Applying Coleman’s boat in management research: Opportunities and challenges in bridging macro and micro theory

• Main Authors: COWEN, Amanda, RINK, Floor, CUYPERS, Ilya R. P., GREGOIRE, Denis, WELLER, Ingo
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Organizational Behavior and Theory; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7072; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/8071/viewcontent/ApplyingColemansBoat_pv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Over the years, ongoing conversations in Academy of Management Journal—and the broader management literature—have emphasized the value of research that bridges the macro and micro domains (Hitt, Beamish, Jackson, & Mathieu, 2007; Molloy, Ployhart, & Wright, 2011; Morgeson & Hofmann, 1999; Paruchuri, Perry-Smith, Chattopadhyay, & Shaw, 2018). Calls for cross-boundary work typically argue that bridging these two domains is required to understand and solve the complex management issues that societies face (George, Howard-Grenville, Joshi, & Tihanyi, 2016; House, Rousseau, & Thomas-Hunt, 1995; Kozlowski & Klein, 2000). Responses to the organizational challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, or to societal problems like increasing economic inequality, highlight the ways in which individual and organizational actions intersect with both macro and micro levels. Macro research typically investigates questions related to how the broader economic and social environment influences organizational characteristics, actions, and outcomes—for example, how regulatory or financial market pressures shape firms’ choices regarding environmental sustainability (Flammer, 2013). At the micro level, research questions focus on the factors and dynamics that influence individuals’ affect, behavior, choices, and cognition—for instance, how self-evaluations impact individuals’ support of environmental issues (Sonenshein, DeCelles, & Dutton, 2014). Consequently, developing theory that seeks to bridge these levels has the potential to facilitate better understanding of complex challenges and potential solutions for addressing them. The growing microfoundations movement in organization theory and strategy research provides evidence of the substantial theoretical and practical contributions that can come from such boundary-spanning approaches (Felin, Foss, & Ployhart, 2015; Miron-Spektor, Ingram, Keller, Smith, & Lewis, 2018; Reinecke & Ansari, 2021).