Resource Dependence Theory - How Well Does It Explain Behavior of Organizations?**

Zusammenfassung

---

This article evaluates to what extent Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) is able to explain organizational processes and structures. The evaluation criteria are the empirical corroboration of the theory, its information content and generality, but also how realistic the assumptions of the RDT are. The evaluation shows that the theory is empirically well confirmed. On the whole, Resource Dependence Theory significantly contributes to explaining behavior, structure, stability, and change of organizations.

Siehe den Gesamtinhalt dieses Dokumentes

Auszug

---

Resource Dependence Theory - How Well Does It Explain Behavior of Organizations?**

1. Introduction

This article deals with the question to what extent Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) is able to explain behavior of organizations. Behavior is understood here in a wide sense, it includes actions and decision making as well as "non-decision-making" (Bachrach/Barat2 1977) and results of decision making and actions, like organizational structures. Differences in the behavior of organizations can be traced back to differences in management decisions which are influenced by external and internal agents controlling critical resources. Those who control critical resources have power, and power influences behavior. RDT also claims to be able to explain how different organizational structures emerge, for example why and how the multidivisional form was created, but also why and under which conditions mergers of firms take place. A theory should cover as many aspects of organizational behavior as possible, and not be limited to specific resources or selected strategies or structures. RDT is such a general approach, claiming considerable explanatory power.

I will proceed in the following way: First of all, I will describe the basic assumptions of the theory. Then I will outline main empirical results and discuss central objections to the theory. Finally I will make a final appraisal about the explanatory power of the theory. The empirical corroboration (cf. for this and other criteria Bacharach 1989) is in the forefront of this article. Alongside the empirical validity, I will take into account the following evaluation criteria: first, the information content because if a theory does not exclude any event it does not make sense to carry out an empirical test. A second important issue is how many facts can be explained by the theory, i.e. whether the theory can account for few or very many dimensions of the behavior of organizations. Finally it is important, how close the propositions are to reality. With this I mean whether RDT is based on a realistic picture of actors and the organization (the assumption of strong rationality, e.g., is a less realistic one).

2. Background and basic ideas of Resource Dependence Theory

2.1 Background

The concept of the "Resource Dependence Perspective" (1978) gained public awareness through the book by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Gerald Salancik "The External Control of Organizations. A Resource Dependence Perspective" and became widely accepted in the Anglo-American discussion. The fact that Pfeffer/Salancik's book (1978) was republished unrevised (with a new introduction) in 2003 is not the only factor that speaks for its importance. According to citation analyses by Usdiken/Pasadeos (1995) and Gmur (2002) the publication by Pfeffer/Salancik (1978/2003) belongs to the most frequently quoted works. In the important volume edited by Scott (1994) called "Organizational Sociology", RDT is one out of a total of seven theoretical approaches discussed. It also has a place within a much heeded review by Wright/McMahan (1999) on theoretical perspectives of HR strategies. I...

Siehe den Gesamtinhalt dieses Dokumentes

---