Research topics and methodological orientations in organizational communication: A decade in review

Abstract

In the past decade, the study of organizational communication has attracted increased research attention. This paper systematically evaluates the past eleven years (1979‐1989) of organizational communication research by (1) identifying the research topics that most often have been the focus of study and (2) explicating the methodological orientations that have characterized organizational communication investigations. A content analysis of all organizational communication articles (N = 289) published during the years 1979‐1989 was undertaken. Results reveal that (1) research focused primarily on three topics—climate and culture, superior‐subordinate relations and communication, and power, conflict, and politics and (2) the majority of studies were framed within a modernistic‐empirical methodological orientation and were conducted in actual organizational settings. The implications of these findings for organizational communication research practices are discussed.