TY - JOUR
T1 - Theory and Technology in Organizational Psychology
T2 - A Review of Technology Integration Paradigms and Their Effects on the Validity of Theory
AU - Landers, Richard N.
AU - Marin, Sebastian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Annual Reviews Inc.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/21
Y1 - 2021/1/21
N2 - Despite the centrality of technology to understanding how humans in organizations think, feel, and behave, researchers in organizational psychology and organizational behavior even now often avoid theorizing about it. In our review, we identify four major paradigmatic approaches in theoretical approaches to technology, which typically occur in sequence: Technology-As-context, technology-As-causal, technology-As-instrumental, and technology-As-designed. Each paradigm describes a typically implicit philosophical orientation toward technology as demonstrated through choices about theory development and research design. Of these approaches, one is unnecessarily limited and two are harmful oversimplifications that we contend have systematically weakened the quality of theory across our discipline. As such, we argue that to avoid creating impractical and even inaccurate theory, researchers must explicitly model technology design. To facilitate this shift, we define technology, present our paradigmatic framework, explain the framework's importance, and provide recommendations across five key domains: personnel selection, training and development, performance management and motivation, groups and teams, and leadership.
AB - Despite the centrality of technology to understanding how humans in organizations think, feel, and behave, researchers in organizational psychology and organizational behavior even now often avoid theorizing about it. In our review, we identify four major paradigmatic approaches in theoretical approaches to technology, which typically occur in sequence: Technology-As-context, technology-As-causal, technology-As-instrumental, and technology-As-designed. Each paradigm describes a typically implicit philosophical orientation toward technology as demonstrated through choices about theory development and research design. Of these approaches, one is unnecessarily limited and two are harmful oversimplifications that we contend have systematically weakened the quality of theory across our discipline. As such, we argue that to avoid creating impractical and even inaccurate theory, researchers must explicitly model technology design. To facilitate this shift, we define technology, present our paradigmatic framework, explain the framework's importance, and provide recommendations across five key domains: personnel selection, training and development, performance management and motivation, groups and teams, and leadership.
KW - design
KW - development
KW - paradigms
KW - technology
KW - theory
KW - validity
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U2 - 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-060843
DO - 10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-012420-060843
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85099593191
SN - 2327-0608
VL - 8
SP - 235
EP - 258
JO - Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior
JF - Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior
ER -