The challenges of Lean management research and practice in the field of entrepreneurship: The roles of I-O psychology theories and I-O psychologists

Abstract

Balzer, Brodke, Kluse, and Zickar (2019) present a focal article to discuss why Lean management, in spite of its popularity in some other areas, receives little attention in the field of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology. Moreover, they argue that I-O psychologists can play a role in improving Lean management and in amplifying its impact. Specifically, Balzer et al. identify a set of topics that may stimulate I-O psychologists’ interest in Lean management. Based on our review of the cited literature in Balzer et al., we found that major entrepreneurship journals were not cited. Entrepreneurship was depicted as “an exciting field of inquiry for I/O psychology” (Frese & Gielnik, 2014, p. 430), and it is known to enhance and enrich our knowledge in I-O psychology (Frese & Gielnik, 2014). Given the recent rise of the “psychology of entrepreneurship” (Frese & Gielnik, 2014), we argue that this omission in Balzer et al. may have to be addressed because Lean management is an important topic in the field of entrepreneurship. Although the field of entrepreneurship has begun paying attention to I-O psychology, more needs to be done. Research on Lean management may help to reduce the gap between I-O psychology and entrepreneurship. We will discuss the status quo of Lean management in entrepreneurship studies, the challenges of Lean management research and practice in the field of entrepreneurship, and how I-O psychology theories address these challenges and enrich the current understanding of Lean management in entrepreneurship.