Structured Behavior Analysis as a Tool for Organizational Behavior Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

In this chapter, I proposed the use of structured behavioral analysis (SBA) as a methodological approach to address critical questions in organizational behavior research in sub-Saharan Africa.

The chapter is a conceptual paper that reviews the extant literature on research tools aimed at coding and analyzing behavior, with a particular focus on employee behavior in African organizations.

SBA requires the researcher to act as both an organizational scholar and an anthropologist. As an organizational scholar, the researcher will identify predetermined behaviors that he/she intends to study. Thus, the observation and analysis will be geared toward such behaviors. As an anthropologist, the organizational researcher will observe behaviors that are displayed by employees and managers and use them as the basis for explanation and theory building.

SBA can be used to study behaviors that often occur in African organizations, such as nepotism, corruption, the role of tribal status, and the impact of family generosity, the forced solidarity tax, and obligations on employee behavior.

Findings from SBA could help design interventions to address the detrimental effects of negative behaviors while reinforcing positive behaviors in African organizations.

As a research methodology, SBA is relatively new in the African context although some versions of the method are used in industrial/organizational psychology and ergonomics.