The Past, Present and Future of Structural Contingency Theor

Abstract

Structural contingency theory was the first explanatory framework in organization theory.Structural contingency theory emerged with the consolidation of organizational researchstudies developed by open system theory since the 1950s. It defined its basic research concepts as organization, structure and environment and studied the relationships among them. Althoughorganizational theory has been criticized since the 1970s and lost its dominance with the development ofother paradigms, the theory has still been effective since then. In recent years, debates on the developmentof organizational research studies, their ability to optimize organizational integrity and their explanatorypower have caused structural contingency theory to regain importance with significant revisions. Thisstudy describes the historical background, theoretical developments and explanatory power of structuralcontingency theory.