Just the two of us: Misalignment of theory and methods in examining dyadic phenomena

Abstract

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 97(4) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2012-12716-001 ). In the article, the numbers from the left side of the Figure 4 are missing. The correct version is provided.] Many organizational phenomena such as leader–member exchange, mentoring, coaching, interpersonal conflict and cooperation, negotiation, performance appraisal, and the employment interview involve inherently dyadic relationships and interactions. Even when theories explicitly acknowledge the dyadic nature of such phenomena, it is not uncommon to observe a disconnection or misalignment between the level of theory and method. Our purpose in the current paper is to discuss how organizational scholars might better align these components of their research endeavors. We discuss how recent developments involving the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) and reciprocal one-with-many (OWM) models are applicable to studying dyadic phenomena in organizations. The emphasis is on preanalytic considerations associated with collecting and organizing reciprocal dyadic data, types of research questions that APIM and reciprocal OWM models can help answer, and specific analytic techniques involved in testing dyadic hypotheses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)