An Increasing Utility for the Early Management Theories: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

The authors of this study found evidence that the utility for the early management theories has intensified tremendously over the past 50-years, when examined 5-years at a time, for 10 periods, from 1963-1967 to 2008-2012. The investigation reveals that these early theories are not, as some might expect, on the decline. Interest in scientific management, in particular, has increased by leaps and bounds over other early theories. Data analysis shows differences on main effects and two-way interaction effects for each model with large effect sizes. Therefore, the data show that there is an increasing utility for scientific management, management by objectives, equity theory and expectancy theory. Furthermore, these management theories have gained more traction over the most recent 25 years.

Keywords: Utility, management, equity theory, expectation theory, scientific management, MBO

JEL Classification: A00