Limited Domain Theories of Organizational Energy

The title of this paper contains two basic elements—the concepts of limited domain theory and of organizational energy. The first of these draws upon Dubin’s (1969) terminology and refers to theories that have a number of boundary-determining criteria. Whether the theories to be presented are truly theories of the middle range in the sense Merton (1949) intended is an open question, but they are not grand theories; the boundaries within which they are expected to prove valid are sharply delimited. It is because the definition of middle range theory is somewhat imprecise that the limited domain concept is applied here. When exactly does a theory move from a narrow range into the middle of the spectrum? If one is not sure about this matter of classification, the limited domain terminology with its requirement of precise boundary limits, has considerable appeal.

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