The Tie-pology

Abstract

Research on the nature and significance of organizational dress has been very productive recently, following the publication of my seminal piece 'Suitable Research: On the Development of a Positive Theory of the Business Suit' in 1985. In this paper, I expand the research domain in two directions. First, the subject matter of Organizational Dress Research (ODR) is broadened to include the organizational tie. Second, the research methods employed are enriched by the addition of a typological approach. Hence, both substantive and methodol ogical issues are addressed in this paper. This allows me to spell out, in the conclusion, a rich agenda for further research.