Bad for Practice - Good for Practice - From Economic Imperialism to Multidisciplinary Mapping

20 Pages Posted: 5 Nov 2008 Last revised: 12 Dec 2008

See all articles by Jetta Frost

Jetta Frost

University of Zurich - Department of Business Administration (IBW)

Margit Osterloh

University of Basel; Professor (em.) University of Zurich

Abstract

There is a growing debate about economics not only being bad for practice but also destroying good management practice. The focus of this debate has been on the negative influences of wrong assumptions in theory building which become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We analyze why standard economics indeed can be bad for managerial and political practice. Aside from wrong assumptions, economic imperialism is another important factor. We argue that psychological economics is better for practice than standard economics, but is still not good for practice, as long as it uses an imperialistic approach. We propose a different research strategy, which we call multidisciplinary mapping. It not only bridges between different disciplinary approaches but also between the knowledge of scholars and practitioners. It is good for practice as well as for theory building.

Keywords: Psychological economics, economic imperialism, self-fulfilling prophecy, multidisciplinary mapping

Suggested Citation

Frost, Jetta and Osterloh, Margit, Bad for Practice - Good for Practice - From Economic Imperialism to Multidisciplinary Mapping. 1st IESE Conference, "Humanizing the Firm & Management Profession", Barcelona, IESE Business School, June 30-July 2, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1295303 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1295303

Jetta Frost

University of Zurich - Department of Business Administration (IBW) ( email )

Hottingerstrasse 10
Plattenstrasse 14
Zurich, 8032
Switzerland

Margit Osterloh (Contact Author)

University of Basel ( email )

Petersplatz 1
Basel, CH-4003
Switzerland

Professor (em.) University of Zurich ( email )

Südstrasse 11
Zürich, CH-8008
Switzerland