The supply chain for producing quality organizational knowledge

Abstract

Organizational phenomena emerge from the collective operation of forces spanning levels of analysis and disciplinary categories. Knowledge about organizations is based on studies of the individual forces and their joint operation in particular contexts. The complexity of such knowledge means that no single study, methodological approach, or even discipline will be sufficient for understanding organizational phenomena. We therefore suggest conceptualizing knowledge creation in organizational research with a supply chain. In the supply chain, quality knowledge is the product of specialized communities of practice that act in a coordinated system to combine and contextualize their knowledge. This approach illuminates how knowledge is transformed from generalized parts to contextual wholes, and what our field needs to change in order to promote this. We conclude by using the supply chain metaphor to suggest field-level mechanisms that can counteract the “specialization without coordination” approach that describes our field’s current approach to scholarship.