From significant difference to significant sameness: Proposing a paradigm shift in business research

Complaints about the value of academic business research in addressing real world issues are common. A change in research paradigms-from significant difference to significant sameness-is necessary to improve this situation. The present paper challenges research orthodoxy as representing poor scientific practice and advocates an entirely different paradigm based on a sophisticated replication tradition following a meta-methodology of critical realism. A comprehensive analysis across philosophical, methodological, and statistical literatures develops this argument.