Beyond Quality and Quantity: Enriching the Study of Organizational Attention

Abstract

ThisCounterpointadvances the study of organizational attention by proposing an ‘expansive’ rather than a ‘substitutive’ development of the attention-based view (ABV) as proposed in thePoint. While endorsing a richer understanding of attention, we caution against reinforcing unhelpful dichotomies between quality and quantity of attention. We argue that the ABV's perceived limitations, especially its treatment of attention as scarce and quantifiable, reflect Simon's legacy more than flaws in the ABV itself. We propose three directions for future research: rethinking resource allocation as emerging from competition among attentional sources; developing a thicker view of situatedness in which social dynamics shape attention beyond intentionality; and revisiting scarcity by examining why attention is limited, what kind of scarcity is involved, and when abundance rather than scarcity becomes problematic. By articulating a dialectical position that transcends the thesis of a complete turn to the quality of attending, as in thePointand the antithesis inCounterpoint 2– stick to quantity and persevere in normal science, we offer a way forward that preserves the strengths of attentional research while enabling a more nuanced account of organizational attention.