Capturing the state of the science to change the state of the science: A categorization approach to integrative reviews

• Date: 01 February 2021
• Author: David J. G. Dwertmann,Daan Knippenberg
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/job.2474
• Published date: 01 February 2021

THE JOB ANNUAL REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL

DEVELOPMENT ISSUE

Capturing the state of the science to change the state of the

science: A categorization approach to integrative reviews

David J. G. Dwertmann

1

| Daan van Knippenberg

2

1

School of Business, Rutgers University,

Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A.

2

LeBow College of Business, Drexel

University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Correspondence

David J. G. Dwertmann, School of Business-

Camden, Rutgers University, 227 Penn St,

Camden, NJ 08102, U.S.A.

Email: david.dwertmann@rutgers.edu

Summary

Integrative reviews, reviews of an area of research that not only describe the state of

the science but also advance it through integration and synthesis of the evidence,

make unique contributions to the literature. We discuss this unique value of integra-

tive reviews, highlighting that integrative reviews of the literature are positioned in

the conceptual space between descriptive reviews and theory papers, to position this

study's focus: presenting an approach to conduct such reviews. This approach

focuses on the systematic consideration of similarities and differences between find-

ings, identifying the underlying categorizations that capture these similarities and dif-

ferences, and developing new theory anchored on these categorizations for

similarities and differences not predicted by existing theory. We outline how authors

following this approach should make the different steps in this process of categoriza-

tion and theory development transparent in their presentation to increase replicabil-

ity of the review and more precisely identify the locus of potential disagreements

concerning the conclusions of the review. Following these steps also provides clearer

anchors to assess the validity of the conclusions of the review in the publication pro-

cess, for readers, and in follow-up primary research.

KEYWORDS

categorization, integrative review, synthesis, theory

1|INTRODUCTION

Organization and management research increasingly relies on review

articles to organize and synthesize the ever-growing research output

in the field (Rousseau, Manning, & Denyer, 2008). Not only the Journal

of Organizational Behavior, which published an annual review issue

since 2013 that evolves into the Annual Review and Conceptual

Development Issue from 2021 forward (Dasborough, 2020), but also

other high-quality outlets publish review articles. Academy of Manage-

ment Annals,Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organiza-

tional Behavior, and International Journal of Management Reviews are

relatively new journals dedicated to publishing review articles; Journal

of Applied Psychology and Organizational Psychology Review recently

explicitly invited integrative reviews; and journals such as Journal of

Management, Journal of International Business Studies,Journal of World

Business, and Leadership Quarterly have adopted the approach of pub-

lishing annual or biannual review issues. These reviews are impactful,

at least as judged by citations. Clearly, reviews of the literature are

more important for research in management and organizations than

ever before.

This rise in reviews is not surprising, given that review articles

represent a major form of scholarship and offer great opportunities to

move research fields forward. From that perspective, it is a concern

that despite increasing attention (cf. Torraco, 2016), our understand-

ing of how to conduct a good literature review is still underdeveloped

compared with our understanding of how to conduct empirical

research. For the latter, we have a well-developed literature on a

plethora of topics related to research methodology (e.g., Aguinis,

Received: 8 October 2019 Revised: 20 July 2020 Accepted: 21 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/job.2474

104 © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J Organ Behav. 2021;42:104–117.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/job