Most cited papers in Management and Organizational Studies
What are the most cited papers in Management and Organizational Studies?
The most cited paper in Management and Organizational Studies is "The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields" (Paul DiMaggio, Walter W. Powell, 1983), with 37,882 citations. Next come "Building Theories from Case Study Research" (23,256) and "Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges" (16,535).
Showing 50 of 100 papers. Every paper with more than 2,176 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields Paul DiMaggio, Walter W. Powell · American Sociological Review | Apr 1983 | 37,882 |
| 2 | Building Theories from Case Study Research Kathleen M. Eisenhardt · Academy of Management Review | Oct 1989 | 23,256 |
| 3 | Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities And Challenges Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Melissa E. Graebner · Academy of Management Journal | Feb 2007 | 16,535 |
| 4 | Toward a knowledge‐based theory of the firm Robert M. Grant · Strategic Management Journal | Dec 1996 | 16,054 |
| 5 | Seeking Qualitative Rigor in Inductive Research Dennis A. Gioia, Kevin G. Corley, Aimee L. Hamilton · Organizational Research Methods | 24 Jul 2012 | 12,886 |
| 6 | Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches Mark C. Suchman · Academy of Management Review | Jul 1995 | 12,673 |
| 7 | Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts Ronald K. Mitchell, Bradley R. Agle, Donna J. Wood · Academy of Management Review | Oct 1997 | 9,522 |
| 8 | One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Virginia Braun, Victoria Clarke · Qualitative Research in Psychology | 12 Aug 2020 | 9,387 |
| 9 | Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation John Seely Brown, Paul Duguid · Organization Science | Feb 1991 | 8,411 |
| 10 | Social Identity Theory and the Organization Blake E. Ashforth, Fred A. Mael · Academy of Management Review | 1989 | 7,748 |
| 11 | Diffusion of Innovations in Service Organizations: Systematic Review and Recommendations Trisha Greenhalgh, Glenn Robert, Fraser Macfarlane et al. · Milbank Quarterly | Dec 2004 | 7,686 |
| 12 | Qualitative Quality: Eight “Big-Tent” Criteria for Excellent Qualitative Research Sarah J. Tracy · Qualitative Inquiry | Oct 2010 | 7,435 |
| 13 | The myopia of learning Daniel A. Levinthal, James G. March · Strategic Management Journal | 1993 | 7,343 |
| 14 | Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective George Bear Graen, Mary Uhl‐Bien · The Leadership Quarterly | Jun 1995 | 7,272 |
| 15 | Organizing and the Process of Sensemaking Karl E. Weick, Kathleen M. Sutcliffe, David Obstfeld · Organization Science | Aug 2005 | 6,858 |
| 16 | Structural Holes and Good Ideas Ronald S. Burt · American Journal of Sociology | Sep 2004 | 5,528 |
| 17 | Toward a Theory of Social Practices Andreas Reckwitz · European Journal of Social Theory | May 2002 | 5,470 |
| 18 | Role Conflict and Ambiguity in Complex Organizations John‐Ross Rizzo, Robert James House, Sidney I. Lirtzman · Administrative Science Quarterly | Jun 1970 | 5,324 |
| 19 | Misery Loves Companies: Rethinking Social Initiatives by Business Joshua D. Margolis, James P. Walsh · Administrative Science Quarterly | Jun 2003 | 5,162 |
| 20 | The Collapse of Sensemaking in Organizations: The Mann Gulch Disaster Karl E. Weick · Administrative Science Quarterly | Dec 1993 | 4,946 |
| 21 | Organizational Images and Member Identification Jane E. Dutton, Janet M. Dukerich, Celia Virginia Harquail · Administrative Science Quarterly | Jun 1994 | 4,936 |
| 22 | Upper Echelons Theory: An Update Donald C. Hambrick · Academy of Management Review | Apr 2007 | 4,915 |
| 23 | Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? an institutional theory of corporate social responsibility John L. Campbell · Academy of Management Review | Jul 2007 | 4,890 |
| 24 | Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case research Anna Dubois, Lars‐Erik Gadde · Journal of Business Research | Jul 2002 | 4,869 |
| 25 | STRATEGIC RESPONSES TO INSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES Christine Maree Oliver · Academy of Management Review | 1991 | 4,857 |
| 26 | Using Technology and Constituting Structures: A Practice Lens for Studying Technology in Organizations Wanda J. Orlikowski · Organization Science | Aug 2000 | 4,722 |
| 27 | THE PEOPLE MAKE THE PLACE Benjamin Schneider · Personnel Psychology | Sep 1987 | 4,529 |
| 28 | Strategies for Theorizing from Process Data Ann Langley · Academy of Management Review | Oct 1999 | 4,474 |
| 29 | Collective Mind in Organizations: Heedful Interrelating on Flight Decks Karl E. Weick, Karlene H. Roberts · Administrative Science Quarterly | Sep 1993 | 4,399 |
| 30 | Toward a Model of Organizations as Interpretation Systems Richard L. Daft, Karl E. Weick · Academy of Management Review | Apr 1984 | 4,307 |
| 31 | Causation and Effectuation: Toward a Theoretical Shift from Economic Inevitability to Entrepreneurial Contingency Saras D. Sarasvathy · Academy of Management Review | Apr 2001 | 4,299 |
| 32 | Longitudinal Field Research on Change: Theory and Practice Andrew Pettigrew · Organization Science | Aug 1990 | 4,192 |
| 33 | Persuasion With Case Studies Nicolaj Siggelkow · Academy of Management Journal | Feb 2007 | 4,157 |
| 34 | Reconceptualizing Organizational Routines as a Source of Flexibility and Change Martha S. Feldman, Brian T. Pentland · Administrative Science Quarterly | Mar 2003 | 3,995 |
| 35 | Corporate Social Performance Revisited Donna J. Wood · Academy of Management Review | Oct 1991 | 3,967 |
| 36 | Modes of Network Governance: Structure, Management, and Effectiveness Keith G. Provan, Patrick Kenis · Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory | 29 Jun 2007 | 3,956 |
| 37 | Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation Dennis A. Gioia, Kumar Chittipeddi · Strategic Management Journal | Sep 1991 | 3,873 |
| 38 | Organizational Legitimacy: Social Values and Organizational Behavior John B. Dowling, Jeffrey Pfeffer · The Pacific Sociological Review | 1975 | 3,871 |
| 39 | Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices Sumantra Ghoshal · Academy of Management Learning and Education | Mar 2005 | 3,842 |
| 40 | MODES OF THEORIZING IN STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: TESTS OF UNIVERSALISTIC, CONTINGENCY, AND CONFIGURATIONS. PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS. John E. Delery, D. Harold Doty · Academy of Management Journal | Aug 1996 | 3,698 |
| 41 | WHY COMPANIES GO GREEN: A MODEL OF ECOLOGICAL RESPONSIVENESS. Pratima Bansal, K. F. Roth · Academy of Management Journal | Aug 2000 | 3,675 |
| 42 | An Organizational Learning Framework: From Intuition to Institution Mary M. Crossan, Henry W. Lane, Roderick E. White · Academy of Management Review | Jul 1999 | 3,654 |
| 43 | TOWARD A STEWARDSHIP THEORY OF MANAGEMENT James H. Davis, F. David Schoorman, Lex Donaldson · Academy of Management Review | 1997 | 3,561 |
| 44 | The Essential Impact of Context on Organizational Behavior Gary Johns · Academy of Management Review | Apr 2006 | 3,551 |
| 45 | PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AND LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE: A SOCIAL EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE. S. J. Wayne, Lynn M. Shore, Robert C. Liden · Academy of Management Journal | Feb 1997 | 3,507 |
| 46 | Knowledge and Organization: A Social-Practice Perspective John Seely Brown, Paul Duguid · Organization Science | Apr 2001 | 3,417 |
| 47 | Corporate social and environmental reporting Rob Gray, Reza Kouhy, Simon Lavers · Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal | May 1995 | 3,313 |
| 48 | TRUST AND DISTRUST IN ORGANIZATIONS: Emerging Perspectives, Enduring Questions Roderick M. Kramer · Annual Review of Psychology | Feb 1999 | 3,274 |
| 49 | Management control systems design within its organizational context: findings from contingency-based research and directions for the future Robert H. Chenhall · Accounting Organizations and Society | 30 Jan 2003 | 3,250 |
| 50 | Sociomaterial Practices: Exploring Technology at Work Wanda J. Orlikowski · Organization Studies | Sep 2007 | 3,187 |
Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.