Aim: The purpose of this research was to delineate methodological trends in articles published both internationally and locally that will reveal the extent of new theory building. Setting: The research strategy and methodology examined trends in theory building over a 52-year period (1962–2014). Method: An archival review of the published literature was conducted and each article was examined to identify the general research method employed. The chi-square test was used to determine whether there is a significant difference between the expected frequencies and the observed frequencies in one or more of four categories. Results: The archival data indicate that articles published over the past 52 years in major international and South African journals are skewed towards quantitative and conceptual research. This implies that researchers in leadership studies employed qualitative and mixed methodologies in their work less often than quantitative and conceptual methodologies. Conclusion: This trend has implications for the development of leadership-followership research. Research methods should be used with mindfulness, with qualitative methods being used to observe social and human problems, followed by quantitative methods to test inductively formulated followership theories. It is particularly important, in the context of diverse cultures, to note that local attempts to formulate authentic theory development will remain difficult and unsuccessful until endogenous management systems are established and institutionalised. This is very important for scholars who believe that an affinity for qualitative methodology affords the opportunity for emic research rather than merely for testing theories and constructs that may not capture local followership phenomena.

中文翻译：

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追随者研究中理论构建首选方法的档案审查

目的：本研究的目的是描述国际和本地发表的文章的方法论趋势，这些趋势将揭示新理论构建的范围。背景：研究策略和方法论研究了52年间（1962-2014年）的理论构建趋势。方法：对已发表的文献进行档案审查，并对每篇文章进行审查，以确定所采用的一般研究方法。卡方检验用于确定预期频率与观察到的频率在四个类别中的一个或多个类别中是否存在显着差异。结果：档案数据表明，过去52年来在主要国际和南非期刊上发表的文章偏向于定量和概念研究。这意味着领导力研究的研究人员在工作中采用定性和混合方法的频率要低于定量和概念方法。结论：这种趋势对领导力跟随研究的发展有影响。研究方法应谨慎使用，定性方法用于观察社会和人类问题，其次是定量方法，以测试归纳公式化的追随者理论。在多元文化的背景下，特别重要的是要注意，在建立内在的管理体系并使之制度化之前，当地试图建立真实的理论发展的尝试将仍然是困难且不成功的。