Method Bias Mechanisms and Procedural Remedies

Abstract

As a crucial method in organizational and social behavior research, self-report surveys must manage method bias. Method biases are distorted scores in survey response, distorted variance in variables, and distorted relational estimates between variables caused by method designs. Studies on method bias have focused on post hoc statistical control, but integrated analyses of the sociopsychological mechanism of method bias are lacking. This review proposes a framework for method bias and offers a relatively complete and detailed review of the sociopsychological and statistical mechanisms of four main types of method bias and their procedural remedies. This review proposes “reduce, remove, and rectify” as a guideline for researchers in survey design to address method bias. Finally, this review presents two directions for future methodology research.