Guiding Distinctions of Management and Organisation Research. An Introduction
Steffen Roth et al.
What the paper says
This article examines the role of guiding distinctions in management and organisation research. Drawing on social systems theory in the tradition of Niklas Luhmann, it highlights how distinctions such as shareholder/stakeholder, purpose/profit, and economy/society/environment not only shape theoretical discourse but also act as pivotal frameworks for addressing empirical challenges. The analysis distinguishes between true and false distinctions and proposes a typology that categorises different types of false distinctions. By engaging with the contributions to this special issue, the study explores the impact false distinction might have for theory development in management and organisation research. The article argues for rethinking guiding distinctions as a means of bridging theoretical stasis and empirical dynamism in the digital era, also offering a research agenda that integrates past, present, and emerging distinctions to foster digitally attuned management and organisational theories.
2 citations
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10 |
| M · momentum | 0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.