A Guide for Conducting Curvilinear Meta-analyses

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in the number and type of studies in the organizational sciences that examine curvilinear relationships. These studies are important because some relationships have context-specific inflection points that alter their magnitude and/or direction. Although some scholars have utilized basic techniques to make meta-analytic inferences about curvilinear effects with the limited information available about them, there is still a tremendous opportunity to advance our knowledge by utilizing rigorous techniques to meta-analytically examine curvilinear effects. In a recent study, we used a novel meta-analytic approach in an effort to comprehensively examine curvilinear relationships between destructive leadership and followers' workplace outcomes. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an actionable guide for conducting curvilinear meta-analyses by describing the meta-analytic techniques we used in our recent study. Our contributions include a detailed guide for conducting curvilinear meta-analyses, the useful context we provide to facilitate its implementation, and our identification of opportunities for scholars to leverage our technique in future studies to generate nuanced knowledge that can advance their fields.

Citation

Mackey, J.D., McAllister, C.P., Maher, L.P. and Wang, G. (2020), "A Guide for Conducting Curvilinear Meta-analyses", Crook, T.R., Lê, J. and Smith, A.D. (Ed.) Advancing Methodological Thought and Practice (Research Methodology in Strategy and Management, Vol. 12), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 101-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-838720200000012018