REPLICATION IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - SCIENTIFIC TESTING FOR VALIDITY, GENERALIZABILITY, AND USEFULNESS

A number of studies have shown that little replication and extension r esearch is published in the business disciplines. This has deleterious consequences for the development of a cumulative body of knowledge in these same areas. It has been speculated, but never formally tested, that replication research is more likely to be published in lower tier s of the journal hierarchy. The present paper indicates very low level s of replication in management and strategic management journals, rega rdless of their prestige. Moreover, even those replications that are p ublished tend not to be critical-odd in applied social sciences that a re largely preparadigmatic and where extensibility, generalizability a nd utility of scientific constructs tend to be low. The goal of scienc e is empirical generalization, or knowledge development. Systematicall y conducted replications with extensions facilitate this goal. It is c lear, however, that many editors, reviewers, and researchers hold atti tudes toward replication research that betray a lack of understanding about its role. Long-run strategies to dispel these misconceptions mus t involve changes in graduate training aimed at making the conduct of such vital work second nature. It is further suggested that journals i n all tiers create a section specifically for the publication of repli cation research, and that top-tier journals take the lead in this rega rd. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.