This is a repository for literature on and applications of the topic modeling methodology.
This page was specifically designed for the workshops on topic modeling that took place at the 2017 and 2018 Academy of Management Meeting, but is open to anyone interested.
Please see this page for a step-by-step overview of using this Github page.
The set of slides from the various presentations during the 2018 PDW can be found here.
Links to the code:
View a formatted version of the code of the 2017 PDW (discussing basic data loading, cleaning, and models) here
View a formatted version of the code of the 2018 PDW (running a basic model and showing various rendering tools) here
Much of the ideas on this page are closely intertwined with ongoing work with the organizers of the PDW, most recently expressed in our article prepared for the Academy of Management Annals. The abstract of this working draft can be found below. The full paper can be found here: https://journals.aom.org/doi/10.5465/annals.2017.0099 Please contact me (haans@rsm.nl) if you are interested in receiving a copy.
TOPIC MODELING IN MANAGEMENT RESEARCH: RENDERING NEW THEORY FROM TEXTUAL DATA
Increasingly, management researchers are using topic modeling, a new method borrowed from computer science, to reveal phenomenon-based constructs and grounded conceptual relationships in textual data. By conceptualizing topic modeling as the process of rendering constructs and conceptual relationships from textual data, we demonstrate how this new method can advance management scholarship without turning topic modeling into a black box of complex computer-driven algorithms. We begin by comparing features of topic modeling to related techniques (content analysis, grounded theorizing, and natural language processing). We then walk through the steps of rendering with topic modeling and apply rendering to management articles that draw on topic modeling. Doing so enables us to identify and discuss how topic modeling has advanced management theory in five areas: detecting novelty and emergence, developing inductive classification systems, understanding online audiences and products, analyzing frames and social movements, and understanding cultural dynamics. We conclude with a review of new topic modeling trends and revisit the role of researcher interpretation in a world of computer-driven textual analysis.
Baumer, E. P. S., Mimno, D., Guha, S., Quan, E., & Gay, G. K. (2017) Comparing grounded theory and topic modeling: Extreme divergence or unlikely convergence? Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 68(6), 1397–1410. doi: 10.1002/asi.23786
DiMaggio, P. (2015) Adapting computational text analysis to social science (and vice versa). Big Data & Society 2(July-December), 1–5. doi: 10.1177/2053951715602908
McFarland, D. A., Ramage, D., Chuang, J., Heer, J., Manning, C. D., & Jurafsky, D. (2013) Differentiating language usage through topic models. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 41(6), 607–625. doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2013.06.004
Mohr, J. W., & Bogdanov, P. (2013) Introduction-Topic models: What they are and why they matter. Poetics 41(6), 545–569. doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2013.10.001
The entire special issue of the Journal of the Digital Humanities: Vol. 2, No. 1 (2012) found here. Also contains some nice videos.
Croidieu, G., & Kim, P. H. (Forthcoming) Labor of love: Amateurs and lay-expertise legitimation in the early U.S. radio field. Administrative Science Quarterly. doi: 10.1177/0001839216686531
DiMaggio, P., Nag, M., & Blei, D. (2013) Exploiting affinities between topic modeling and the sociological perspective on culture: Application to newspaper coverage of U.S. government arts funding. Poetics 41(6), 570–606. doi: 10.1016/j.poetic.2013.08.004
Jha, H. K., & Beckman, C. M. (2017) A patchwork of identities: Emergence of charter schools as a new organizational form. Research in the Sociology of Organizations 50, 69-107. doi: 10.1108/S0733-558X20170000050003
Kaplan, S., & Vakili, K. (2015) The double-edged sword of recombination in breakthrough innovation. Strategic Management Journal 36(10), 1435–1457. doi: 10.1002/smj.2294
Wilson, A. J., & Joseph, J. (2015) Organizational attention and technological search in the multibusiness firm: Motorola from 1974 to 1997. Advances in Strategic Management 32, 407-435. doi: 10.1108/S0742-332220150000032013