STRUCTURAL CONTINGENCY THEORY REVISITED - MAIN EFFECTS VERSUS INTERACTIONS IN CHILDS NATIONAL STUDY OF MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE SECTORS

The paper suggests the value in returning to the original idea in cont ingency theory-different structural contingencies produce different ki nds of performance. A comprehensive multi-industry data set was reanal yzed comparing structural and contextual main effects with context-str ucture interactions for each of six performance variables. A number of significant main effects and interactions were found to correlate wit h economic and social performances in both manufacturing and service i ndustries. It is concluded that there is support for both universal an d contingent relationships.