Abstract
While it has been long recognized that organizational action unfolds within dynamically evolving complex contexts (Scott, 1974) that shape and are shaped by individuals’ actions and interactions, most scholarship in the management discipline remains focused on single levels of analysis (Hitt et al., 2007). Additionally, the historical divide between microlevel analysis (focused on individuals and groups behaviours and actions), and macro-level analysis (focused on organizations, networks and institutions) are criticized for only providing a partial view of organizational life (House, Rousseau, & Thomas-Hunt, 1995; Klein, Tosi, & Cannella, 1999). Most organizational phenomena are complex as they traverse multiple levels of analysis, and therefore several researchers have called for the adoption of multilevel thinking in order to provide a more complete picture of the complexity of social organization by recognizing the embeddedness of individuals in wider contexts which shape and are recursively shaped by their actions (Cowen et al., 2022). We aim to advance multilevel analysis research by providing methodological guidance on conducting multilevel empirical (both quantitative and qualitative) studies. Our intention is that the findings of our systematic literature review will provide conceptual clarity to a fragmented literature in which multilevel analysis has been subjected to a range of definitions and meanings. Our review will enhance theory building in this methodological field, offering an integrated conceptual framework to guide researcher in the use and application of multilevel analysis. Our review contributes to the broader development of multilevel analysis by offering a future research agenda that supports the development of a deeper, more nuanced understanding of this methodological approach. Our review aims to contribute to current debates regarding the use of multilevel analysis in management studies. Our review aims to contribute to current debates regarding the use of multilevel analysis in management studies. Through our critical evaluation we offer a theoretical contribution that demonstrates how multilevel analysis supports the study of complexity in multi layered social organizational systems. We develop a conceptual framework that acts as a best practice guide to researchers in the use and application of multilevel analysis. In particular, our findings help researchers make sense of the complexity of the social phenomena they study.