Different Methods for Measurement in Advanced Management Sciences

Currently, there is an over-reliance on a narrow set of methods of measuring cognitive, affective, motivational, attitudinal and individual difference constructs that are often of interest in behavioral management research. The authors argue that there is a need to expand the scope of the measurement methods commonly employed by management researchers and that a greater diversity of measurement methods would benefit the field by contributing to theory development and the pursuit of new areas of research. The goals of this review are twofold: (1) to increase awareness among management researchers of the alternative measurement methods that can capture many of the cognitive, affective, motivational, attitudinal and individual difference constructs of interest; (2) to critically evaluate how these methods can and should be used, with a focus on both the strengths and limitations of each method. This review focuses on three classes of measures: physiological and biological measures; experience-sampling measures; and implicit measures. These measures have had a tremendous impact on the research and theories of other fields such as marketing and economics, despite still being in their infancy. The authors believe that these three classes of measures have the potential to impact the nature and scope of management research and theory as well.