Publication Bias: A call for improved meta-analytic practice in the organizational sciences

Previous research has introduced the threat of publication bias to meta-analytic reviews in management and industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology research. However, a comprehensive review of top-tier journals demonstrates that more than two thirds of meta-analytic studies in management and I/O psychology ignore the issue. Of the studies that do empirically evaluate publication bias, almost all use methods that are based on problematic assumptions (e.g., the Failsafe N and subgroup comparisons by source of data). The current paper reviews the issue of publication bias and introduces to management and I/O psychology new methodological techniques to assess this bias. To illustrate the methods, multiple publication bias methods are demonstrated in a meta-analytic review of conditional reasoning tests for aggression. We offer specific recommendations that address both design and analysis issues to mitigate the existence and influence of publication bias.