Relationship dominance – Rethinking management theories from the perspective of methodological relationalism

Questions the universality of theories of management and organizational behaviour on the ground that they have not adequately addressed the factor of culture. Traditionally, these theories consider political, regulatory, social, economic, and technological forces on behaviour, without taking into account the cultural context within which such forces operate. Neglecting the culture factor may be traced to an ideological bias that there is regularity or invariance in human behaviour regardless of cultural variation. Another issue concerns the ideology of methodological individualism. The inadequacy of existing literature and research directions is reviewed first. In conclusion, it is suggested that the traditional research paradigm, which relies on the methodological individualism, employed in decades of management and psychological research should be balanced by a more holistic approach, such as methodological relationalism, which recognizes the individual’s embeddedness in the social network.