Description

The Science of Organizations (SoO) program, offered by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), funds basic research that enhances the scientific evidence base for improving the design, emergence, development, deployment, management, and effectiveness of all types of organizations. This includes public and private, formal and informal, profit and nonprofit, established and entrepreneurial organizations.

The program welcomes rigorous, scientific approaches from diverse intellectual perspectives such as organizational theory, sociology, economics, business policy, communication sciences, entrepreneurship, human resource management, information sciences, operations management, public administration, psychology, and technology and innovation management. Research may focus on phenomena like organizational structures, routines, effectiveness, competitiveness, innovation, dynamics, change, and evolution, and may use qualitative or quantitative methods including archival analyses, surveys, simulations, experiments, case studies, and network analyses.

SoO proposals should advance theory, empirically test frameworks, and develop new measures or methods. The program values projects that yield generalizable insights relevant to practitioners, policy-makers, and the research community. Projects focused solely on implementing and evaluating specific organizational training or change programs, rather than generating broadly applicable knowledge, are not appropriate.