TEMPORAL EFFECTS AND LIFE CYCLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE RESEARCH

Abstract

This paper moves beyond descriptives of how we “do” change in a test of whether there is an empirical basis for knowing where in its life cycle is organizational change research. Questioning typical assumptions about change, it assesses what progress in the field looks like by plotting temporal effects and life cycle in eight representative journals (n=473) between 1947 and 2008. Bounded by researcher orientation, an illusion of knowledge development is identified, explained by reliance on a basic, implicit knowledge and on belief prisons. Implications are explained in terms of the resultant unconventional knowledge development cycle.