Seeking Convergence Between Experimental and Survey Methods for Investigating Organizational Behaviour in a Virtually Connected World

Select scholarly reviews suggest that experimental research has been losing favour in organizational behaviour (OB) research in the past three decades. We suggest that this is primarily due to sampling, setting, and selection bias issues. To counteract these challenges, we revisit the merits of experimental research especially with an emphasis on the advantages conferred by causality and efficacy. The drawback of the artificiality of the lab setting is addressed with the recommendation for a greater use of Web-based experimentation in organizational behaviour. This is especially relevant in the contemporary virtually connected world where much work is carried out via technology-enabled communication channels. Sampling, experimental manipulations, dependent variables measurement, manipulation checks, and ethical considerations of Web-based experimentation are examined in detail with examples from the OB literature.