Clearing a path through the management fashion jungle: Some preliminary trailblazing

Sixteen management fashions that emerged over the past five decades were identified and evaluated on eight criteria, including radicalness, broadness, and fear induction. We examined relationships among these criteria, fashions' life cycles, and economic and penetration variables to enhance understanding of fashions' emergence, diffusion, and decline. Results suggest that recent fashions were broader-based but shorter-lived and more difficult for upper management to implement. Hypotheses relating fashions to economic variables were only partially supported. Two potential explanations for the mixed results are offered.