Paradigmatic Plurality or Citation Market? A Longue Durée Perspective of Management Writing

This essay focuses on the long term emergence of management research journals, and highlights the social, cultural, technological and financial factors that facilitate or constrain such modes of writing. Drawing on historical material and direct observations, two future scenarios can be projected. The first is based on a vast and entirely electronic (co)citation market, in which a writer's "e-reputation" is of central importance. In this context, incentives are purely individual; paradigmatic dimensions have disappeared. The second scenario involves a plurality of paradigms, and consists of diverse communities that employ relatively compatible modes of writing and evaluation. The implications of both scenarios are discussed.