Some new theoretical developments in structural contingency theory

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the structural contingency theory of organizations. As the theory itself has changed over time since its original form, this thesis identifies some important developments and then proposes its own new initiatives. The objective is to strengthen and extend the structural contingency theory of organizations, so as to increase its coherence, explanatory power and practical implications for organizational design.

The thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction to the structural contingency theory and the main research topics of this thesis.

The second chapter defends the contingency imperative tradition of structural contingency theory in the context of structure fitting to multiple contingencies, by making the original argument that equifinality is rare and can be avoided by structural separation.

The third chapter continues to defend contingency imperative by demonstrating that structural consistency theory is not a replacement for structural contingency theory. This chapter also offers an original analysis of the relationship between structural contingency fit and structural consistency and the implications of this relationship for organizational design.

The fourth chapter develops a multivariate asymmetry theory of structural contingency misfits, by extending asymmetry theory from one-misfit to multiple-misfit contexts. It establishes the uniqueness of multivariate asymmetry theory from bivariate asymmetry theory, by revealing the supplementary effect of the overfit of a structural variable on the underfit of another structural variable in an original analysis.

The fifth chapter provides a formal modeling of recently developed hetero-performance theory, in both contexts of one-contingency and multiple-contingency. Particularly, it makes the original argument that for the hetero-performance theory to be coherent, the positive hetero-performance effect of the internal contingency needs to be weaker than the negative effect on performance of misfit.

The sixth, closing chapter discusses interactions between the new concepts of the four main thesis chapters, the managerial implications of these chapters, and future research directions.

In sum, this thesis defends and develops structural contingency theory.