knowledge. Second is the desirability of conforming to sufficiently high norms of model fit and effect size and accuracy. Third is empirical comparison of South African studies with previous findings, with attendant possibilities for new theory development. Fourth is proper tests for and treatment of common method bias. Fifth is specification of appropriate sets of constructs. Finally, this article proposes specification of alternate models that will add substantial rigor to such research. In advocating these possibilities, the current article contrasts these aspirational principles to a recent SAJEMS article. This critique serves an exclusively illustrative purpose, showing some pitfalls of not conforming to the aspirational principles, the benefits of explicitly including certain easy to achieve solutions, and the ease with which greater rigor can sometimes be achieved. Ultimately, this article seeks to constructively advance African business research standards.
Highlights
This article seeks to advance the rigor of South African research into the business arena
The aim of this article is to encourage greater rigor in business research by advocating certain research principles, some of which are well accepted in theory but not always applied, and others which are rarely considered but which I argue can do much to advance the standard of our quantitative methodological practices
This article advocates for South African researchers to differentiate strongly between work that is genuinely unique at the level of new theory and that which is essentially replication or extension
Summary
This article seeks to advance the rigor of South African research into the business arena. The aim of this article is to encourage greater rigor in business research by advocating certain research principles, some of which are well accepted in theory but not always applied, and others which are rarely considered but which I argue can do much to advance the standard of our quantitative methodological practices. The article uses a recent contribution to the South African small business literature by Farrington (2012) as an illustration of the pitfalls of research that does not address at least some of these principles. This article argues that it serves as a useful example against which the research principles advocated might be compared.
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