Advancing our Understanding of Team Motivation: Integrating Conceptual Approaches and Content Areas

10.1177/0149206312471389Journal of Management3951339-1379JOMA

Dynamic resource allocation and adaptability in teamwork

Final Report, Grant No. FA9550-05-100065</p

The danger of inferring causal direction from a partialling technique with longitudinal data

A growing number of researchers in organizational science are interested in directionality and have begun using a statistical routine to support inferences of causal direction. The technique involves partialling a prior observation of the outcome variable, and doing so is thought to mitigate concerns of reverse causality. We review the technique and then evaluate its ability to discriminate directional effects using Monte Carlo simulations. Our results demonstrate that directional inferences cannot be established using this statistical approach. We therefore suggest caution when directional inferences are based on statistical modeling only. We recommend that researchers stress their assumptions when inferring causal direction rather than relying on statistics alone